[Amelia]

And we have had public education for nearly 100 years

We've had compulsory education is most states for nearly 100 years, but there was public education in the United States before it was even a sovereign nation, and most state constitutions say that a major function of the state government is public education.

SoftballMom, weren't you the one with the long list of Thomas Jefferson quotes on why public education was a necessity for a free society?

[SoftballMominVA]

Thomas Jefferson not only believed in compulsory public education, he believed that the expense should be shared by the community. Now, true, he did not say the FEDERAL government should pay for it, but thinking back, this was a time when the federal government was still figuring out how to get off the ground, so he may have never foreseen the monster we have now and the ability to simply take what it wants.

Not that we are in a better spot now. Maybe we would all be better to go to plows and horses and let the rest of the world go to hell in a handbasket - except I don't think the oceans are the protectors they once were