[NCSteve]

I think you missed the point.

Since it is a government-run lottery (and a monopoly to boot) and the proceeds are specifically designated for school funding, those who do not care to be associated with the operation, either on religious or political grounds, have no escape other than to take their children out of the public schools. Furthermore, the government does not require you, by law, to buy a lottery ticket, but it does require you to send your children to a school recognized by itself.

Finally, it is rather silly to compare your "right" to buy a lottery ticket with your "right" to educate your children in the way you see fit. No one really cares if you gamble. If you really want to, you can zip over to Cherokee or up to Atlantic City. But if the government runs a gambling operation as monopoly and you are completely unable to opt out of the association, the government has impinged on your freedom.

You are arguing convenience against necessity and that boat won't float.

[Beemnseven]

I understand the point the author is trying to make, I simply disagree with his conclusion. My point is that people freely decide for themselves whether or not to bring children into this world. Too often in this country, couples fail to take into account the costs of raising children, specifically with regard to their educational needs. Instead, they dismiss that crucial responsibility and shift it over to the government. If those people then decide they don't agree with how government schools are funded, then they can remove their children and proceed with private education. It would be absurd for those same couples to then prevent government from certain tax generating practices solely on the basis of moral grounds, while forcing everyone else to adjust to their beliefs. The burden falls on those who have a problem to disassociate themselves with it, not to seek a position of authority that approves and disapproves of funding alternatives as they see fit. There’s no loss of freedom for them; they are free to stay or go. They are not free however, for the subsidies of the public schools and all those who attend to hinge on their moral beliefs.

In short, if you don't like it -- get your kids out. If you can't afford to, then you should have thought of that before you got yourselves pregnant and that's the fault of nobody else but yours.

I'd also like to comment on your use of quotes while typing the word right. By using those quotes, are you insinuating that buying something in a legal marketplace -- a lottery ticket in our example -- is somehow not a right?

Am I to assume that in your mind, it must be written somewhere on legal parchment or an ancient relic sitting in the National Archives for something to be a right? You may find it "silly" that one individual's desire to purchase a lottery ticket is comparable to another's desire to choose particular avenues of education. But to each, their desires are important to them individually. You cannot compare the value of both and decide what is more or less important. Freedom works both ways.