Healthy Business is the Key

Contrary to the assertions of some, I have not endorsed any drastic cuts to education; I would like to see education thrive. My major concern has been that we preserve the private sector business activity that ultimately funds all government spending. The idea that more and more public spending will drive us out of this long-term economic downtrend is seriously flawed. According to USA Today 80 percent of 2009 college graduates moved back home with parents. This needs to change. If we are not business friendly we are not education friendly. You cannot have the structure of government without healthy business supporting it.

I do intend to support reforms to public education that increase parental/local control, educational choice, and financial accountability/transparency. Reforms like the MAPP bill passed last year which allows students to challenge classes and move through the curriculum faster, or reforms that give parents more choice like what was done with Charter Schools. But, no, I have no plans to pull a chain saw out and use it on education. I would like to keep the chain saw busy on trees so that we do not have to use it anywhere else. Since govt. funding ultimately comes from logging, farming, ranching, mining, manufacturing or our recreation industry, protecting these things protects the whole system supported by them. And it is high time we stood up for our basic industries, our jobs, our friends and neighbors. We need to stand together in Idaho and defend our right to responsibly use our resources.

A related threat to the UI and some of our local schools is the liberal elitist anti-business attitude of some in Moscow. This unfriendly attitude which rejected SEL, Buck Knives, James Toyota, Wal-Mart, and LCF Enterprises is costing more than we can quantify and is anti-education.