Common Core: Bobby Jindal says Obama forcing a national curriculum

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) sued the US Department of Education Wednesday, accusing it of violating federal law and the US Constitution by strong-arming states into adopting the Common Core State Standards and assessments.

“The federal government has hijacked and destroyed the Common Core initiative,” Governor Jindal said, in a statement. “What started out as an innovative idea to create a set of base-line standards that could be ‘voluntarily’ used by the states has turned into a scheme by the federal government to nationalize curriculum.”

In the beginning was the plan.

And then came the assumptions.

And the assumptions were without form.

And the plan was without substance.

And darkness was upon the face of the workers.

And they spoke among themselves saying,

“It is a crock of shit and it stinketh.”

And the workers went unto their supervisors and said,

“It is a pale of dung and none may abide the odor thereof.”

And the supervisor went unto their managers and said,

“It is a container of excrement and it is very strong, such that none may abide by it.”

And the managers went unto their directors, saying,

“It is a vessel of fertilizer, and none may abide its strength.”

And the directors spoke among themselves, saying to one another,

“It contains that which aids plant growth and it is very strong.”

And the directors went unto the vice presidents, saying unto them,

“It promotes growth and is very powerful.”

And the vice presidents went unto the president, saying unto him,

“The new plan will promote the growth and vigor of the company, with powerful effects.”

And the president looked upon the plan and saw that it was good.

And the plan became policy.

This is how shit happens.

Thank you for referencing that article BlatherNaut. Please bear in mind that the following critique is directed at Gov. Jindal and not at you.

I'm not sure which federal law Gov. Jindal is claiming the federal government is violating, but with all due respect to Jindal he evidently doesn't know enough about the federal government's constitutionally limited powers to argue the following.

As mentioned in related theads, with the exception of the federal entities indicated in the Constitution's Clauses 17 & 18 of Section 8 of Article I as examples, entities under the exclusive legislative control of Congress, the states have never granted Congress, expressly via the Constitution, the specific power to regulate, tax and spend for intrastate schooling purposes.

In fact, despite PC interpretations of the Constitution's Supremacy Clause, Clause 2 of Article I, the Supreme Court has also clarified that powers which the states haven't delegated to the feds expressly via the Constitution are prohibited to the feds.

”From the accepted doctrine that the United States is a government of delegated powers, it follows that those not expressly granted, or reasonably to be implied from such as are conferred, are reserved to the states, or to the people. To forestall any suggestion to the contrary, the Tenth Amendment was adopted. The same proposition, otherwise stated, is that powers not granted are prohibited [emphasis added].” —United States v. Butler, 1936.

The Supreme Court has also clarified that the feds cannot lay taxes in the name of state power issues, essentially any issue which the feds cannot justify under Congress's Article I, Section 8-limited powers, intrastate schooling an example of things that the feds have no constitutional authority to tax and spend for.

“Congress is not empowered to tax for those purposes which are within the exclusive province of the States.” —Justice John Marshall, Gibbons v. Ogden, 1824.

So sadly, as a consequence of Gov. Jindal's parents probably not making sure that he was taught the federal government's constitutionally limited powers as the Founding States had intended for those powers to be understood, including limits on Congress's power to lay taxes, he seems to be resorting to weaker arguments to justify his stance on federal interference in Common Core.

As a side note concerning the federal government's constitutionally limited powers, please consider the following. The states would sure be a dull, boring place to grow up and live in if parents were to make sure that their children were taught about the federal government's constitutionally limited powers as the Founding States had intended for those powers to be understood. /sarc

Thomas Jefferson had put it this way:

“Cherish, therefore, the spirit of our people, and keep alive their attention. If once they become inattentive to the public affairs, you and I, and Congress and Assemblies, judges and governors, shall all become wolves [emphasis added]. It seems to be the law of our general nature.” - Thomas Jefferson (Letter to Edward Carrington January 16, 1787)

In fact, forget about traditional salesman / sucker cliches like "buying the Brooklyn Bridge." Voters now have to deal with the problem that they have foolishly traded their votes for constitutionally nonexistent rights, federal spending programs and restrictive federal regulations which are likewise based on constitutionally nonexistant federal government powers.

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