Drain This Swamp

            A majority of Americans would love to impose term limits on members of Congress, not only to get rid of career politicians who will do anything to stay in power, but also to limit the time venal legislators have to enrich themselves while in office. Of course, term limits are not likely to happen without a Constitutional amendment, because Congress is not about to impose them on itself. Fortunately, we have presidential elections every four years that give voters a chance to elect a new leader to “drain the swamp,” as Donald Trump so aptly puts it.

            We are now beginning to see the incoming administration take shape. Personally, I am very encouraged by the President-elect’s picks to restore sanity inside the Washington Beltway. One selection in particular bodes well for the education of our children. Betsy DeVos, Trump’s nominee for Education Secretary, is exactly the person we need to drain the swamp in which sub-standard inner-city schools have been mired for so long.

            Betsy DeVos recognizes that money is not the problem; we already spend far more per student than any other country whose kids outperform ours. The problem is threefold: a) a top-down educational system that has federal bureaucrats dictating to local school districts what and how to teach our children; b) an entrenched public-school monopoly opposed to competition, and c) teachers’ unions that insulate incompetent but tenured members from accountability.

            I can’t wait for this flawed system to get a jolt of common sense reality. If Ms. DeVos has her way, Common Core will be killed and local school districts will regain control of their curriculum and testing methods. And charter schools, private schools, scholarship programs, and home schooling will provide alternatives to failing schools, proving once and for all that school choice is the best countermeasure to policies advocated by self-interested unions. Let’s drain this swamp.