
I have often made the case that the Constitution of the United States and common sense dictate that states, not the Federal government, must be the arbitrators of what happens in our schools. This of course leads me to thoughts of Jeb Bush – who seems to think (or his supporters do) that he could actually win the Presidency in 2016. I have a message for Governor Bush.
Dear Gov. Bush,
We are on to you. You were apparently a fine governor at one time, but that was a few years ago, before you drifted pretty far left for someone with an “R” after his name. Today everyone has the internet. People are far more knowledgeable and savvy than they were even in 2000. President Obama and the Democrats have, by their unconstitutional policies and their actions, opened the eyes of a large number of people. America is a center-right country, whereas you and your whole family are at best center-left, although “Democrat Light” is probably more accurate.
Don’t even think of utilizing your wife, Columba, in your effort to win the White House; it will simply make you look like an opportunist. She is Hispanic. So what? So are a lot of people. This would be pretty lame and exploiting her background will be very transparent while delighting the media who hate all Republicans and will find it an excellent way to do what they want to do – turn on you.
Go, please go, I don’t care how or why. Maybe the Democrat Party would like to, as some have suggested, have you run with Mrs. Clinton. Ideologically this would be a better fit for you. The base of the Republican Party doesn’t want you and maybe some of the rest of the party sees through you as well.
I supported your father for President and I supported your brother for President, but I won’t support you. I’ve had enough of the Bush family, but mostly I’ve had enough RINOs. I was a conservative when each of these men ran for president and believed initially that they too were conservatives, but that wasn’t so. I have learned a lot about politics over the last ten years, and I don’t want you as President. I want a true conservative, although I won’t be upset if someone else, someone with good ideas and a forceful personality wins. I voted for Ronald Reagan and I’m looking for another Reagan (or at least a reasonable facsimile). You just don’t cut it and it is too late now.
You have clearly come out in favor of an unconstitutional approach to education. Ronald Reagan trusted the Democrats and thought he had made a deal that would eliminate the Department of Education. The creation of this department was simply a payoff from Jimmy Carter to the teacher’s unions who helped get him elected. Reagan never trusted the Democrats again after he was betrayed by them over this issue. We know you know this, but it doesn’t matter to you. It may have something to do with the millions of dollars you expect to receive by supporting Common Core, a nationalization of American education. Just because Bill Gates and other wealthy men support Common Core does not make it right or good for America. What do they know about the Constitution? Or American history? Or the values of the American people?
The more the American people know about Common Core, the more they hate it. Common Core has been exposed as an attempt to create a nationalized education system, in direct violation of the 10th Amendment to the Constitution. This promotion and your standing to make a great deal of money from it – doesn’t help your cause.
Furthermore, although statistics on homeschooled children are hard to come by, there are an estimated 1.5 million American children being homeschooled. Homeschooling grew from 2012 to 2013 by 7.6%, which, of course, might be because one parent is jobless and staying at home. Even so, this is an astonishing rate of growth. Even ten years ago the number of children homeschooled was substantially less than it is today, and twenty years ago the number of homeschoolers was virtually non-existent.
Homeschooled children and their parents know Common Core is a very bad idea. They probably also know something that you don’t seem to know or understand – it is unconstitutional. More than other demographics, people in homeschooling families are more likely to vote, and get out and tell their families, friends, and neighbors who they are voting for and why. The number of homeschoolers and their contacts is going to grow and grow before the next presidential election. And this is just one small component of the issue. Another component is all the voting, recently retired parents and grandparents of schoolchildren who attend public schools – these are people who have a lot of time to spend on the Internet, where they are learning more about Common Core and the more they see, the less they like it.
So supporting Common Core, a program that is now under attack nationally with many states opposing it, pulling out of it or pulling away from it, some even fighting it in courts of law, does not seem like a very smart political move. In fact supporting Common Core is beginning to look more and more like evidence of hubris, and we have had more than enough of that in the White House since your brother George left. The American people are in the process of rejecting Common Core. The American people reject Obama’s illegal amnesty program for illegal aliens. The American people will reject anyone who disagrees with their positions.
Susan North