For those who've seen Mitt Romney's stump speech several hundred times, it's easy to recite the Republican's five point plan in our sleep: he wants to (1) expand U.S. energy policy, (2) improve education; (3) expand trade; (4) cut the deficit; and (5) help small businesses.
Do any of these planks come with any details at all? Well, no, but Romney promises to fill in the details later.
It's that second element of the five-part platform, however, that's of particular interest this week. On education, Romney's stump speech tells voters, "We're going to make sure our kids and our adults have the skills they need to succeed. We need to make sure our schools are the best in the world. They are not now. They will be. We'll make them the best."
How? The answer is one of Romney's biggest vulnerabilities.
The Democratic National Committee unveiled this video this morning, noting Romney's education plan and the details of the Republican agenda: slash Pell Grants, cut college tax credits, reintroduce the loan-system middleman that rewards banks instead of students, and encourage young people to choose wealthy parents when thinking about higher education.
And what about students who've worked hard, been accepted to the school of their choice, but don't have parents with large amounts of disposable income? Under Romney's vision, these people are simply out of luck. Higher education isn't an option -- young people who can't afford to go to their college of their choice should "shop around" for some other institution, because a Romney administration doesn't intend to help with Pell Grants or student loans.
And why is this suddenly an issue after spending months on the periphery? A couple of reasons, actually.
First, voters keep asking about it. Just yesterday, a college student in New Hampshire asked Romney about his plans to help her generation, which is facing crushing student-debt burdens.
After some vague talk about job creation, Romney said, "Now I know it is very tempting as a politician to go out and say, 'You know what, I'll just give you some money. The government's just going to give you some money and pay back your loans for you.' I'm not going to tell you something that's not the truth."
Notwithstanding the fact that Romney says things that are untrue with painful frequency, these comments were an important concession. This young woman is looking for a president who'll help expand opportunities for her and her generation, and Romney, in effect, is offering her nothing but well wishes. Indeed, he seemed to be chastising the very idea of using public institutions to help students with the costs of higher ed.
If she can't afford her tuition, and if she didn't choose wealthy parents, she should have "shopped around" for a less good school, giving up her slot to a student who comes from greater wealth.
The other reason this is of interest is that President Obama, whose advances on education policy are generally underappreciated, intends to take the offensive on the issue starting today.
On Tuesday, Obama will speak in Reno, Nev., and Columbus, Ohio, addressing Romney's higher education record in the context of vice presidential pick Paul Ryan's budget plan, the official said.
Obama intends to frame the issue as part of a stark choice between Romney, who has endorsed Ryan's budget plan, and Obama, who has increased funding for education.
According to nonpartisan think tank The Education Trust, Ryan's figures would cut slightly less than $170 billion from Pell Grants and loans over 10 years. Ryan's plan would also consider a maximum income cap for Pell eligibility, eliminate eligibility for students attending less than half-time, and convert the program into discretionary funding.
Polls suggest education is not a leading issue in the presidential campaign, but it's obviously an issue plenty of Americans care deeply about, and it's not hard to imagine the American mainstream looking askance at Romney's far-right plans that would move the nation's education policies backwards.
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And how else do you expect the GOTP to swell the sheeple ranks of their base if they don't cut education funding; education might remove some of the sheeple from the GOTP ranks cause they'll see through the shenanigans!
"Is our children learning?" (actual GWB quote)
Hopefully they're learning that "Legitimate"-Rape-Public-CONs do not have their best interests at heart (charitably assuming they even possess such "organs" in the intended metaphoric sense - fill in your own Dick Cheney jokes here).
Vulture/Voucher 2012
Proving Two Rights DO Make a Wrong!
;-)
It's sad when a person running for President would rather tell the youth of today that "Hey, if you're not wealthy or come from a wealthy family, forget about any higher education." Either that or "Well, we'll let you get loans, but we'll make sure that that debt load is with your for decades after (or if) you finish your 4+ years of secondary education."
And I can remember when the US school system was considered to be the shining jewel of education. How far we've fallen when we have people trying to make secondary education less accessible to the average American (and in the case of primary education, try to break it so it can be privatized as well.)
Education should be front and center.
Do you want to fix the economy? Fix education. Currently about 60% of jobs require some college degree. About 35% of adults in the US have a college degree. Notice a problem?
How about this? Current unemployment for high school graduates is about 9%. If you have a college degree (two-year, four-year, or beyond) the unemployment rate is about 4%.
Do they sell wealthy parents at Walmart or on Amazon?
Costco
How can Costco possibly sell wealthy parents at a better price than Wal-Mart or Amazon? I mean, Costco provides halfway decent wages and benefits to its employees compared to Wal-Mart and Amazon and hasn't been implicated in any wage theft actions. Well, I'll be goshdarned if I'm going to shop for wealthy parents from a socialist company that hates capitalism, indeed, hates America, the way Costco clearly does.
"How can Costco possibly sell wealthy parents at a better price than Wal-Mart or Amazon?"
VOLUME!
They are out of stock at my local Costco. Possibly Sam's Club?
"Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great,
some achieve greatness,
and some have greatness thrust upon 'em."
But alas, some like Mitt Romney,for whom greatness will not sit
for it's glory cannot grip a man whose form will always change,
and like the wind that blows to and fro be nothing but a breeze.
Or a fart.
They are trying to project a world as Norman Rockwell would have drawn it and then draw voters to it as somehow connected to them. It is one spectacular illusion of plain normallacy. Sort of a Peter Panish plea to believe so Tinkerbelle can live.
Agree, but I think you're doing Rockwell a bit of an injustice and, more importantly, conceding ownership of the kind of pleasant, inoffensive, small town squareness he is most associated with with spittle-flecked raving haters.
http://arthistory.about.com/od/famous_paintings/ss/The-Problem-We-All-Live-With-By-Norman-Rockwell.htm
Contrary to current Republican beliefs, education is more important than ever!
In Olden Times all that was needed to obtain great wealth was a six-gun and a mask.
Now it requires an advanced degree from Harvard and a job at Goldman Sachs.
Limiting education is a hallmark of the GOP, look at their base!
My parents were hardly parents, much less millionaires!
In 2010 American's elected a batch of Republican's to Congress that promised a focus on jobs. What they got is a batch of Republican's that focused on re-defining Rape in Ayn Rand's image, abortion, deficit reduction rhetoric and grandstanding, and a gummy mixture in the works for the President's agenda.
Now they're being asked to vote for someone afraid to say what he stands for because you may not like it, and afraid to release his taxes because you may not like them. And he just hired the rape re-definer cum deficit bamboozler as his running mate. These are not people who mis-speak and then change their tune when what they said is proven false. They are instead "people" who intend to deceive and when called out for deceiving, chuckle, and then double-down on the deceit.
Is there really a kind but honest--unvarnished--way to put this? People often gripe at my calling them "repugnicons", but really, what else do you call these people? And what do you call the people who, knowing full well what is happening, prop them up and vote for them?
You cannot really say that Romney and Ryan don't know, or that a high percentage of the base doesn't know.
I am a teacher without a job. In order to keep my certification current, I need to attend graduate school. As a substitute teacher, I cannot afford the tuition. Being from a loving non-wealthy family, Financial Aid and Student Loans have been lifesavers. I deserve to go to a college to pursue the degree that I want and not a less-expensive college with a program that doesn't interest me. Like Mr. Romney, I have always wanted to be a public servant. The difference? My hard-working, honest, tax paying, American parents are not millionaires. Things would have been easier but I am proud of my family and myself. I work hard for my education and many other people are doing the same. I could be sitting next to a wealthy student in class. It doesn't matter because we have the same goal: to teach! Everyone deserves to have the same opportunities. The wealthy have money but that doesn't mean they are the only students with the ability to succeed.
Mr. Romney has never wanted to be a public servant.
That "choosing wealthy parents" thing is SO important, since it affects so many outcomes.
Will Romney focus on "fetal education?" Given the importance of finding wealthy parents, embryos need to be given the intellectual tools to make a proper parent selection. This includes financial skills that will enable them to analyze their "current" parent(s) tax returns.
Should the fetus find the parents lacking in financial resources, will it have the right to say "Let me out of here. I want to be implanted in a wealthier womb"?
This is great-made my day!
Remember Richard Nixon .. Remember the famous line he gave his football coach ..
" I have a plan put me in the game" Till this day the coach can not figure out what his plan was...
We do not need educated peons! You do not need calculus to mop the floor or clean a toilet. Let the wealthy kids of wealthy folks rule will corporations out source the "difficult" jobs that require an education to countries that have free college and low wages to boot!
Once more the right proves their dislike of America.
Higher education is very important, no doubt about it! However, my worry about education policy is the content being taught in elementary school, middle school and high school. Several states are including creationism as a valid theory in science classrooms, using dubious sources for social science classrooms, and excluding climate and "green" science. How can we have a first class education system when the curriculum is retro? I remember hearing when I was teaching that "as Texas goes, so goes the country" because Texas is the largest consumer of textbooks and the texts are written to meet Texas standards. An good education requires a good foundation and our students aren't getting one in their early years.
Romney's education plan:
Save your allowance.
Open a lemonade stand.
Look for bargains.
Borrow from your parents and family, otherwise you are on your own.
Why in the world would Republicans want an educated public? Doesn't that sort of run counter to their goals? Con artists always want stupid people.
Republicans are killing the future for today's kids. They don't want to support education so little Johnny is unlikely to excel in school. When Johnnie is ready to to college he'll find it too expensive because politicians refuse to support Pell grants and student loans. (Even if they "shop around" it's likely college costs will be out of reach for many kids. ALL higher education is expensive so "shopping around" is very unrealistic. Those who do get college loans will find themselves deep in debt.
Imagine owing $40,000 when you've just graduated college. It's like a mortgage that will take years to pay off --- and it will probably be years before Johnnie will be able to afford a house of his own. With thousands in college loans and (if he's lucky) a home mortgage to pay off, he'll have a difficult time saving anything for retirement. And when he hits retirement age (which will probably be age 70 by that time) his social security won't be worth much at all thanks to Republicans destruction of SS and Medicare.
In the meantime the rest of the world is building strong economies, educating their kids and improving their standards of living. Will we be able to compete on the world market at that time? It's going to be difficult. And funny thing: they will make these advance based on what they learned from the U.S. over that last 100 years (up until the last 12 years or so).
Don't let Republicans tell you they're looking out for your children's and grandchildren's future. It couldn't be further from the truth.