[Recon Dad]

I wish I had your Ron Paul, but I am stuck with John Boehner, who has decided that the most important thing he can do is get reelected. My quandary is that here I am in a heavily conservative area, solid red zone and I have no alternatives. The party will never back someone else because they lose the seniority and that means less bacon coming home. The days of citizen representatives is over. If you take a position like Ron Paul your fighting the party system designed to reward those who conform.
A person who knows he has only 6 or 8 years to serve will be more inclined to make decisions that are not based on getting elected in the future.
I appreciate the presidents efforts in education reform, but I don't know that this is an area covered in the Constitution. At least he isn't throwing money at the education problem.
Thanks you for your response.

[libertyman]

Rep. Paul isn't my Representative (he is from Surfside, TX, & I'm in Ft. Smith, AR...my Rep. is John Boozman, who is a neocon). Just like you, I wish that a Ron Paul-like candidate would be elected in my district.

As for federal President Bush's efforts in education are concerned, they are flat-out unconstitutional (whatever happened to the GOP that wanted to eliminate the Dept. of Education???). Here's what James Madison had to say as a member of the house on february 7, 1792:

"If Congress can employ money indefinitely to the general welfare, & are the sole & supreme judges of the general welfare, they may take the care of religion into their own hands; they may appoint teachers in every state, county, & parish, & pay them out of their public treasury; they may take into their own hands the education of children establishing in like manner schools throughout the Union; they may assume the provision for the poor; they may undertake the regulation of all roads other than post-roads; in short, every thing, from the highest object of state legislation down to the most minute object of police, would be thrown under the power of Congress...".

So much for "No Child Left Behind"--I'd say, along w/ James Madison, that it's time to leave federal involvement in education behind! We should support (@ the FEDERAL level):

--the seperation of SCHOOL & state;

--the seperation of WELFARE & state;

--the seperation of TRANSPORTATION & state;

--the seperation of CRIMINAL LAW ENFORCEMENT & state (support your LOCAL police!), etc., etc., etc.!

The above issues are left to the states or the people to decide, as the 10th Amendment requires (y'all remember that one, right?).