Tommy Thompson on Immigration & School Vouchers
Bede
Posted under Election 2008

Tommy Thompson is no friend to hard-working Americans. He (like McCain, Giuliani and Obama) supports the third-world invasion of the U.S. He supports a path to citizenship for illegals (aka amnesty) and would probably support increases in legal immigration from the third world, thus driving down American wages.

Tommy Thompson is hitching his candidacy to the idea of school vouchers, which some movement conservatives take as a panacea for all the ills with public education. This, I believe, is a very short-sighted view, as the problem runs much deeper. First, the real problem is universal education. The more people there are who go to school, the lower the standards become. End universal education. Second, most headmasters at prestigious private schools do not want school vouchers. Why? They know that once they take federal money they will forever be regulated, and the last thing they want is some School-of-Education dolt telling them how to teach children. (Private schools generally hire teachers with traditional degrees, not degrees in “Education”.)


One Response to “Tommy Thompson on Immigration & School Vouchers”
Patroon on 10 Apr 2007 at 6:17 pm #

School vouchers is soooo 90s conservatism. If Thompson thinks he can win the GOP nomination on vouchers be my guest. I guess he needs something to run on.

Of course, besides education, the poor need also need transportation to get to jobs, why not give them vouchers to purchase cars? Or vouchers for health care at private hospitals rather than the emergency room at old county hospital? Or vouchers to get laptops? or vouchers for flat screen TVs?

Vouchers are conservatives’ answer to the welfare state. More welfare. I’m suprised George McGovern never came up with an idea to integrate ritsy private schools like Groton or Choate by giving vouchers to poor kids to attend them. If teacher’s unions were more balanced in their camapign spending, most GOP politicans would not be in favor giving handouts to poor people.

Most people in Wisconsin pretty much smirk when talking about Thompson’s presidential hopes and I doubt if Wisconsin GOP politicans are going to be supporting him as a bloc. It almost seems he’s like a yesterday’s candidate. He almost ran for President in 1996 and 2000 when he was in his prime but now he seems so dated like the vouchers he supports.

Vouchers is just one of the many contradictions to the man. He known for welfare reform in Wisconsin which he should be given credit for, but yet he supports welfare when it comes to school vouchers. He was known as Dr. No back when he was Assembly Minority Leader against the big spending and taxing Dems and yet when governor he spend hand over fist for new road projects and had the state pick up 2/3rds of all school spending (the state is covered in new school buildings or remodeled buildings). He’s against abortion but all for unfettered stem cell research. Luckily for him he was off to Washington D.C to be HHS Secretary by the time the bill came due for all his contradictions and his poor Lieutenant Governor Scott McCallum got stuck with the tab during the 2000-2002 recession and the GOP lost control of state government.

Thompson represents an older, Main St. Republicanism. Ideology means nothing to him. He does not think about his policies in the way intellectuals do, its whatever works for him, a career politican. Which means he’ll turn on a dime on an issue like immigration if he thought he had to get himself elected even though he probably supports having business having access to cheap labor. If there’s one constant to his policies, it making sure his campaign contributors are taken care of, which in this case its the Chamber of Commerce, but again that’s the kind of Republican he is. He is folksy and a good communicator, especially with middle class voters. He has a good ear for what what voters want and responds. But again, in today’s political climate, Thompson is a dated candidate.


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