As a traditional conservative, I was hoping President-elect Trump would appoint a traditional conservative as the new U.S. Secretary of Education. Constitutional conservatives had hoped that Trump would abolish the U.S. Department of Education entirely, as the U.S. Constitution in Amendment 10 states that "powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited to it by the states, are reserved to the States ...". It is unconstitutional, therefore, that the federal government dictate anything concerning our state public schools. Constitutional conservatives (traditional conservatives) believe the U.S. Constitution forbids the federal government from meddling in our public schools. Liberals and corporate conservatives, however, believe the federal government should control our public schools and spend massive amounts of tax dollars in doing so. I was shocked and dismayed, as were many traditional conservatives, when President-elect Trump nominated "Bet$y DeVo$" (a devout corporate conservative) to the post of U.S. Education Secretary.
The differences are vast between traditional conservatism and corporate conservatism. As a matter of fact, the only similarity the two political philosophies share is that they both claim republican party. Traditional conservatives believe in low government spending, while corporate conservatives spend tax dollars profusely. Traditional conservatives believe the tenets of the U.S. Constitution should be strictly followed ; Corporate conservatives believe the U.S. Constitution can be bent, when it comes to controlling state and local government. Traditional conservatives believe in retaining traditional social institutions, such as public schools; Corporate conservatives believe in the corporate transformation and privatization of public schools. As a matter of fact, corporate conservatives are very closely related to corporate liberals, as they both share the same basic political philosophies.
According to "A View from the Edge" (a traditional conservative's blog about our public schools and politics), Bet$y DeVo$ is a billionaire who has no education degree, no teaching degree, no experience working in a school environment, never attended public school or state university, never put her own children in public school, does not believe in or support public education, believes that public school teachers are overpaid, supports for-profit education, invested $200 million in religious schools and corporate charter schools, and doggedly advocates funneling state tax dollars out of public education and into for-profit, private education. As a matter of fact, "for the past 15 years DeVo$ has used her family money and influence to push an agenda to transfer public tax dollars over to international and foreign corporate schools".
DeVo$ has spent the last few years as Chairman of the American Federation for Children (AFC), a "dark money" group out of Washington D.C., which has as its vision "the transformation of public education by breaking down the barriers to vouchers". In an AFC memo entitled "2016 Election Marks Historic Wins for Educational Choice (vouchers), DeVo$ bragged about the dark money group's successes in Oklahoma this past election season by saying - voucher "opponents in Oklahoma (public school supporters) chose to make this year's primary and general elections a litmus test on parental choice (vouchers) issues. It backfired as we beat their (public school) candidates soundly in the primary and ran the table in the general election races. These efforts create the perfect narrative (Perfect Storm) ... leading into next year's legislative session to enact robust ESA (voucher) legislation and expand (corporate) charter schools."
DeVo$ and the AFC then name their voucher candidates who won election to the Oklahoma House and Senate this year: Rob Standridge (R) Senate District (SD) 15, Julie Daniels (R) SD 29, Nathan Dahm (R) SD 33, Dan Newberry (R) SD 37, Kevin McDugle (R) HD 12, Tim Downing (R) HD 42, and Elise Hall (R) HD 100. Bear in mind, each of these winners are corporate conservatives, not traditional conservatives - identical to Bet$y DeVo$. The AFC poured more than $100,000 into the mudslinging of these candidate's opponents. "Yes, money talks ..., so we can count on each of these legislators to answer back to the AFC and Mr$ DeVo$ with their future (voucher) votes."
While I believe Mr. Trump is a traditional conservative, he has nominated a corporate conservative to be the next Secretary of the Department of Education. Traditional conservatives believe he would have been much better off by abolishing the U.S.D.E. altogether. Here's hoping he will re-consider, and do exactly that...
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