D.C. Mayor in School of Self-Interest?

The Atlas Society - The Center for Objectivism ^ | 8/28/2009 | Edward Hudgins

[Ed Hudgins]

Washington, D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty seemed silent and secretive about acting in the self-interest of his own children. Asked at a press conference about where his kids were attending school this academic year, he answered, in essence, “None of your business.” Why this sensitivity?

Good school, bad school

One of Fenty’s sons started school this year at Lafayette Elementary, a public—read government—school in D.C. But the neighborhood school to which kids at Fenty’s residential address would normally be assigned is West Elementary.

Lafayette is in one of the best parts of the city. It gets a 10 out of 10 rating from Greatschools.net and is ranked the second best school in town by PSK12.com. It is 71 percent white.

West is in a not-as-nice neighborhood. Greatschools gives it a 7 out of 10, still not too bad, and it is ranked the tenth best in D.C. by PSK12. It is 71 percent black.

So how did Fenty’s son get into Lafayette? There is a difficult competitive procedure by which D.C. parents might get their kids into better schools outside their neighborhoods if slots are available, but there’s no indication that this is what Fenty did. Top education officials also can allow kids to go to non-neighborhood schools in special cases but there is no obvious reason why Fenty’s kids deserve special treatment.

School’s rank reeks

So why won’t Fenty discuss his son’s school and why does anyone care where he sends his kids in any case?

The D.C. government schools are notoriously bad; the American Legislative Exchange Council ranked them dead last when compared to the fifty states, yet they are ranked first in expenditures per pupil. Talk about a terrible return for your tax dollar! What a striking refutation of the “more money will solve the problem”

[fieldmarshaldj]

Too many Democrat elected officials say, “I’ll send my kids where I damn well please to the best schools and your kids can rot in public school hellholes !”

[Ed Hudgins]

It's still mind-boggling that the parents (a large portion of them poor) with kids in the D.C. school system (the worst system in the country) still vote for the political hacks (virtually all Democrats) who perpetuate the system that will leave their children in wretched shape. It says something about the culture and values in those communities.

[fieldmarshaldj]

I just finished writing this post a moment ago in another thread, one reason why we’re having the problems with getting Blacks to vote GOP (that would offer the parents solutions, such as vouchers):

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2327734/posts?page=72#72

[Ed Hudgins]

Thanks for your thoughtful post on the other thread. I'm a Maryland resident in a majority black county; i was an elected town commissioner for 6 year. So I've seen a lot of opportunities, but too many of them passed up. Michael Steel did a pretty good job campaigning for Senate but bad reputation for Republicans created by Bush helped drag him down.

Conservative and libertarians (that's me!) should not pander and go on the defensive by sucking up to Dem/liberal politicians. Rather, we should state clearly to minority voters (and all voters!) something like:

“How many of you are smart enough to purchase consumer electronic equipment on your own? If you want info you just go to cnet.com or look at the online ratings on Amazon or Best Buy.” [All hands go up.]

“And how many of you can buy a car without the government telling you what model is best for you?” [All hands go up?

“So how many of you are just too dumb, just too stupid to decide which schools are best to educate you children, even with access to lots of good rating systems? How many of you need a government bureaucrat, the same who have ruined the school system, to hold your hand and help you?” [No hands go up.]

I'd like to see that kind of campaign message!

[fieldmarshaldj]

Yeah, countless examples of missed opportunities. Almost every state has one. MD, of course, is a difficult state for us, anyway, since it’s just as chock-full of White liberals that work for the federal gov’t (responsible for drastically realigning NOVA to the Dems currently). I presume you’re in PG County ? I think a lot of Blacks are receptive to the message, but the allegiance to the Dem party stands in the way. After all, it was a ginned-up Black turnout in CA last November that was responsible for passing Prop 8 (against gay marriage). If we had individual ballot initiatives on a lot of social policies and bypassing the parties, Blacks would make a lot of solidly Conservative Whites look like liberals.

I think back to the early part of the 20th century, and even Dems, who were basically hostile to Blacks, realized that if they didn’t start some outreach (or other methods), they’d never win statewide offices in heavily GOP states. Getting a consistent 25-30% of their vote (where we were as recently as 1960, and where Dems were at with Black support around 1932) would see us take scores of offices nationwide that we don’t currently have, and that would also mean many more Black Republican officeholders. Once Blacks see more and more people that look like them holding office as Republicans (beyond a few tokens), I think the proverbial dam would burst in our favor, especially if they support pro-growth, non-statist, pro-empowerment policies. It won’t happen overnight, and we’re in a tough spot right now, but we have to look at the long-term, and too many Republicans are too preoccupied with the quick win for the next election, and that’s a big mistake. Dems have outworked us in looking at cultivating some voting blocs for the long-term.

[Ed Hudgins]

All good points. (And yes, I live in PG.)

I do worry that in the short run race relations in the U.S. will suffer. Obama is and will do a terrible job. Many blacks will see criticism of him and his failure (I hope!) to get reelected as slaps against a Brother rather than slaps against bad policies and incompetence.

But the more Michael Steels, Ward Connerlys, etc. etc. who can state a limited government and personal responsibility case, the better. Also, because Obama, a black, was elected president, it's tougher for the race-peddlers like Sharpton and Jessie Jackson to play the race card.

[CPT Clay]

The well has been poisoned.

[fieldmarshaldj]

It is suffering. Unfortunately, despite what the media claimed last year, the 2008 election was a validation of racism, not a repudiation of it. If Whites had voted 95% for the Republican candidate (which would’ve resulted in McCain carrying every state except probably HI), how would the media have spun it ? Of course, they also tend to ignore Black Republicans or Conservatives running for office. For example, it took until 2006 for the Dems to run a Black person for statewide office in MD (for Lt Gov), but the GOP broke ground for that almost 30 years earlier when Dr. Aris Allen was the Lt Governor nominee. The Dems have also yet to run a Black person for the U.S. Senate in MD, while we had Alan Keyes back in the ‘90s (and a Latina back in ‘86).

However, I have to say with respect to Michael Steele, and I supported his run for the Senate, I was not as approving of his selection as National Chairman (indeed, I thought Ken Blackwell of OH, another Black Republican, had stronger qualifications), and have not been impressed with his tenure so far (since he came in, we’ve lost 2 Senate seats on his watch and not gained a single House seat in any specials held this year, despite the administration’s plunging approvals - and we’re likely going to go into negative territory with an upcoming special for a GOP seat in NY, where local party chairs selected a left-winger who had been courted by the Dems to run, causing a Conservative to run 3rd party (with the Dem being the moderate candidate) - and Steele could’ve made some phone calls to support a more Conservative choice). I think he’s relying too much on wins in NJ & VA to claim he’s been a success, but that has little to do with him, but these national losses and failure to aggressively support our candidates in the specials is on his head.