Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Posted by Bill Smith at 12:51 PM | 11 comments

This kind of thinking really makes me angry. I would say that I am fortunate that I don't live in Columbia and so I don't have to worry about such foolishness, but I don't believe that people who live in Lexington County are safe from this kind of communistic do-goodism either. Lexington County Council is bad too, and maybe worse, as so often they aren't even creative enough to think up their own silliness...they just follow blindly and blithely along after Columbia City Council and Richland County Council. By the way, shouldn't someone point out that there is a definite problem with the City Councilman Cromarties' credibility here? Isn't this the same E.W. Cromartie that was in the news last year because he owned several substandard rental properties that city inspectors said needed improvements he either failed or refused to make? This guy is apparently a slumlord (or at least was one in the recent past), and may very well stand to benefit from any government contracts to provide homes to the homeless. Talk about an apparent conflict of interest...sheesh! I'm sadly not surprised that "thestatemulletwrapper" failed to point this out. They will probably come out in favor of this program. After all, they favor any and all tax increases, no matter what they're for and no matter who gets hurt...surely "thestatemulletwrapper" will see this program as another expansion of their beloved government, and therefore it won't matter if there is a little corruption in it.
 

The word I'm thinking of is...'brainwashed.' So opposed to anything that comes from a poltical camp other than your own that you will even let charity go down the rathole. Your hypocrisy knows no bounds...rant against helping the underprivileged, and then promote the voucher scam to supposedly 'help the underprivileged?' Please spare us and go back to your bunker.
 

Hey look, my crazy friend is back. Welcome back, crazy friend!

Seriously, I can't tell if you're illiterate or disingenuous. But let's go through this once again, slowly, for the thinking-impaired.

"against" helping the underprivileged.

Um, not exactly. I specifically said that this is the sort of thing that the churches should be doing. Places like the Oliver Gospel Mission in Columbia. When churches and other charities handle these things, without government assistance, we know that there purpose is not being hindered by bureaucratic considerations. It is a great thing to help one's fellow man. But picking your neighbor's pocket to help the homeless guy downtown is not the way to do it.

promote the voucher scam to supposedly 'help the underprivileged?

Okay, two things: the word "underprivileged" is an interesting one. I deny that adults can be "underprivileged." Children get privileges (free room and board, schooling, love and affection) because they're not fully formed rational beings, so they can't be treated like free and equal citizens.

All children deserve access to good schools. Our current system is inadequate because it does not provide all kids access to a quality education. Giving parents options is a way to improve children's chances (and cut taxes while you're at it).

Adults are not children. Homeless adults are not children. They cannot be underprivileged. They can be poor, unlucky, and deserving of our help. But who is the "our"? On issues of helping the poor and troubled become healthy, productive, and independent, it's pretty clear that churches and charities do a better job than politicians and bureaucracies.

Helping the poor is too important a job to leave to the Columbia City Council.
 

I disagree with Anon 2 about the dole for the homeless, but I still can't see how vouchers are going to help our public schools. Wouldn't that entail taking money from our public schools? How can improvement and change come about if there is massive funding cuts? Judging from the condition of some of the low-country schools, they can barely function now, much less with more money gone. In addition, how are private schools going to be held accountable for public money being funneled into them? They are not accountable now. Are you assuming that all that will suddenly change when a kid shows up with a voucher? Why raise the hopes of the poor and rural students when all it will do is pad the wallets of a minority of citizens. We have to stick it out, and trust that the money and time ( not to mention care and concern) will pay off like it has for millions of public school grads.
 

There is so much wrong with what you say that it is difficult to know where to begin, but I'll try. First, as to the accountability of private schools, I've heard others trot out this "lack of accountability" canard, and it is dead wrong. If you really want to talk about lack of accountability, look no further than public schools: They have a voracious appetite for our tax dollars and yet are NEVER really held accountable to the ones who really count...the parents of the children they are ruining. I know you will say that they ARE accountable by virtue of the election process for school board seats, but let's face it, when a parent of school children sees the school failing her kids, she really has no legitimate and practical options...she can't just take the kid out, and generally there is no mechanism for transfer to a better one (assuming there IS a better one), so she and her kids are stuck in a very real sense, unless they opt out altogether and go private or home-school. As to the supposed unaccountability of private schools, this is nonsense. Private schools are directly accountable to parents who decide whether or not to pay the tuition costs...if they don't perform, parents move their kids. Simple as that, and it's called "the market." You could look it up. Regarding private school accountability for public dollars they receive, they are at LEAST as accountable as are the public schools getting all this public dough are. Believe me, if the state doesn't like something a private school does, nothing will make bureaucrats happier than to cut off money and exert control over the private schools...and this is EXACTLY what we DO NOT need...MORE government control over schools. They've done quite enough damage to the schools they've already had, thank you very much. Aren't you at least curious to know whether privatization could save kids that are failing now? For the life of me, I cannot understand this vitriolic, vehement, rock-ribbed refusal to at least try what to me is an obviously better way to do education. I don't get it. Is it that you simply fear losing governments' grip on this economic slice of the pie? Do you have relatives that are public teachers and are depending on a great retirement? What? What could be more important than helping kids that are at present be run into the ditch by this huge bureaucratic nightmare we've built and allowed to become our master?
 

I dashed off the above post as I was preparing to leave...please excuse verbs not agreeing with nouns and tenses not in sync. Dave
 

This blog exists for those of us who want to speak out against the anti-American drivel of Comrades Cindi and Brad...let's stay on track
 

I think I am precisely on track, and will continue to comment along whatever lines these posts may lead. Bill Smith has been most courteous in extending me the opportunity to voice my opinions here, and not every string of comments deals specifically with the horror that is "thestatemulletwrapper." I intend to speak my mind as long as Bill allows me to do so...and if you don't like what I write, then don't read it.
 

Testy are we? Keep on a voicin' Dave! I enjoy your opinions.
 

Not testy really, just sort of tired of folks who try to tell others what is appropriate and what is not. I shouldn't have been snippy. But heck, these strings start on one thing and are likely to go just about anywhere. And, whenever public education comes up, I believe we (I) have an obligation to push back the frontiers of ignorance and error. Dave
 

Understandable. Keep up the good work!