I have a confession to make. At one point, fifteen years ago, I was on the verge of being a Libertarian. Up until then I was a left-leaning independent raised in a Republican household. My friend and roommate Scott sang the virtues of libertarianism and some of it appealed to me. I like the idea of personal responsibility and wasn’t too fond of the massive growth of government. The idea of Al Gore as President didn’t wow me and I’ll never forget the deer-in-the-headlights look George W. Bush showed during a debate when the question of foreign intervention was raised.
So I voted for the Libertarian Harry Brown. Ever since, I’ve blamed my miscast vote for the subsequent Presidency of George W. Bush, Iraq, and the current drift of America. But that’s a post for another day.
But back in my pre-kid days, libertarianism sounded intriguing. Why shouldn’t everyone do things for themselves? AFter all, I was successful. If I could do it anyone could do it, right?
Then slowly I began to consider the enormous advantages I’d had growing up, with a loving family, a decent education, a safe home, and little want for anything. I realized that not everyone shares the same advantages. No one ever really makes it on his own. Not in this world, anyway. We all stand on the shoulders of giants.
My thoughts then turned to those less fortunate. There are still children in America who arrive at their school hungry. Think about that! Here in the land of plenty, America’s sons and daughters go to school with empty stomachs. How in the hell can a kid learn if she’s starving?
This is something many on the right don’t seem to comprehend. Many of those who profess to be “pro-life” couldn’t give a shit about a kid after it’s born. This boggles my mind. The other day, I shared news on Facebook about Baltimore County Schools making meals free for all school kids. No kid should ever go hungry, I said, to which one of my conservative friends responded:
Free. No such thing. How about parents be responsible. We cannot raise people’s kids
And this illustrates the hole in libertarian thinking that I could not get around. I’m not the kind of guy who suffers at all from White Guilt. I consider myself more race-agnostic. Still, I can’t deny the huge advantage I had over others by growing up in a happy, fairly well-off family.
The bottom line is that we should not punish children for the choices their parents have made. Kids don’t have any say in those decisions. It’s not their fault they have to go to school hungry. A student constantly distracted by hunger will keep falling behind until he is hopelessly lost in his studies. That’s a damn shame, and totally preventable.
This same conservative friend blew a gasket when the Wake County Board of Commissioners recently voted to raise taxes to pay for schools.
“Thanks, dipshits,” he fumed. “They need to lean out their spending. WCPSS is out of control.”
I responded with the quote from Derek Bok, former president of Harvard University:
“If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.”
… and followed up with a quote from John Greene:
“Let me tell you why I like to pay taxes for schools even though I don’t personally have a kid in school. I don’t like living in a country with a bunch of stupid people.”
The point is that education is the key to making people self-sufficient. If people can’t be self-sufficient, they either go on the welfare rolls or into the prison system. So, we either pay for them now by providing a sound education or we pay for them later through welfare or prison time. It’s that whole “teach a man to fish” thing but it’s not just a cute saying. It’s true.
Not only do kids deserve to be free from hunger, they deserve an equal chance at success through education. Not everything will be equal or can be equal, of course, but we’re the dipshits if we aren’t committed to providing every kid a sound education.
Some parents make bad choices. Education is the key to rising above family circumstances and making something of oneself. We are all better off with more wisdom and less ignorance in our world.