Sunday, January 01, 2006

New Year's Eve Party at Jack's House

Jack and Hillary Evan threw a New Year's Eve party last night. I did drop in, but just as Cinderella had to be home by midnight, I had to be at work by 12am or I would have turned into an unemployed person. (Just kidding! I love my job, my company, and my boss in a platonic and professional way. But my shift started the same time the new year did.)

The highlight of the evening was watching Mike Sylvester debate with some guy named Shawn who works at the library. Shawn insisted that if Mike wanted to stay true to his libertarian beliefs, then he should have sent his kids to a private school. Shawn seemed to be fairly left-wing. This was like watching a gentile lecture a rabbi on how to keep kosher. (I wish I thought of that retort when I was still at the party.)

Jack and Hill, I don't think you read this blog. I could say all sorts of thing about you in this space, but I'm going to say that you both threw a great party. Happy New Year to all.

On a totally unrelated note, "I Like Mike Sly" campaign buttons are on sale at the LPAC store www.cafepress.com/lpallencounty The famous "Bring Mark Souder Home" button are now available here http://www.cafepress.com/classical_lib

9 comments:

  1. Hmm, I would have liked to hear that debate about school. Care to summarize it for us?

    ReplyDelete
  2. That was the summary. Shawn had insisted that if Mike was to stay consistent with the libertarian philosophy, then he must send his kids to a pirvate school or educate them at home.

    My thoughts are that since Mike is paying more into the system than average, he does not need to feel guilty about getting a government mandated education for his kids at a government funded school. Any possible statist indoctrination can be undone at home.

    Its quite ironic that the economics course that I took at South Side High School preach lassiez faire capitalism, then made us preform state mandated community service in order to pass the class and recieve the diploma.

    One could argue that I didn't have to do the service, and they didn't have to give me the diploma. I cannot fully condemn a public school for doing something a private school would be likely to do in the same situation. But it had a deep negative impact on our graduation rates since you had to do it in order to graduate.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sorry, I went off on a tangent. But I think that is part of my appeal.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Well, to me it's not so much about guilt as it is about leadership and consistency of the message. Libertarians believe that we do not need government involved in the education of our children, so the best thing to do is to be a good example of what that means isn't it?

    Also, so often people talk about the parents being forced to pay, but there are plenty of folks out there with no kids who still have to pay and yet, they can't get some of their money "back" by sending their kid to the government school. How would libertarians speak to them? At least by not sending your own children, you can tell them you will not add to their burden.

    If you're right, and the possible statist indoctrination can indeed be undone at home, then I suppose a parent would know she was successful at doing so at the time the child questions the parent as to why they are being sent to a government funded institution. ;)

    P.S. I don't mind if you go off tangent. I might learn something in the process. :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. The national average for per student runs about $8000 a year. I doubt very much however, that NW Allen County Schools would come even close to saving that much if Kayla Sylvester attends a Christian school. (There are no secular private schools in Allen County that I am aware of.)

    We don't need government involvement in education, but the fact is that it is involved, and it is going to remain involved for the foreseeable future. That being said, Mike is taking steps to reduce that involvement by running for school board. And having his kids attend a NWAC school greatly improves the odds of him succeeding in this task.

    ReplyDelete
  6. My dad is a Libertarian, and I knew exactly why I attended a public school. It was either go to the public school, or have Mom quit her job and teach me at home. You must understand that my parents decided not to forgo my mom's annual salary in order to save taxpayers 8k a year.

    ReplyDelete
  7. So then how would you speak to the voters, especially those who have no children and those who send their children elsewhere, and do not want to support the government schools? How does voting libertarian help them any more than voting for any other candidate that supports and legitimizes the system, but claims that they will make sure the money that is coerced is spent "correctly?"

    ReplyDelete
  8. If a majority of voters thought that way, then we would already be set. I strongly suspect that the majority of voters in most school board elections are people who want the government to provide an education. If people think that this will be the last semester of "free" education, then nobody outside of LPAC or Mike's immediate family will vote for him.

    You can think of governemt as a knife in the torso. If you just pull it out, you could bleed to death. Those who are dependent on the State to survive are its greatest victims. For the time being, they are dependent on that knife to survive. We have to control the bleeding, reconnect broken blood vessels, and repair damaged organs.

    You know I probably should talk to Dr Bisson before I use medical metaphors to explain political concepts. In the past I was used to using cars metaphors.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Robert:
    If a majority of voters thought that way, then we would already be set.

    Debbie:
    Well, I have to admit that's certainly a good point. And the discussion does end up kind of weird once someone who claims to be libertarian decides to run for something as unlibertarian as a government school board. I mean, most libertarian points are already lost before we even begin.

    The only real merit I see in such a campaign is to use it as an educational vehicle to spread libertarian ideas. The downside is that it helps legitimize government involvement in education.

    Many people think they are trapped because no one is telling them there are viable options out there and it can be done.

    So I'll watch the campaign with interest, but in action I'll continue to work to help any family I can who wants to find a way to get their kids out of the government schools.

    If you and Mike ever hear of anyone who want to know more about homeschooling as an option for getting their kids the hell out of government schools, send them on to me.

    I'll help them get their first real taste of freedom because Indiana is one of THE best states for homeschooling. :)

    ReplyDelete