Why Legitimize Something so Ineffective and Corrupt?
If you’ve read my essay on “How to Undermine Support for the Public Education Monopoly,” you’d know that the fastest way for a popular institution to lose support is to have its credibility undermined. As I was surfing the web the other day, I found this great post covering Reagan’s Diaries. After reading it, a simple allegory occured to me.
Reagan the Astute: (hat tip Bros. Judd)
Reagan’s policy towards the Soviet Union of replacing coexistence with de-legitimization had been proclaimed right through the 1980 campaign in which he defeated President Carter’s re-election attempt, but it was so shockingly revolutionary that many in Washington and around the world took it for granted that it was mere talk, destined to be quietly set aside once the new Administration took office. When State Department officials came to brief his transition officials on policy towards the Soviet Union, they did it by listing the inter-agency issues that would have to be resolved to prepare for the next “ministerial with Gromyko”. They focused on process, incidentally noting that there would be close consultations with Anatoly Dobrynin as usual, because in their eyes the only possible policy was to pursue coexistence. That Andrei Gromyko had held his office as Foreign Minister since 1957 and Dobrynin his Washington post as Ambassador since 1962 underlined the stolid continuity of the Soviet Union, which those senior State Department officials assumed would simply continue, as did most people around the world. It followed that any attempt to de-legitimize the Soviet Union was utterly unrealistic in their view, and very dangerous of course, for the recent invasion of Afghanistan had showed that Soviet leaders were willing to use their vast military forces very boldly. (These days it is widely assumed that the decrepitude of the late Soviet Union extended to its armed forces, but that is simply not true. For example, by the time US Intelligence detected and assessed that the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan had started, five army divisions and four assault regiments had already secured Kabul and seized key locations throughout the country.)
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My policy towards the Education Monopoly of replacing coexistence with de-legitimization had been proclaimed on my blog and radio show. It is so shockingly revolutionary that many in school choice community around the world take it for granted that it is mere talk, destined to be quietly set aside once the latest incremental reform was neutered by Educational Establishiment clout.
When Conventional School Choice Promoters read my plan to gut the Educational Monopoly once and for all, they argued that “teachers unions are too powerful,” ignoring the fact that the only way to reduce their power is to aggressively de-legitimize the entire education monopoly.
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It followed that any attempt to de-legitimize the Education Monopoly was utterly unrealistic in their view, and very dangerous of course, for the recent passage of voucher legislation in Utah had resulted in a ballot initiative to repeal it.
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I know why politicians cower in fear of The Education Monopoly Thugs, but why should policy analysts and grass roots organizers fear them? Everytime I discuss education with people, I hear them carp about “how popular” public education is with the electorate. Well Duh!!
If it’s popular, you just have to get about the task of making it less popular, and the best way to do that is tell people the truth.
