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DeVos Nomination Is the Most Contested Because It’s About the Future
The Betsy DeVos nomination proved to be the most contentious; the hill Democrats have chosen to die on. Why? Because it’s about the future:
- The future of the teachers’ unions, who had much of their power stripped from them in Wisconsin with the passage of Act 10, and who barely survived losing power in California due to 4-4 Supreme Court tie in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association et. al.
- The future of the Department of Education in whether it will be greatly scaled back or allowed to remain largely intact and in the future return to its practice of “Dear Colleague” letters to universities, school districts, etc. dictating the abandonment of due process for the accused and imposing radical social policy with the threat of federal lawsuits.
- The future of whether states, municipalities, and most importantly parents will have the freedom to determine the opportunities available to children — charter schools, school choice, home schooling, in addition to public schools — or fewer choices due to further and further regulations dictated by federal bureaucrats in Washington beholden to the interests of teachers’ unions.
- The future of what is taught to children — does the federal government know better than you what your children should learn in school? A federally determined curriculum reaches more students if more students are forced to remain in the public schools. Progressive ideology must be taught to the next generation. A DeVos-run Department of Education will hopefully abandon central planning style Common Core curricula and return that power to the states.
Betsy DeVos has the opportunity to do so much good and bring to an end so much Education departmental overreach and abuse of power. The Democrats were desperate to prevent this from happening. It’s all about the future.
Published in Education
It needs to get added to the budget to have a prayer in the Senate.
(EDIT: I think, based on my understanding of the budget resolution exception to the filibuster.)
When Bill Bennett headed the Ed Dept under Reagan we all thought the sunrise was imminent. Unfortunately, this was not to be as the bureaucracy was so embedded with Progressives even at that time that it became nearly a fool’s errand. He truly tried. Let’s not get too excited for Betsy, but hope that some weeding out will take place and changes made for the better. Changes that will stick that is.
My optimism at this bill getting anywhere is almost non-existent. I do, however, enjoy the trolling of the left that has been occurring in relation to it. That is, if Betsy DeVos is uniquely unqualified, the destroyer of public schools in Michigan, the worst thing ever to happen to the Department of Education, then you should support H.R. 899. It’s the only way to stop her now that she’s been confirmed.
Incidently, the most recent Mad Dogs & Englishmen podcast had some good discussion of the DeVos confirmation, teachers’ unions, etc. as well.
The left’s hyperventilation on the nomination has been something to see.
I know, and I’m not trying to dampen anyone’s excitement about DeVos. Just trying to focus conservative attention where it really matters.
The Republicans also didn’t have the votes in Congress during Reagan’s tenure.
They do now.
(Of course, they also had the votes during Dubya’s tenure…)
But then, Dubya wasn’t of the mindset to make major changes…
Except in Iraq, where he first blew things up and then thought about how to fix them. Sort of like Obama was doing with health care before he got interrupted.
Or maybe he was of the idealist school of American Exceptionalism (which we’re discussing in another thread) where people imagine that what matters is having the right ideals, with the assumption that the rest will follow.
It is a matter of leadership. She gives the President the data and simplified arguments he uses to get Congress to back sweeping reforms. The Administration goes for it with ideas simple enough to defend on the high ground of principle focus on kids and parents. They can win this one if they want to.
I meant this in respect (mostly) to the Dept of Ed