What is it All About?

Over recent weeks, the Senate has been in a semi-confirmation approving process on the new President’s Cabinet nominees, which has proved to be a half-hearted attempt to follow the established protocol. From all accounts, the process has never slower, more embarrassing, more mean-spirited, or more partisan. That word . . . partisan . . . is thrown around Washington D. C. regularly by folks who don’t really know the meaning of the word? Or do they?

The word actually has two meanings, as follows:

1. A member or a party of light, fast-moving irregular groups engaged in harassing and otherwise irritating and confusing the enemy . . . such as a guerrilla band;

2. In politics, a partisan is a committed member of a political party in a multi-party system. The term is used for politicians who strongly support the policies of their own party; and

3. If something is prejudicial toward a particular point of view, you can call it partisan.

The truth of the matter is that many very bright and knowledgeable folks on the outside of the circle have declared the new President’s Cabinet members as being quite exceptional. Very few are viewed as politicians, as they have left the workforce (from high-up positions) to answer the call to serve their country. They are folks who have played leadership roles in their own field, and have done so with distinction. Some say this is quite likely the greatest Cabinet ever assembled. I concur with that assessment. These are folks who will be like those early on in our nation’s history . . . they will go to Washington, do their best to serve their country, and when the task is finished they will return back home, hook up their own mule to their own plow and get back to plowing their very own field. I understand that many of them, in the same manner as the new President, have declined the salary that goes with the position. For them it isn’t about money or bettering themselves.

In the Senate committee hearings, the Democratic Senators have clearly shown that their interest is far from being what is best for the USA. Their interest is clearly more akin to the #1 definition above. Frankly, they are embarrassing with their long-winded, simple-minded speeches, and ignorant questions. They fail to understand that the process was not created in order that the nation could hear from and about them . . . it is supposed to be so that the nation can hear from the Nominee directly. The truth be told, the Rex Tillerson hearing was pitiful. That brilliant man, who knows the nations of the world ten times better any Senator, answered questions for nine straight hours, rapid fire, without pause, without the use of a single note, and did so with considerable grace.

Each Nominee has received the same low-class, low-rent treatment . . . yet each and every one has risen above the questioners and demonstrated why they had been nominated. In fact, the Democrat Senators have even taken to simply not showing up for hearings. I know of no other way of describing it than calling it dereliction of duty.

Perhaps one of the most embarrassing hearings has been that of Betsy De Vos, successful business woman of Michigan. She has served as an advocate of school choice, voucher program, and a member of the Reformed Christian Community. She has been an advocate of the Detroit charter school system. She is also a board member of the Foundation for Excellence in Education. In her committee hearings, she was polite, gracious, and met her examiners heard-on and straight-up. Her answers were often along the lines of “that ought to be a decision left to the local school board and state government.” She clearly understands that Washington and the federal government and its one-size-fits-all approach to education does not work . . . it never has and never will. My wife, Sandy, has a non-traditional classroom full of self-learning, self-paced students who simply cannot function in the traditional classroom. It serves the district well to have this alternate method of learning.

The great economist Friedrich Hayek is the father of Austrian economics, a Nobel Prize winner, and author of The Road to Serfdom. One of his greatest contributions was his work on the use of knowledge in society. His position was both simple and brilliant . . . no one individual has sufficient information to create a budget. That is what the Federal Department of Education and the Democratic, big government advocates simply do not comprehend.

The truth in government, education, or most anything else . . . including businesses, organizations, and Churches is that the top-down method of operation simply does not work. It merely leaves the folks at the most important level confused and frustrated while leaving the folks are the top of the heap feeling smart and important and full of themselves. Rick Warren, in his best-selling book, “The Purpose Driven Life,” wrote in page 1, “It ain’t about you!” What a great message to each of us in everything. The message that needs to be delivered to the obstructionists is . . . American education is not about money, power, politics, or central government . . . it is supposed to be about our kids! It has been well said, “A mind is a terrible thing to waste!”

 

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