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From: newsandviews_list@chuckmuth.com
Sent: Wednesday, February 04, 2004 2:59 PM
To: News & Views
Subject: Muth's Truths - February 4, 2004
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MUTH'S TRUTHS
February 4, 2004
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"WHERE HAVE YOU GONE, TOMMY JEFFERSON?"
Has the invasion of the body-snatchers hit some Virginia Republicans? You be the
judge...
Did you know that Virginia parents with "only" a high school diploma are banned
from home schooling their own kids unless they subject themselves to a
government-mandated correspondence course or get a public school bureaucrat to
certify that the curriculum the parents are using meet or exceed the public
schools' "Standards of Learning"? I didn't...until this week when I read about a
bill being introduced in the Virginia legislature to repeal the requirement.
Leaving aside for the moment the fact that, based on the evidence, it shouldn't
be very hard to exceed the "lofty" standards for learning set by our government
schools, who in the heck is the government to tell parents with "only" high
school diplomas that they can't home school their kids?
Neither my wife nor I have a bachelor's degree. Yet our oldest daughter, Kristen
- who isn't even four yet - already knows her alphabet, her numbers, is starting
to add and spell and already "reads" from memory. She not only knows what a
paleontologist is and does, she can PROUNOUNCE it. Not bad for us home-schooling
"dummies," I'd say.
Yet Virginia Delegate James H. Dillard II - a Republican and chairman of the
education committee - is urging his colleagues to reject the bill, saying it
would be "lowering the standards for 22,000 students" and "removing the safety
net for these children."
That kinda talk makes my blood boil. And from a REPUBLICAN?
I'll put my kid, home schooled by "only" high-school-graduate parents up against
any day-care educated kid her age. But if we lived in Virginia - the home of
Thomas Jefferson, the first and maybe only legitimate "education president" -
the government would have the "right" to prohibit me from teaching my own kids
unless we submit to the dictates and whims of the government?
I don't think so.
This is exactly the sort of heavy-handed, busy-body government that the
Revolution was all about. Apparently, King Dillard the Second missed that part
of history class. I wonder if he wears a "red coat" to committee hearings.
Then there's Virginia state Sen. John Chichester, who's been in the General
Assembly for 26 years. He ran for re-election last year on a platform of
"Leading the fight for lower taxes." He was re-elected in the primary by a 2-1
margin. He thanked the GOP voters for their confidence by.spitting in their eye.
As Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Chichester has proposed a $2.5
billion tax INCREASE this year. That's bigger even than the tax hike proposed by
DEMOCRAT Gov. Mark Warner.
Local Republican leaders are rightfully furious.
The 1st Congressional District Republican Committee issued a resolution last
week saying, in part, "If Sen. Chichester continues his support for such massive
tax increases on all Virginians, we regretfully request he switch his
affiliation to a more suitable political party for such an agenda."
Which is a polite way of saying, "Take a hike, Johnny...and don't let the door
hit you in the a** on the way out."
Chichester responded by calling the resolution "embarrassing" and "offensive" to
Republican voters.
No, the only thing "offensive" here is an over-the-hill RINO (Republican In Name
Only) proposing a $2.5 billion tax hike after giving Republican voters the ol'
bait-and-switch on the campaign trail last year.
We might suggest that if Sen. Chichester doesn't change his evil ways or leave
the party voluntarily, that the 1st Congressional District Republican Committee
take the next step and excommunicate him. Sometimes you just have to make an
example out of one unruly child to get the other kids in the sandbox to act
"right." Might want to fetch a switch for Delegate Dillard, as well.
In the meantime, Tommy Jefferson is rolling over in his Monticello grave.
# # #
Chuck Muth is president of Citizen Outreach, a non-profit public policy advocacy
organization in Washington, D.C. The views expressed are his own and do not
necessarily reflect the views of Citizen Outreach. He may be reached at chuck@citizenoutreach.com.
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