When the Leftists say “For the Children”, they mean “For the School System”.
The DC voucher program was knifed in the back with the passage of the Omnibus Bill. Democrats stated their tired and old blather about how “vouchers take money out of the system” and “private schools don’t do that much better than public schools on average”.
Republicans talked about the “Right to “Choose” (something the Dems always forget about on this issue, oddly enough) and how, if Democrat politicians can send their kids to private schools, why shouldn’t middle-class Americans?
Steve Benen, at Washington Monthly’s Political Animal blog wrote those typical leftist lines and then attempted an analogy which proved, to anyone who can think analytically, that he is an idiot.
But my problem with Ensign’s pitch isn’t just that it’s personal and unpersuasive; it’s also rather selective. To hear Ensign tell it, Durbin has the choice to send his kids to private schools, so he should support giving all Americans the same choice. If it’s good enough for the senator, the argument goes, shouldn’t regular ol’ families who can’t afford parochial schools have the same option?
What I’d like is for Ensign to consider this same dynamic outside of education spending. For example, every member of Congress has access to top-notch, taxpayer-subsidized health care. Does Ensign support extending the same opportunities to regular ol’ families who can’t afford insurance? After all, if it’s good enough for the senator, shouldn’t everyone else have the same option?
First of all, by the time you reach the wealth-point of “federal elected official” you are of means to be able to pay for your own private insurance. That they keep the above mentioned program for themselves up and running is corruption, pure and simple (well stay away from repeated mention of the ironic situation wherein Teddy “Splash” Kennedy uses his private funds to prolong his life so he can campaign for socialized medicine).
Secondly, last I checked, local governments don’t make it illegal to not have medical insurance coverage for your children.
Now, while I don’t like mentioning that second fact because it might give some hyper-leftists the idea that the government should do that, it is a fact that if you don’t register and ship your kids off to public schools, you have to file paperwork stating which private school they are attending. IF (and this is a big if) your state ALLOWS you to home school your children, your paperwork burden is mountainous. Failure to keep up with the paperwork will (not may) result in fines, arrest and removal of your children from your home.
If ever there were an apples to oranges comparison made to propagate one’s insipid opinion, Benen made it right there. That his sycophants either can’t see it or don’t want to see it is proof of both their lack of intelligence and their willingness to lie to themselves.
Nevermind the fact that, in the strictest sense, Congress’ health care plan is employer-provided insurance, and the quality of the plan is probably on a par with what folks in Congress’ income strata in the real world also get from their employers.
Of course, in Congress’ situation, it’s kind of warped, because they’re the only employees in the world who can force their employers (the people) to give them (Congress) what they want.
The Congressional health care plan is no different than what is available to any other Federal Employee (not including members of the Military which are limited to Tricare).
That means that Members of Congress have to in fact give up a portion of their paycheck to get health care benefits, the same way any other FedGov employee does. The old meme that “Congress gets free health care” is simply false.