The ultimate bait and switch

By Diane Wheeler
Reader Contributor

My dad explained the practice when I was a child, and I have never forgotten it. Advertise a product for a great deal, then, when the customer arrives at the store, claim it isn’t available and offer another product that costs more. 

We were told by candidate Donald Trump that he would be downsizing the federal government when he got into office. One of the most notable deals he wanted to do was to scuttle the Department of Education. Those of us who want to see the federal government downsized into its legitimate role put on our party hats and celebrated.

The Constitution does not mention education as one of its enumerated duties. Education belongs to the states, but former-President Jimmy Carter pushed it through in 1979. Since then, it has continued to evolve into a gift for the constituency favored by whoever happens to be in the White House. 

Today I learned that President Trump signed an executive order directing the Department of Education to divvy out seed money to fund “school choice.” For those who have lived on Mars for the past few decades, “school choice” is a euphemism for funding private education with tax dollars. The Department of Education announced the release of $33 million to start the ball rolling.

“School choice” is the brainchild of several “Eastern-Bloc” Washington based think tanks. They have been masquerading as friends of private education for decades. They endorse universal education at taxpayer expense. This concept is not new — just read the 10th plank of the 1848 Communist Manifesto. 

These think tanks targeted the religious and political leaders in each state. They offered these leaders “fellowships” in their organizations or took them on paid junkets to their headquarters. The key to their successful strategy was the demonization of all public schools and the shaming of those who pay for their own private education — the old divide-and-conquer technique. 

And regardless of whether all their claims are true, dissatisfaction with public education remains their biggest selling point. But underneath all the propaganda is a great big pot of money — government money — that is waiting to be transferred into other people’s pockets.

“School choice” would make Stalin and Lennin very happy, but it shouldn’t be marketed by conservatives that claim they follow the Constitution.

Will the federal government get smaller if all students in America get a check in the mail? What other programs will need to be cut in order to fund this bait-and-switch program? Will we need to borrow more money from China so that our children’s children can pay it back?

No. It’s time to stop rearranging the deck chairs on a sinking ship. It’s time to stop using any federal dollars for education, no matter what you call it. It’s time to substantially increase the Dependent Tax Exemption, so each family can retain more of their own hard-earned income to spend on their children as they see fit. Finally, it is time for Republicans and Democrats, the president and Congress to work together to scuttle the ship we call the Department of Education. 

Diane Wheeler has been a private school advocate for the past 40 years. She teaches a class entitled “Liberty and Law.”