Less Government is the Answer

Promising every person in America a college education will not necessarily solve our talent dilemma.

As it stands now, we are forced to either export many of our technical industries abroad or rely on a broken immigration bureaucracy to import talent to America. Meanwhile, the rest of the developed world and much of the developing world has far surpassed America in developing the math and science talent needed to keep us competitive.

Assuring that everyone, irrespective of talent or dedication, can have access to a college education does not solve this problem. Rather, imposing rigorous standards in early education assures that students’ talents and abilities are nurtured and honed before they reach the college level.

As it stands, there are more than enough private and public resources to ensure that those who are qualified have a decent opportunity to go to college. The problem with our education really exists on the primary and secondary levels, where social promotion and under-resourced teachers have left our children behind the curve.

Finally, in assessing our government, we must think to the principles we expect of ourselves as individuals. We must stop to consider whether the love of leisure, worldly acclaim and personal fortune are more attractive to us than love of country, personal accountability and respect for our spirit. We should not look to our future in the pop icons of today, which will very soon be utterly forgotten, but in the timeless, disembodied principles that our creator has instilled within us to help guide us in times of turbulence and peril.