http://www.qando.net/ - Heading toward the tipping point

Parents in Connecticut might be the ones getting the report cards if a proposed plan makes the grade at a Manchester public school district.

Steven Edwards, a Republican member of the Manchester Board of Education who’s up for re-election Nov. 6, wants parents to be evaluated on a handful of what he says are objective measures — including whether their children have done the homework and eaten a good breakfast.

"I tried to design something modest [measuring] things that virtually everybody would agree parents should do to help their kids," Edwards said. "We don't have our staff making any subjective evaluations."

Really? Then what's the purpose? Obviously proposing this wasn't an idle thing and the "evaluations" were to be put to some use.

I don't think anyone would argue that some parents fall down on the job of preparing their children for the school day. But what purpose would be served by these proposed "evaluations"?

If government has any role whatsoever in this process, it is one of providing information. However to believe it somehow has the right to demand evaluations of parents is simply intrusive nonsense and another indicator of the infantilization of this society.

The idea has angered parents, and the local PTA vows to fight the plan.

"People are going to be extremely offended by it," said Jackie Madore, president of the Manchester Parent Teacher Association Town Council. "I don't feel the report cards on parental skills is the way to go. ... It's going to be the parents against the Board of Education, basically."

Edwards says parents aren't properly preparing their kids for school. He's proposed evaluations on whether parents get their children to class on time, ensure their kids have completed their homework each night and attend the twice-yearly parent-teacher conferences about the children’s report cards and academic progress.

And then what? That's the unanswered question. What will the school board do with that information? Excuse the kid for not doing as well as they assume he or she might do if the parents got a perfect score? In the end, what will that actually do for the child's education or future?

These sorts of anecdotes trouble me because they are indicators of a mindset that sees government as the best solution for any problem - the first place to turn. And they're becoming more and more numerous.

Don't like a situation? Devise a method to use government to pursue a solution. The irony, of course, is that in many cases the problems encountered are a result of previous governmental intrusion. As government becomes more and more involved in our everyday life, it demands more and more say in every aspect.

It is a creeping problem which I feel is nearing a tipping point. We read that polls are telling the Democrats that the mood of the people has swung toward being receptive to more and bigger government. Some argue it's a cyclic phenomenon in which the country accepts and then rejects big government. Yet the rejection phase never seems to lead to smaller or less intrusive government. At best it seems it is simply a moratorium on expansion until the next growth cycle comes along. And if I'm reading the tea leaves correctly we have a heck of a growth cycle facing us if the Dems win in '08. And I'm not optimistic about a chance to forestall it. Given the domestic agenda I see forming on the left, this may be the cycle that blows past the fail-safe point and commits us to the end of America as the Founders envisioned it.

(HT: looker)

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this may be the cycle that blows past the fail-safe point and commits us to the end of America as the Founders envisioned it.

I daresay we reached that point more than 70 years ago, and the seeds were sewn over 100 years past.

What actions of the past few generations restored liberty? The Civil Rights Act of 1964? Only in a very small way as it’s greater effect was a major expansion of the welfare state.

A very wise person said several years ago that America would not change course until the statist mindset changed for the overwhelming majority of Americans. I see no such change other than to replace the statism of the Left with the statism of the Right.

NOTE: Do not make the common mistake of interpreting technological advances in making our lives more comfortable with making us FREE. For example, the Internet will not make people any more capable of comprehending liberty if the seeds are not already between people’s ears.

Written By: Sharpshooter
URL: http://

the Internet will not make people any more capable of comprehending liberty if the seeds are not already between people’s ears.

If anything it will provide the opposite. Interactive escape from reality. The ability to expouse beliefs in freedom and liberty in 30 seconds from a keyboard.

I’ve been wondering lately, when’s the last time anyone here actually called their representatives? At any level of government? I’m as guilty as the next I suspect.

Written By: Ryan
URL: http://

I think we are already well past the tipping point. It is just a matter of waiting for the pain to arrive. Considering the federal government is hiding $50 trillion in obligations from the public then that pain is not going to be minor.

Written By: tkc
URL: http://

I’ve been wondering lately, when’s the last time anyone here actually called their representatives? At any level of government?

And tell their staff people...what?

That they should give up 90% of the power they and their predecessors usurped?

Do that, then use the form letter you get in response to supplement your bathroom supply.

Written By: Sharpshooter
URL: http://

It seems to me that this Republican is more a man of the left than of the right.

Written By: Don
URL: http://

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