Socialism and Education
I read George McGovern and few days ago responding to VP Cheney about war.
People call McGovern the peace candidate now. I voted for him, but by campaign-time Nixon had started withdrawing from Vietnam, and McGovern's issues were domestic rather than war. A key one being a guaranteed national income. I remember arguing for McGovern's ideas in my economics classes at Grinnell College.
Now we have Colin Hitt over at Illinois Policy Institute offering this worthy proposal,
If their rhetoric is believable, if they’re serious about reforming public education, then Illinois lawmakers should consider creating an ‘earned education tax credit’: an annual $4,000 refundable tax credit for every student under the age of 23. The credit would count towards books and materials, but also towards the tuition costs of preschool, private school and college. A $4,000 tax credit – a scholarship in effect – would instantaneously deliver on promises from politicians on both sides of the aisle, and it would dramatically improve public education in Illinois.My wife is a follower of Mike Ryoko and thinks higher education a waste and kids better off investing their college nest eggs in down payments on a two-flat.
So if we tweak Hitt's proposal here to a $4k credit to every Illinois young-adult for the four years between 18 and 22, that can be invested in education, or a business, or a two-flat; don't we have a program here worthy of Norman Thomas? Not exactly a guaranteed income, but a nice start in life, and without need of a bureaucracy too manage it.
Sounds progressive to me. In fact downright Red. I wish McGovern would have latched onto some of the ownership society ideas conservatives have taken from him, and mentioned those in that letter to Cheney.
xp Prairie State Blue
3 comments:
Bill,
Good post.
Let's raise the stakes and add Charles Murray's great idea of wiping the "Welfare State" slate clean, and just giving every American Citizen over 21 $10,000 a year indexed for inflation.
[Note: Murray adds that the first $3500-4500 be applied to Health Insurance/savings, and then to Retirement.]
At the state level, have the state foot the bill for 100% of a child's education (equally and without the rich white apartheid of the absurd "district" model), allowing parents to fund the education of their choice.
Of course, some might argue that my idea is more radical than Collin's, but that hardly matters.
The Bureaucracies created by these large, collectivized bankruptcy schemes will fight just as hard against a minor reform than they will against annihilation, so why not just get rid of them right off the bat.
Regardless, your post exposes many so-called "progressives" and "conservatives" for what they are.
These issues separate conservatives who want to get things done, and those who follow paleo-malthusian doctrine.
Further, these issues separate the decent 'progressives' who actually want to get things done from the "Alinski-ite/Gramscian" totalitarians who want to impose their brand of religion/dogma on every individual that they can hold at the point of a gun.
The "Ownership Society" concept, though dragged through the mud by Bush's low approval rating, is good policy for liberals, conservatives, and everyone else in between.
Let's get about the business of "individualizing the welfare state" and move on.
Thanks Bruno, I argued for Bush's Social Security Plan as pretty progressive along the old McGovern lines.
I didn't get real far.
Bill,
If we can ever gain traction for an Earned Education Tax Credit - a $4,000 refundable tax credit for every student under the age of 23 - the type of 'tweaking' you suggest will become neccesary.
A 4k credit, if allowed only to count towards tuition, would set an articially high price floor for post-secondary education at the community college and vocational school level.
Adult students, say 17 to 22, should be credited for contributions made to an HSA, an IRA, or a 'flat down-payment account' as long as they are enrolled in school. This would give students the incentives to scrutinize climbing tuition costs and the opportunity to begin preparing for the financial challenges of adulthood.
If that sounds progessive, good. It is, as is any pragmatic libertarian proposal. Charles Murray's proposal is progressive, as well. And, it should be noted, his 'Plan' doesn't call for us to spend a single education dollar differently. His plan, which is attainable in part through an Earned Income Tax Credit, can (and should) stand side-by-side with an Earned Education Tax Credit.
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