The U.S. Department of Mis-Education

Today, an extremely frightening survey was released by Rasmussen Reports. The survey asked a very simple question: "Which is a better system - capitalism or socialism?" Apparently this sampling of adults feel that Capitalism is only marginally better than Socialism. This report states that of the 1000 surveyed only 53% felt Capitalism was superior. This number compares with 20% that favored Socialism and 27% that are unsure (the margin of error was small, +/- 3% and with a 95% confidence level).

I find these statistics scary! What's scarier, however, is that of those 30 years old and younger, the findings are even more favorable to Socialism. The same survey reports that only 37% prefer Capitalism while 33% prefer Socialism and 30%are undecided. This is a stark contrast to those over 40 who "strongly favor Capitalism," leaving the remainder, only 13% to feel Socialism is the better form of Economy.

I think this report is crucially significant to a couple of things. One: thanks to the Great President Ronald Reagan, the horrors and failures of Socialism under the Iron Curtain are being forgotten. Two: The United States Department of Education is an utter failure and should be abolished.

We'll start with the Department of Education. In 1979 Public Law 96-88 was signed into effect thereby creating the U.S. Department of Education (USDE). USDE began operation under the Carter administration May 4, 1980 and has been a failure in the proper education of our youth ever since. Our students Math and Science scores are dropping, and this is not just a result of Bush's policies. In another report of data gathered over a long span, literacy scores are shown declining in science drastically, compared to other nations. If this is true for Math and Science, certainly students are failing to see the negative aspects of a socialist economic system which greatly incorporates both.

How can our students understand the negative aspects of Socialism if the educators are failing to teach these two basic fundamentals of economics; math and science? Are we to believe that they didn't learn it either? If we look at when this decline started, most likely we'll be led to the 1970's and then the implementation of the USDE. The 1960's gave us innovation to put a man on the moon. We created the Hydrogen bomb 9despite the feeling of this, it was a great feat). We constructed some of the worlds tallest and best designed buildings. All these inventions indicate that we certainly had innovation through a solid understanding of math and science.

One reason for failure to appreciate the Capitalist system over Socialism is thanks to the Great Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan took an aggressive approach with the former Soviet Union and exposed the shortages and gaping holes in their system of economy. If Reagan hadn't brought down the Iron Curtain people would still have a general fear that communism was about to reach our backyard and they'd do anything they could to understand it and try to stop it. This may have lowered the sympathies of Socialism but would have worsened the living conditions of those living under it.

Thanks to Reagan, though, we don't have the Iron Curtain anymore, but unfortunately the education system isn't picking up the slack in educating our youth on the importance and significance of Capitalism vs. Socialism. Many will argue that the fundamental difference of these two can be summed up with a phrase: Equality of Opportunity vs. Equality of Outcome.

These may seem similar but they are completely different. The main difference is that the Equality of Opportunity is dedicated to have all participants in life equal at birth. There is no difference in any social aspect imaginable. If you were born poor, you have all the opportunities as anyone. If you were born rich, you still have to prove yourself to achieve your own success. On the other hand we have the Equality of Outcome that says no matter what happens in life all participants need to finish equally. If you were born poor, or of slave dissent, we need to compensate you for that. If some governmental institution determines that you are disadvantaged based on skin color, you need assistance.

The Capitalist system allows anyone who works hard great success. Through taxes, those who succeed repay the system supporting the institution for more innovators. The Socialist systems, on the other hand, allows anyone wanting the ability to enjoy the gracious givings of the government without repayment. This infinite giving requires finite dollars and if there is no incentive to work hard to repay the system, it can't be sustained. Additionally, if there is great incentive to receive free handouts from the government, why not?

In the case of the United Soviet Socialist Republics, the perpetual inefficiency of the governments attempted economic planning and the consistent no cost to the recipient acceptance of goods, forced bankruptcy and system unraveling. If the U.S. continues to allow the Department of Education to exist and determine curriculum for our future generations, we are going to continue on a path of mathematically, scientifically and economically illiterate generations. This illiteracy will eventually lead us to a state of Socialism and, thus, a dismal decay of our economic support structure ending our prosperity as we know it.