One-size-fits-all usually ends up meaning “one-size-fits-few.” And there is no exception when it comes to education. That was the message sent during a hearing held last week by the House Education and Workforce Committee: The federal government needs to step back and give states and schools more flexibility. During last Thursday’s hearing, “Education Reforms: Promoting Flexibility and Innovation,” witnesses testified of the importance of allowing schools to set their own course instead of being forced to comply with rigid demands set forth by Washington.
Pennsylvania residents in this year’s gubernatorial race will be casting their votes for school choice regardless of their political affiliation. In Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal, author Bill McGurn reports that both Democratic candidate Dan Onorato and his Republican opponent, state Attorney General Tom Corbett, are proponents of school choice. It is promising to see states opening more opportunity for the educational futures of children. For decades, the federal government has poured increasing amounts of money into public education under the guise of “reform,” yet test scores and achievement indicate no …
In a very rare visit to the press cabin of Air Force One yesterday, President Barack Obama told reporters that the White House will not be leading any immigration reform efforts in 2010. Obama said: “…I’ve been working Congress pretty hard. So I know, there may not be an appetite immediately to dive into another controversial issue.” Obama went on to assert that energy taxes were a higher priority, and that the election in November would make tackling immigration tough. Apparently, Majority Leader Harry Reid didn’t heed the President’s advice. …
Yesterday, President Obama signed his health spending bill into law promising the American people: “These reforms won’t give the government more control over your health care.” This statement is simply untrue, otherwise over 16,000 new IRS agents wouldn’t need to be hired to enforce the mandates. And if this was the case, Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) wouldn’t need to introduce an amendment to the reconciliation bill that would “limit the amount of discretion given to the Secretary of Health and Human Services under the current bill to determine acceptable levels …
America stands on the precipice of sweeping liberal health care reform that will radically reshape one-sixth of the U.S. economy, and a 153-page House bill is all that stands between us and a fundamentally changed America. What will that change look like? Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said, “we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it,” and President Barack Obama said, “By the time the vote has taken place, not only will I know what’s in it, you’ll know what’s in it.” In …
In a startlingly blunt manner, French President Nicolas Sarkozy today demanded that the United Nations be reformed and argued that key international issues could not be resolved by negotiations among 192 U.N. member countries. According to the AFP account, Sarkozy announced that “The UN is absolutely indispensable and yet at the same time, it’s not working … I am certain that we need to reform the United Nations, otherwise the United Nations will end up in an impasse.” He went on to criticize the practice of negotiating agreements among all …
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFMLzi2CBII[/youtube] It’s simple: “Our approach in Utah is to give consumers more choice,” said Governor Herbert during a Heritage Foundation visit earlier this week. “If we can put them in the control position where they’re spending dollars that are their own, they’re going to make better choices.” Similarly, the Governor believes that States, not the federal government will be better at fixing what ails America’s health care system. “It really ought to be the states leading on health care reform,” he said. In fact, “states want to be partners” with …
In today’s edition of “Outside the Beltway,” where we semi-regularly post state and local stories of either conservatism at its best, or liberalism at its worst, we find conservatism at its best. Dennis Lennox recently ran and was elected as the Cheboygan, Michigan, Drain Commissioner. His platform? Eliminating the job altogether. See, it turns out that Michigan law mandates that counties, such as Cheboygan, that have over 12,000 people must have a drain commissioner. The problem? Cheboygan doesn’t have any drains to regulate. So Dennis Lennox, realizing the absurdity of …
