Mitt Romney: Working to Sovietize America

Hat tip to Plunderbund

Presidential candidate looks to link financial aid to occupation

Back in the Soviet Union, the central planning boards vested with authority to plan the economy had the responsibility to determine to which professions people would be assigned. At young ages, children would be selected for the educational paths they would be allowed to pursue. The economic planners, being charged with commanding and controlling all economic resources in society, wielded the power to make even the most basic life choices for individuals.

We have this here in America already, albeit to a lesser degree. Remember all those "standardized tests" you took in elementary school? What do you think they were designed for? They were meant to separate the "smart" kids from the "dumb" ones – so that the central planners of our socialized educational system could assess which students were worthy of expending greater resources on, and which ones would be shuffled off to some vocational program like woodshop, or home-economics. Afterall, we can't waste that spot in AP Physics class on some kid who would be better off weilding a wrench and performing oil changes, right? Best to find out early who can't hack it, and assign them to their station in life.

And now, one of the leading GOP Presidential contenders proposes using a State-provided carrot-and-stick to exert more control over the educational choices - and by extension, career choices - of individuals. Financial aid is not to be just a "helping hand" anymore (if, indeed, it ever was), but it shall now be a tool for radical and expansive social engineering. Under Romney, the State will decide how many engineers, scientists, historians, accountants, MBAs, philosophers, economists, doctors, teachers, sociologists, etc. that America will have. Want to become a lawyer? Need some help from government? Too bad, kid… We have too many already… here’s some money to study basketweaving.

And under such a plan, the State will have to set quotas on various professions. Supply and demand affects labor, just as much as any other commodity. If we have one million rocket scientists, and 14 lawyers, then "lawyering" will be a much more valuable commodity. The State would then have to actively discourage the study of rocket science, and encourage lawyering.

Of course, this development shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. There is a timeless truth coming into view here. What the State pays for, the State controls. Just as government money always comes with strings attached, its not surprising that this proposal is being offered. It was bound to happen sooner or later.

Oh, and one last thing: "School Choice" proponents take heed. You think the State issuing vouchers to parents to use at the schools they choose won’t lead to State control, regulation, and ultimately the transformation of these schools into clones of the failed public school system we enjoy today?

Have I said it lately? It’s time to separate school and state!