Posted on 08/31/2009 7:12:48 PM PDT by uptoolate
The Yellow Prison Bus and the Future of American Healthcare
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Conservatives are up-in-arms over the Democratic healthcare scheme. From town hall meetings, to talk radio, to the internet, the voice of the people is being heard. However, I am not at all convinced that the voice of the people will ultimately make a difference in the long run. My pessimism has less to do with the sinister motives of those seeking to take over the healthcare system. On the contrary, my pessimism stems from the hypocrisy of those shouting down their representatives and claiming to be “fed up”.
While I’m sure these folks mean well, I wonder about the sincerity of their opposition in light of the fact that the overwhelming majority of them (between eighty and eighty-five percent) have already accepted everything they claim to abhor about the healthcare plan. Some have already exposed this irony as it relates to Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security (full disclosure: I’ve opted out of Social Security and am proud to say that I am not anticipating one thin dime from the American government in my old age). However, I’m not talking about these long existing socialist programs, I’m talking about the #1 socialist welfare program in America, the public school system!
There are striking similarities between government-run education and the government-run healthcare bill currently under consideration in Congress. And it is precisely these similarities that will eventually cause the American people to lay down and take whatever the government gives them, and eventually be willing to fight and die for them. Remember, there was public outrage over government education (and Social Security) as well when it was first proposed (see the quotes here). However, nearly one hundred and fifty years later the overwhelming majority of Americans gladly put their children on the yellow prison bus every day (yes, they are the same type of busses used to transport prisoners).
JUST SAY NO TO SOCIALISM
One of the mantras we hear repeatedly these days is, “we don’t want socialism.” While that sounds good (and conservative, and constitutional, and patriotic, etc.), it rings hollow when you consider the overwhelming majority of the people leading the charge have their children in what amounts to socialized education. What’s the difference? If you’re really against government-run, socialized programs, yank your kid off the yellow prison bus and just say no.
READ THE TENTH AMENDMENT
Another catchphrase I’ve heard a lot lately is, “this is a violation of the Tenth Amendment.” Again, this is wonderful rhetoric. I love the Constitution of the United States; especially the Tenth Amendment which protects the rights of States and individuals from overreaches by the Federal Government. The amendment reads: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” Ironically, one of the “powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States” is education! That’s right, the Federal Government has absolutely no Constitutional right to involve itself in education. The Department of Education is as unconstitutional as government-run healthcare. However, few of the people shouting at these town hall meetings (or reporting on it on conservative talk radio and the internet) would stand up and call for the immediate abolishment of the D.O.E. (or any of the other federal departments that exist in clear violation of the tenth amendment).
I HAVE A RIGHT TO PICK MY OWN DOCTOR
Perhaps the most ironic aspect of the current uproar is the fact that people who put their children on the yellow prison bus and send them to the school designated by the State (at an age chosen by the State, on a date determined by the State, for a term mandated by the State) have the audacity to point their fingers and say, “I don’t want the government picking my doctor!” This is absolute folly. If we were serious about the moral and constitutional authority of this claim there would not be a single congressman or senator in Washington who opposed school choice as none of them would be able to win an election. However, Americans are glad to elect officials who continue to rob them of their freedom in this most basic, fundamental aspect of their lives; the education of their children.
DON’T TRUST THE PEOPLE WHO RUN THE POST OFFICE
How many times have we heard someone retort, “do you want the people who run the Post Office to run your healthcare?” The answer of course is a resounding no! Whether you call it “the public option,” or something else, conservatives do not want the government to run their healthcare (see here). However, how is it that we trust those same people to run our child’s education? How is this any different? And this is not just a liberal democrat thing; George Bush was the one who gave us “No Child Left Behind.” This was a monument to socialistic, government-run, unconstitutional mis-education. This was a massive overreach by the Federal Government that met little or no opposition (see one rare example here). Where were the town hall protests? Where were the flag-waving, gun-toting protestors? Where was the political right? Instead, all we heard was, “accountability is a good thing.” Never mind the Constitution.
NOT WITH MY TAX DOLLARS
Then there are the people who “don’t want their money to pay for abortions or sex change operations.” This one has president Obama on the defensive. Conservative Christians are especially animated over this aspect of the bill. Suddenly, the silent Christian majority is offended at the prospect of the federal government taking their money and using it for immoral purposes. This coming from people who send their children to government schools with Gay/Straight Alliance clubs, semi-pornographic sex-ed classes, and Gramscian, neo-Marxist, neo-Darwinian curriculum. How can we complain about our tax dollars going to fund abortions and sex change operations if we gladly offer up our children to taxpayer-funded dens of iniquity one hundred and eighty days a year? This is the height of hypocrisy.
THE PAST IS PROLOGUE
We will have taxpayer funded healthcare. The Democrats have offered the full monty, now the Republicans will “dial it back” a bit and claim victory (i.e., we can come up with something just for for those people who don’t have healthcare, make sure illegal immigrants don’t have access, and save Billions, if not Trillions of dollars). The result will be a slightly less socialistic system (for now) that the American people will accept gladly after seeing the beast in it’s full fury. And eventually, the furor will die down and the town hall meetings a generation from now will treat socialistic government healthcare the same way we treat socialistic programs like Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and government education today.
If you want to know what type of government-run healthcare system Americans will be willing to settle for in the next generation, just walk outside tomorrow morning and watch the yellow prison busses take the next generation of Americans to the taxpayer-funded, government-run, indoctrination center to which they are assigned and ask yourself this question: Are they learning anything today that will give them an aversion to a government takeover of healthcare? Then ask yourself another question: If their parents do teach them to oppose socialism, read and follow the Constitution, cherish freedom of choice, shun government intervention and hold government accountable for ethical use of their tax dollars, how long will it be before they’re standing at the corner waiting on the yellow prison bus and think to themselves, “Hey, if mom and dad really believe these things... why am I standing here?”
VB
ping
“Shouting down their representatives” has worked extemely well for the liberal commies for the past 50 years. Now that Americans have decided to use the tactic, it becomes a capital offense. What’s up with that? If there is one thing I’ve learned from the libbies over the past 50 years it’s that the squeaky wheel ALWAYS gets the grease.
ping
I fear that this guy got it right.
Bill Gothard sure got that principle right. What parents accept in moderation, children will accept in excess.
And...He is told by his government teachers that it is his **right** to take from his neighbor to pay for his schooling.
Well?...If education is a government created right, why not medicine, retirement, disability, recreation, entertainment, ICU care, vaccinations, clothing, housing, food, gasoline..etc!
Honestly, when are conservatives going to WAKE UP! We must get the nation's children out of the government indoctrination camps and into privately funded ( possibly tuition-free) private schools. We must shut down the government schools.
By the way, if Harvard and other universities across this nation can have endowments in the multi-BILLIONS surely conservatives could fund education foundations that could fund private conservative schools. They would likely need to be tuition-free in order to compete against the price-fixed government schools that are giving a service away for free. But...Even if conservative schools were tuition-free at least the child would know that it was charity and a gift. They would learn gratitude instead of believing it was a right.
Oh!...As for the yellow prison bus:
BINGO! This is only one of a thousand ways in which children ( who have committed no crime) are treated like prisoners by their government schools guards ( oops! teachers).
Health Control.
Unlike 90% of pastors, Voddie Baucham thinks clearly.
My bet, however, is that conservatives will continue to be complicit in the destruction of our children, families, churches, culture, and country because they won’t give up their favorite middleclass welfare entitlement - the so-called “free” public education.
So, conservatives, stamp your pretty little feet over sodomite marriage and socialized medicine. You aren’t all that serious and won’t take the hard measures needed to turn the tide instead of just delaying the inevitable.
(Boy, I hope I’m wrong...)
Our grandchildren should get safely through home schooling; we should be able to bob, weave, and evade “progressive” attempts to make it impossible; but we do watch and walk carefully.
Thanks for the reminder of Bill Gothard. I remember and give thanks for his advice, mostly without really remembering him... except for his calm, warm, wise eyes.
I think that it is now too late. If conservatives had worked to shut down government schools, and worked to get kids into tuition-free private ( conservative) schools, even as little as 10 years ago, I think we could have turned this nation around.
If **conservatives** ( of all people) can't see the urgency, and **still** to this day believe government schools can be reformed...well?...what hope is there? How many times have I read posts from conservatives who stupidly think that merely getting rid of the unions will “fix” government schools? Oh!...Or that somehow getting the federal government out of the government schools is all that is needed. Some naively believe that have a school prayer would make a difference. Honestly, it is utterly exasperating!
The communfascists understand that indoctrination of children means votes in the ballot box just a few years later, but conservatives just don't seem to understand this. Well...Isn't it evident? We now have a communfacist president.
Even if we were to wake up tomorrow living in states that had seceded to form a new republic, the conservatives would immediately go about setting up state wide, government owned and run, tuition-free, forced taxpayer funded government schools.
I was a girl scout in the 6 grade and a group of scouts was trying to pour fruit juice from a half-liter can. They were making a big mess of it because they had punched only one hole in the top of the can. When I told them they were creating a vacuum in the can and that the juice would pour smoothly if they punched another hole in the can, the girls were **furious** with me for point out the problem and solution.
Well...I feel like that now. Government schools are literally destroying our hope for freedom, and very few people recognize the problem or can even conceive of a solution.
By the way, I am pleased to see the article today with the headline using “Yellow Prison Bus”...but...it is too little, and far too late to make any difference.
Somber concept, but I’m not certain that the current political climate is the same as it was. In fact, this makes me feel more positive. Maybe now people will begin to understand the Constitution better and learn to question anti-constitution powers-that-be.
I’m curious what will shake out in Congress. If the rats get their way, outrage doubles. If they back down, we win the battle. If they compromise, outrage will nearly double anyway. Lose-lose for them. Thank God the GOP is almost completely united in opposition. — FRegards ....
“If conservatives had worked to shut down government schools, and worked to get kids into tuition-free private ( conservative) schools, even as little as 10 years ago, I think we could have turned this nation around.”
I agree. But not all is lost yet. So long as no major crisis isn’t around the corner to distract everyone, we will gain headway. — FRegards ....
How does one “opt out” of social security? The money is confiscated from my payroll check before I even receive it.
Government Education...Cannon fodder, for the rich and “friends of government.”
National review did a few articles a few years ago about Big Government republican leaning Christians who are happy with expanding government, as long as someone pro-life positions (abortion, embryonic stem cell, Terri Schivo) like Bush is in charge which they must assume will last forever, unlike now. The same for liberals who think Obama will be in office for ever to run their health care.
RE :” However, how is it that we trust those same people to run our child’s education? How is this any different? And this is not just a liberal democrat thing; George Bush was the one who gave us “No Child Left Behind.” This was a monument to socialistic, government-run, unconstitutional mis-education. This was a massive overreach by the Federal RE :”Government that met little or no opposition (see one rare example here). Where were the town hall protests? Where were the flag-waving, gun-toting protestors? Where was the political right? Instead, all we heard was, “accountability is a good thing.” Never mind the Constitution. “
This point rings a bell. It's why I am very wary of a republican winning the white house again. He sold us out on school vouchers to get a bill with Kennedy to win the single Mom vote in 2004 (it only worked for one election.)This was a terrible betrayal and most conservatives were just happy he won again and didnt care how.
RE :” Perhaps the most ironic aspect of the current uproar is the fact that people who put their children on the yellow prison bus and send them to the school designated by the State ”
This is not exactly true. People select neighborhoods based on the school district here in Maryland. Most money comes from the county. But yes, Bush pexpanded federal control and money to buy votes.
Wrong ;-)
It is too late if you think that we are going to retrieve some past “golden age”. But if you recognize that the old order is heading over a cliff and that we are gathering a remnant that will not recreate the past, but build something new on the ashes of the past, things are very interesting indeed.
The chances are good that the entire scrofulous Progressive Era, New Deal, New Frontier, Great Society, Yes We Can! project is going to collapse into a morass of economic ruin during this administration. If it does, the left will properly get the blame for the catastrophe and will be hated by all those who liked their transfer payments. A delicious irony.
Like Social Security and Medicare, government schools are collapsing. As these rotten institutions continue to discredit themselves, there is the potential to make changes as a result of the crisis that is going to be the political undoing of the current administration—— changes that would be impossible through our corrupt political system. What matters is how large our remnant is, and that will largely depend on how diligent we are in working to deinstitutionalize families and their children.
Even if none of this comes to pass, I enjoy asking government school parents how it feels to be welfare recipients...particularly if they claim to be “conservatives”.
Pastors can...
“How does one “opt out” of social security? The money is confiscated from my payroll check before I even receive it.”
You become a pastor. Then you can opt out based on a moral objection.
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