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Politics : Al Gore vs George Bush: the moderate's perspective -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: epicure who wrote (3339)	10/21/2000 7:10:29 PM
From: fuzzymath	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10042

X, every one of your arguments earns my respect. On schools -- my wife and I faced agonizing decisions, wanting to give our children the best. We did private schools at first, but then, after we were wiped out by the early 1990s New England recession, we switched to home schooling. Now we are sending our oldest to a local high school. We have school choice here: kids from our town can go to any of 4 nearby high schools. I think this works. Don't underestimate the cost of private schools -- which means, don't let yourself believe that a significant number of parents could ever really afford private school. You're still paying taxes to your town to support the public schools, even if the Federal government gives you a voucher. At $9000 or more per child (where I live, that's the lowest cost for private school), a $2500 federal voucher isn't going to be enough for me to send 2 kids to private schools. In our area, with a choice of 4 high schools, one of those has significantly out-drawn the others, while a second has specialized to draw students with specific goals. I think you can look at our situation as a case of vouchers at work. Our town sends the money to whichever school we choose for our child. This is very similar to the Federal government sending its contribution to wherever a parent sends their child. Vouchers have improved education especially for the poor in some cities that have tried it -- for example, Milwaukee. Education is a critical issue for me, for you, for our country. I would ask you simply to consider giving vouchers a chance. I understand your point on the egalitarian issue. This nation must move ahead as a single nation. I don't believe vouchers will weaken public schools. I think it will make them better, because they will compete with private schools (which will still cost incredibly more). Vouchers would make our best public school principals and teachers look at what private schools offer and say "Hey, we can offer that too, at a cost savings of $6000/year to parents!" If parents see good public schools that are fighting for the privilege of teaching their children, they will respond. My sister is a public school teacher -- like most, she's a very committed person. Given a chance to "beat" the private schools in voucher-driven competition, I think public schools will respond, and thrive! What do you think? Environment -- again, I can't disagree with you. It's just a difficult decision between paying $1000 a year more on heating oil or giving the family something special that would live forever in their memories. We personally will never be able to afford a trip to the Alaska Wildlife Refuge -- so, I am still in favor of using a few square miles of it for drilling for oil -- more than 99.99% will still be left if my children or grandchildren can ever afford to go there. Social Security: no, the demographics kill the current plan. The good thing about the Bush plan is that he eliminates about 17% of our investment in a plan that mathematically is doomed to fail. Gore's plan keeps us 100% fully invested in what cannot be mathematically balanced once the Baby Boomers retire. Please comment! Kevin/fuzzymath