Posted on 12/13/2016 7:09:53 PM PST by Starman417
As Donald Trump seeks to throw a wrench in the works of how government works... or more often, doesn't, we should be prepared to listen to Democrats and liberals wail at every move. Just look at the cries that welcomed the nomination of a climate change skeptic to run the borg known as the EPA. Remember, Trump's the guy who, after NYC wasted $13 million over two years failing to renovate Wollman Rink, went in and accomplished the task in 4 months for $2.25 million...
The reality is, Democrats and liberals rarely want government to actually improve things or solve problems... Sure, they say they say they want to improve schools, create more jobs, and reduce crime, but, they don’t really. And how do we know this? Because of the policies they advocate.
One place where this is obvious is in education. Liberals constantly advocate for an increase in education budgets, but there is a zero correlation between that spending and better performance. The United States spends more per pupil on education than any country in the developed world other than Switzerland, yet somehow American students rank in the twenties or thirties when compared to that same group.
And this is not new… Between 1970 and 2006 the per student cost of a K-12 education in the United States tripled while test scores remained flat. For the left, improving education means spending more money, not improving the actual education of students. That increase of money involves not only teacher’s and teacher salaries as they would have us think, but more ominously, administrators and non classroom personnel. Between 1950 and 2009 the number of students in the United States increased by 96% and the number of teachers increased by 386% while the number of administrators increased by 702%! And there’s more! In 21 states across the country, there are actually more non-classroom personnel in schools than there are teachers! In Texas, over the last 20 years while the student population grew by 37% the non-classroom staff grew four times as fast, surging by 172%.
All of this increase in spending and personnel might be reasonable if students were learning more and scoring better on tests, but they're not, particularly in the biggest urban school districts where most of the money is spent. And of course it’s the big cities where liberals have a virtual stranglehold on education… But then calls for education spending isn’t about education, it’s about government jobs, union dues, and ultimately Democrat campaign contributions.
Another example of liberals not really being interested in the welfare of the people they claim to support can be seen in California where immigration advocates are seeking to have the state destroy CalGang, a database compiled over years that contains the names and information on 150,000 suspected gang members across the state - or at least put it in some inaccessible lockbox.
Why would liberals want this database destroyed? So that Donald Trump can’t access it. Still, why? Because a state auditor observed last year that approximately 13% of the database represented names that were “inappropriately included”. That includes names that should never have been added in the first place, names that should have been taken off for being “inaccurate”, or youths whose parents were not properly notified prior to their being added. In addition the database might be sexist and racist because it’s 93% male and disproportionately minority as 64.9% of its database is Hispanic and 20.5% black.
Activists don’t want Donald Trump to be able to access the information so that hen't can fulfill his campaign promise of deporting illegal aliens who have committed crimes.
(Excerpt) Read more at floppingaces.net ...
Liberals define success as having the most people on some sort of welfare. They even have welfare programs to advertise and recruit to potential welfare “customers.” If they actually solved a problem they would be useless and would lose votes.
Bookmarked.
Some of the worst schools in America, are found in some major cities.
And some of these cities have been run by Democrats for generations.
And many of these cities have big minority populations, and have seen many minority mayors, city council people, minority members of boards of education, minority principals of schools, etc.
So, given that many of these places are run by minorities and Democrats, how can any of the problems of these places be blamed either on racism or Republicans???
Sorry to answer my own post, but meant to add:
Considering what I’ve noted here, and considering that some of these places have seen Democrats or members of minority groups in charge for decades and decades, how much time is needed to solve the problems found in these places???
If, for sake of argument, we say that Democrat plans for our cities and schools will solve the problems found in our cities, why haven’t the Democrats who are continually re-elected to be in charge solved the problems??
If, for sake of argument, we say that somehow race is a factor in the sad state of public schools in so many cities, how is it that decades of blacks or other minority members running schools attended by students of those minority groups, have resulted in abject failure???
If, for sake of argument, we say that the problems of the cities can’t be solved quickly, how many more decades of Democrat or minority rule will be needed, to turn around these God forsaken places????
“Customers” is right! Same thing with the “charities” who are in the refugee-importing business, getting paid per head to destroy our country.
Anyone who is aware of Obama’s mismanagement of the Chicago Annenburg Challenge swag would implicitly understand this.
CAC should have sunk Obama’s career in a sane world, yet it seems almost like pissing off a hundred million plus and achieving bupkis is resume material for Democrats.
Rudy Giuliani said that when he became Mayor of NYC, he found that the welfare department handed out raises based on how big the agent's workload was. He changed it to where they got raises depending upon how many people they got OFF the rolls.
I suspect it has gone back to the old way with DeBlasio in charge now.
Schools have turned into a jobs program for Democrats.
I would make every current teacher have to pass a test showing they know how to read, write, and do math at a level that we expect high school graduates to perform to. I think a shocking number of teachers would fail.
Liberals define success as having the most people on some sort of welfare. They even have welfare programs to advertise and recruit to potential welfare “customers.” If they actually solved a problem they would be useless and would lose votes.
___________________________
You’re on to a great point here. Leftists have a completely different playbook to measure success. More people covered by welfare, government expanded, LBGT rights, etc., are their measures. Not a growing economy and lifestyle as we strive for.
This article shows one of the reasons the education costs are so high - the number of administrators and non-teaching personnel.
I remember reading an article some years ago about the difference in costs and graduation rates in a large city - IIRC it was St. Louis, MO. The Catholic schools cost much less per pupil than the public schools did and had much higher graduation rates and the pupils had much higher grades and test scores. The main difference in cost was that the Catholic schools had many fewer employees in an administrative type position than the public schools. Again, this was quite a few years ago, so it’s probably much worse now.
Just a Few of Over 3,700 Politically Appointed Jobs
Aside from Cabinet secretaries and Supreme Court justices, whose nominations require the approval of the Senate, the President of the United States currently has the authority to unilaterally appoint over 300 people to high-level positions within the federal government.
According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), most of these positions, known as "Presidential Appointments," pay from $99,628 to about $180,000 per year and include federal employee benefits.
http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/thepresidentandcabinet/a/Presidential-Appointments-No-Senate-Required.htm
Terrific essay by an American from a military family who grew up in Napoli. He has backbone!
Thanks for the PING. Good read!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
