Education is the Key to Success

Everyone seems to have their own definition of fascism, but trying to define fascism is like trying to nail jelly to a wall: Just like everyone has their own definition of Communism and Socialism, we appear to be in a name-calling contest in America, but no one has a clue as to what most of these terms actually mean. I always go to Webster’s dictionary when I’m in doubt about the meaning of a word. So, let’s define three of the most abused words in America today, whether it be on social media, TV, or radio.

Fascism: a populist political philosophy, movement, or regime (such as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual, that is associated with a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, and that is characterized by severe economic and social regimentation and by forcible suppression of opposition.

Socialism: any of various egalitarian economic and political theories or movements advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods.

Communism: a system in which goods are owned in common and are available to all as needed. A theory advocating the elimination of private property, a doctrine based on revolutionary Marxian socialism and Marxism-Leninism that was the official ideology of the Soviet Union: a totalitarian system of government in which a single authoritarian party controls state-owned means of production.

Let me say that America does not fit any of these definitions, regardless of what the Libs say.

Now that we are all clear about the meaning of these three most commonly abused and misused words today, why do you think those who post on social media or the commentators and writers for liberal media continually misuse these three terms? Obviously, they have never taken the time to look up their meaning and figure out if they say them long enough and often enough, they will take on a new meaning in a derogatory sense when referring to President Trump and America.

I was reading a Gallup Poll today reporting that 39% of Americans view socialism favorably, with stronger support amongst younger people, yet if you ask them to define the term, they are hard-pressed to give an appropriate answer. This is why Charlie Kirk and Turning Point USA are so important to the future of our youth. Many parents are just now finding out how our children have been subjected to a public education from K through 12 that has been filled with the indoctrination of leftist ideas. We send our children off to colleges and universities to give them a better opportunity to be successful, but that is not always the case.

Many of these institutions of higher learning continue this indoctrination process that costs obscene amounts of tuition, usually on borrowed funds. What we wind up with is 42.7 million student loan borrowers with $1.6 trillion in federal student loan debt who have degrees in subjects that they can’t use to get a job that pays them enough to make a living. The average student loan is currently $37k per borrower. Is it any wonder why our young people are looking favorably at socialism? For decades, we have been telling them to go to college and get a good education so they can come out and find good jobs. Unfortunately, because of the terrible education and indoctrination they get in these schools of higher learning, they wind up as barristers in Starbucks, schlepping coffee and doughnuts for tips and living in their parents’ basements. We need to find a way for these young people to get out from under this huge debt burden that is causing so much angst for them.

We essentially need to fix our corrupted public education system and reverse the nature of what they are teaching our children. We must change the attitude of our young people so that they understand taking a job that includes manual labor is a positive thing, not a negative. With the fast-arriving advent of a new age of AI, many of the so-called white-collar jobs are going to disappear, and many Americans will have to be retrained for new careers. Those who don’t adapt are going to find themselves in deep trouble without employment and a paycheck to support themselves and their families. We need to start thinking out of the box and find a way to not only educate our current students and prepare them for the jobs of the future, while at the same time retraining those whose jobs will become obsolete in the next decade

When I was in high school more than half a century ago, they offered students the opportunity to take electives in crafts like woodworking, metal shop, and automotive shop, but also offered courses in typing and home economics. It didn’t matter what gender you were, you could sign up for any of these electives. I took all of them along with the usual academic subjects like Algebra, Geometry, Trig, and Accounting. Fortunately for me, I made the right choice as I firmly believe that success is all about diversity of knowledge and giving our children an opportunity to choose and try different things.

Little did I realize how important taking a typing course in high school would be to my future. When I joined the Navy at 17 years of age, because I knew how to type fast, I was designated to go to a special school. There, they taught me how to copy Morse code and type on a Russian typewriter, and they designated me a Communications Technician with a Top-Secret Clearance. After my 2 years of active duty, I was able to get a job on Wall Street typing out reports on executed trades on the floor of the American Stock Exchange. After spending years going to college at night studying economics and history, I quit 17 credits short of my degree. When my professor asked me why I was quitting, I told him quite frankly it all had to do with economics and that I was offered a job as a stock Trader making a six-figure salary. This opportunity eventually helped me become a successful risk manager and gave me the opportunity to open my own brokerage firm. If I had not taken that one course in typing, I don’t know what career I would have wound up in, but I still believe much of my success was because I had a variety of choices in school.

It is time that the parents of Idaho students pushed a lot harder to institute real school choice in our school system, which I believe has been broken for years. Every time we get a bad rating, the superintendent has an excuse and asks for more money to be squandered on a system that is not working, and the same goes for our governor. Our schools are failing our children, and it is time that they had some real competition from the private sector, from private education facilities with more diverse opportunities.

Currently, we have a program in Idaho that would allow for about $10,000 for students whose family fits into a certain financial class and can apply for a $5,000 voucher that can be used to attend a private school. The Idaho Parental Choice Tax Credit for school choice is now facing a legal challenge from the IEA Union, who argue that it violates the state constitution by diverting public funds to private education, seeking to block the implementation of this tax credit program. It makes me wonder if they are afraid of the competition from private schools. I, for one, find it interesting that our legislators have not addressed this problem, and I’m more shocked that they put together a program that will only accommodate 10,000 students out of over 300,000 in our public school system. President Trump is eliminating the Department of Education, knowing that it doesn’t work, yet we have a teachers’ union that is basically thumbing their nose at him by trying to control our education system here in Idaho.

Idaho has been ranked in the low forties out of the 50 states on the overall education our students receive in our public schools, which should tell our legislators and our governor that whatever we are doing is not working. It is time to fix the problem and bring competition to the table by offering anyone who wants to go to a private education facility the ability to take that tax money they pay for public education and use it for a private school. The competition of private schools will create accountability, which we don’t currently have, and it empowers parents to select the best learning option for their unique children.

It is a fact that student learning results in our public schools are getting worse despite the increased funding each year. For example, public school spending per student has risen from $7,576 in 1970 to $19,999 by 2021 in inflation-adjusted dollars. Spending is up 164%, but this increase in spending has not helped to improve student learning, as the performance of public education has tanked. The National Assessment of Education Progress exam scores released this past January reveal that among public school students, 69% of fourth graders and 70% of eighth graders can’t read at grade level.

One size never fits all, and it is high time we realized that as a state and as a nation. Trump has done the right thing by dismantling the Education Department. He is now taking the next step by creating a new “State Plan Portal” that will allow the Department of Labor to jointly administer adult education programs. He is working to prepare our next generation of American workers by streamlining unnecessary bureaucracy and advancing the skills needed to fill jobs of the future. Idaho needs to create a much-expanded school choice program where the parents and children decide what kind of education they want to pursue, not a bunch of overpaid administrators and appointed bureaucrats who want the status quo. Competition is the best way to create success and eliminate the threat of socialism to our youth. Tell your legislators that you want a bigger and better school choice program if Idaho’s children are to be competitive in this brave new world of AI.

“We get the Government we Deserve”