Libertarian offers real solutions for education

This letter is in response to Brian Hartz's editorial "Politics more than donkeys and elephants." Do you know any Libertarians? How about Bill Maher from ABC's "Politically Incorrect," or David Letterman, Dennis Miller or Hugh Downs? A recent study showed that one-third of the people in the U.S. agree with these personalities on the issues affecting the upcoming election. Surprisingly, these men are all Libertarians. The Libertarian party was founded in 1971 by Democrats and Republicans who were fed up with the government's control over the lives of the American people. I couldn't sufficiently defend Harry Browne, the Libertarian presidential candidate, in this short article, but let's talk about education -- the matter deemed most important by Bush and Gore during their debate. \nFirst of all, the federal government has no constitutional right being involved in any way with education. To quote Harry Browne, "The best thing we can do for education is to repeal the income tax. Then you'll have the resources to put your child in any school you want -- private or religious -- or teach your child yourself. You can choose for yourself whether you want prayer in your school or no prayer, traditional or progressive education, sex education or no sex education. No more fighting with your neighbors, the school board, Congress or the Supreme Court." \nRepublicans want to spend money on vouchers for poorer public school students. Democrats want to allocate massive funds for smaller class sizes and more books. But does federal aid help education? Hardly. Federal funding of education increased dramatically during the 1960s and 1970s. Consequently, SAT scores steadily declined in comparison to those of the students of the era immediately following WWII (from mid 1940s to the mid 1960s). \nThat trend continues. Students of today know more about practicing safe sex and being good citizens than reading, writing and arithmetic. As Harry Browne says, "with the advancements made in communication technology, children should be learning much more than their parents and grandparents did." Instead, literacy rates and SAT scores are lower. \nIn Philadelphia, for example, a child can attend a parochial grade school for $1,700, yet taxpayers (yeah, that's you!) fork out $6,600 a year to send the same child to a public school. Ironically, private and parochial students still rise above the rest in inner city schools. In Philadelphia's public high schools you can take useful classes such as hotel management, and you aren't required to attend class in order to pass. Public schools don't work and haven't worked for 40 years! \nSo, what's the problem? Government. Big government -- it's exactly what Bush accuses Gore of promoting and what Libertarians criticize both Gore and Bush for supporting. The fact is that if we put schools in the hands of private and religious organizations and give parents the ability to choose schools by repealing the income tax, all American schools could shine. You'll never see this happen by voting for Gore or Bush. Vote Harry Browne for president or at least check out what the Libertarian party has to offer.