The Wall Street Journal, nature, and Wal-Mart.

[ovidsen]

So I read the Wall Street Journal. So sue me. Fact is, I like to see what the oposition is up to. That's why I also read various sites that shall not be mentioned here. It's always fun to try and divine the logic of people who think intelligent design is a valid scientific theory, gay marriage is a threat to families, and Iraq under Saddam Hussein was both a vast warehouse for WMDs and a base of operations for OBL. Know thine enemy, and all that.

But occasionally the WSJ reveals a mindset that is so strikingly dumb, I am stunned.

Friday, it published a post-obituary fond farewell to John Walton, son of Sam (heh heh), the founder of Wal-Mart. Acknowledging critics who contend Wal-Mart pays crap, sells crap, and systematically ruins local economies, the writers portrayed John as someone who "upheld the American ideals of competition and fair play", who championed education with scholarships and grants, and who supported the arts. Well, so far nothing too surprising.

But the tribute ended by noting that the Walton family is opening a museum in Little Rock in 2009 that celebrates American culture with, among other things, a collection of 18th and 19th Century art. That's nice.

Here's one of the paintings that have been purchased for the museum:

http://webpub.alleg.edu/employee/c/cbakken/formsofpoetry/pageten.html

It's a pretty, if fanciful painting featuring a pristine, fantasy landscape of forests, mountains, waterfalls, etc. And this is how the WSJ wants its readers to think about it:

John's sister, Alice, just purchased Asher B. Durand's "Kindred Spirits" (1849), which depicts Thomas Cole, the founder of the Hudson River School of painting, with the poet William Cullen Bryant. The two stand along a rock ledge, a tree arching above, a river tumbling below and a hilly vista stretching to the horizon. It's as if, looking out on the scene and imagining America's great potential, they can almost see a Wal-Mart rising in the distance.

I laughed. I threw up. Then I laughed again. Any suggestions? How about a Wal-Mart at Yellowstone? A Sam's Club at the Grand Canyon? Bring 'em on!

For those of you with access to a WSJ account, here's the whole thing:

http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB112078830894380442,00.html?mod=weekend%5Fjournal%5Fprimary%5Fhs

[Coyote_Bandit]

1. Until recently

John Walton was the least involved of all the Walton kids in the family business. He volunteered and went to Vietnam as a medic. Returned and flew crop dusters. Went to the coast and had his own business designing and building sailboats. It wasn't until after he sold that business that he became involved in the family business. And one of his main roles was his involvement in the Walton Family Foundation. In many ways he was probably the most philanthropic of the kids. And he was a genuinely nice guy. I grew up in Bentonville many, many, many years ago and had opportunity to interact with various family members.

[punpirate]

2. Is that why so much of his educational philanthropy was...

... directed at getting vouchers into common use?

http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=1415

This genuinely nice guy, as you call him, was out to destroy public education--and he used Walton Foundation money to further that aim.

[Coyote_Bandit]

3. You want to fix the schools?

Make them all available only on a voucher basis and don't permit any of them - including private schools - to charge additional fees or tuition. Make any private school that refuses to accept vouchers surrender its tax exemption. That puts everybody back on a more or less equal footing and forces the schools to be competitive with respect to the quality of education they offer. And make the schools publicly report test scores, retention, matriculation, college admittance and job placement figures. And colleges should not be exempt from like kinds of reporting.

Vouchers may not financially benefit public education - but the competition they produce very well might. If there were not problems with public education then the idea of vouchers probably would not have been bandied about with such popularity. Need more proof? Consider that the value of any home is more or less depending upon the public school district in which it lies. Sorry, but the destruction of many public schools requires no assistance - the parents, administrators, educators, and students have already produced less than average results even by American educational standards and those, sadly, are falling behind other developed countries. The suggestion of using vouchers is a symptom of deeper problems - not a cause.

Vouchers are not inherently bad. What is bad is an educational system that is divided by class. And as long as we have an extensive system of private schools that charge a premium public education will continue to suffer. If you really want to reform public education then rich and poor alike need to be able to have similar expectations regarding the learning environment and results of their children's schools. That will not happen as long as some can buy their way out of the public school system.

Incidentally, you might be interested in learning how many educational scholarships the Walton foundation gives out every year. They have long been known for giving many, many smaller gifts in the form of individual scholarships rather than donating funds directly to educational institutions. Most colleges and universities are managed as for profit organizations which happen to be fortunate enough to have the added benefits of tax exemption. Undoubtedly, the decision to give individual scholarships has benefited far more students than larger gifts might have.

Say whatever you want. John Walton was a nice guy. And that is a personal observation which is unrelated to political views or his family's business. It is an observation that acknowledges that he voluntarily went to Vietnam when he easily could have used family connections to avoid service, that he had a nice smile and an easygoing sense of humor, and that for most of his adult life he made and lived his own life separate and apart from the family business.

[punpirate]

4. Vouchers don't support public schools...

... and I think you'll find plenty of support for the view that they will, if pushed hard enough, do just what I said--ruin public education for all but the wealthy in the country.

Don't make excuses for a stupid idea just because you once knew this man casually. What you are suggesting is that the man had no politics behind his actions and they were entirely altruistic, and yet, his record of donations suggests otherwise.

He aligned himself with right-wing moneyed people whose aim it was to end publicly-supported education. Ever hear of Theodore Forstman or Empower America? Walton joined him to provide $50 million each to start a private voucher program. Empower America is dedicated to private education in this country.

If you think that's a noble aim, and an improvement to the educational system, then just let friends of yours like John Walton go ahead and do it--of course, because he's, first, a really nice guy.

He wasn't about improving the system. He was about eliminating it, and his personal and foundation gifts were directed toward that end.

You can spin it any way you like. Here's the John Walton we know. He wasn't just "involved with the family business," he was CEO of Walton Enterprises, which owns 40% of WalMart stock and is the corporation which effectively controls WalMart. He was on WalMart's board of directors, so he's personally responsible for the shit that WalMart has spread across the country. They're doing everything they can to get more tax cuts and to repeal the estate tax. The family has their own lobbyist in Washington, Patton Boggs. You know who Patton Boggs are? They're supplying a lawyer to Karl Rove in the Plame business (and I'll bet it will turn out that it's on a pro bono or at reduced rates. They're all as thick as fuckin' thieves.

He spread money all over the United States trying to get Democrats defeated. He gave money to George Bush. The Republican National Committee. This list is just from the last election cycle and it's just his personal contributions:

WALTON, JOHN T MR
BENTONVILLE,AR 72712
TRUE NORTH PARTNERS/CHAIRMAN
6/23/2004
$25,000
Republican National Cmte

WALTON, JOHN
BENTONVILLE,AR 72712
SELF/VENTURE CAPITAL
12/31/2003
$5,000
Arvest Bank Group

WALTON, JOHN
BENTONVILLE,AR 72712
WALTON ENTERPRISES/CEO
10/26/2004
$5,000
Lincoln Club of San Diego County

WALTON, JOHN T
BENTONVILLE,AR 72712
TRUE NORTH PARTNERS LLC/CHAIRMAN
12/31/2003
$5,000
Wal-Mart Stores PAC

WALTON, JOHN T
BENTONVILLE,AR 72712
TRUE NORTH PARTNERS/CHAIRMAN
8/18/2003
$5,000
Cmte for the Preservation of Capitalism

Walton, John
Bentonville,AR 72712
Arvest Bank Group
6/24/2004
$2,410

Republican Party of Florida

WALTON, JOHN
BENTONVILLE,AR 72712
9/13/2004
$2,000

Poe, Ted

WALTON, JOHN
BENTONVILLE,AR 72712
TRUE NORTH PARTNERS/CHARIMAN
2/3/2004
$2,000

Miller, Candice S

WALTON, JOHN T
BENTONVILLE,AR 72712
9/15/2004
$2,000

Wohlgemuth, A Arlene

WALTON, JOHN T
BENTONVILLE,AR 72712
SELF-EMPLOYED/INVESTOR
12/4/2003
$2,000

Feeney, Tom

WALTON, JOHN T
BENTONVILLE,AR 72712
TRUE NATA PARTNERS LLC/CHAIRMAN
8/1/2003
$2,000
Ford, Harold E Jr

WALTON, JOHN T
BENTONVILLE,AR 72712
TRUE NORTH PARTNERS
3/21/2003
$2,000
Lincoln, Blanche

WALTON, JOHN T
BENTONVILLE,AR 72712
TRUE NORTH PARTNERS
3/21/2003
$2,000

Lincoln, Blanche

WALTON, JOHN T
BENTONVILLE,AR 72712
TRUE NORTH PARTNERS LLC/CHAIRMAN
9/10/2004
$2,000

Gohmert, Louis B Jr

WALTON, JOHN T
BENTONVILLE,AR 72712
WALTON ENTERPRISES/INVESTOR
11/12/2003
$2,000

Lieberman, Joe

WALTON, JOHN T
BENTONVILLE,FL 72712
SELF-EMPLOYED/INVESTOR
12/4/2003
$2,000

Feeney, Tom

WALTON, JOHN T MR
BENTONVILLE,AR 72712
ARVEST BANK GROUP INC./BANKER
11/13/2003
$2,000

Bush, George W

WALTON, JOHN T MR
BENTONVILLE,AR 72712
SELF/ENTREPRENEUR
3/12/2004
$2,000


Boozman, John

WALTON, JOHN T MR
BENTONVILLE,AR 72712
SELF/ENTREPRENEUR
3/12/2004
$2,000

Boozman, John

Walton, John
Bentonville,AR 72712
Arvest Bank Group Inc
8/24/2004
$1,875

Republican Federal Cmte of Pennsylvania

Walton, John T Mr
Bentonville,AR 72712
Arvest Bank Group Inc
8/24/2004
$1,785

Republican Party of Ohio

Walton, John
Bentonville,AR 72712
Arvest Bank Group Inc.
8/24/2004
$1,518
Republican State Cmte of Michigan

WALTON, JOHN
BENTONVILLE,AR 72712
ARVEST BANK GROUP INC
9/21/2004
$1,000

Burr, Richard

WALTON, JOHN
BENTONVILLE,AR 72712
ARVEST BANK GROUP INC
9/30/2004
$1,000

Vitter, David

WALTON, JOHN
BENTONVILLE,AR 72712
TRUE NORTH PARTNERS
9/21/2004
$1,000

Thune, John

WALTON, JOHN
BENTONVILLE,AR 72712
WAL-MART/OWNER
10/14/2003

$1,000

Leadership in the New Century



WALTON, JOHN T
BENTONVILLE,AR 72712
ARVEST BANK GROUP INC
9/17/2004
$1,000
Nethercutt, George R Jr

WALTON, JOHN T MR
BENTONVILLE,AR 72712
ARVEST BANK GROUP INC.
9/17/2004
$1,000
Bush, George W

Walton, John
Bentonville,AR 72712
Arvest Bank Group Inc.
8/18/2004
$982

Missouri Republican State Cmte

Walton, John
Bentonville,AR 72712
Arvest Bank Group Inc.
8/24/2004
$892

Arizona Republican Party

Walton, John
Bentonville,AR 72712
Arvest Bank Group Inc.
8/24/2004
$892

Arizona Republican Party

Walton, John
Bentonville,AR 72712
Arvest Bank Group Inc.
8/24/2004
$892

Arizona Republican Party

Walton, John
Bentonville,AR 72712
Arvest Bank Group Inc.
8/24/2004
$892

Republican Party of Wisconsin

Walton, John T Mr
Bentonville,AR 72712
Arvest Bank Group Inc.
8/18/2004
$759

Republican Party of Minnesota

Walton, John
Bentonville,AR 72712
8/24/2004
$625
Republican Party of Oregon

Walton, John
Bentonville,AR 72712
Arvest Bank Group Inc.
8/24/2004
$625

Republican Party of Iowa

Walton, John
Bentonville,AR 72712
Arvest Bank Group Inc.
8/24/2004
$625

Republican Party of Iowa

Walton, John
Bentonville,AR 72712
Arvest Bank Group Inc
9/29/2004
$556

Sessions, Pete

Walton, John
Bentonville,AR 72712
Arvest Bank Group Inc.
9/30/2004
$556

Beauprez, Bob

Walton, John Mr
Bentonville,AR 72712
Arvest Bank Group Inc
9/21/2004
$556

Tauzin, Billy III

Walton, John Mr
Bentonville,AR 72712
Arvest Bank Group Inc.
9/21/2004
$556

Boustany, Charles W Jr

Walton, John Mr
Bentonville,AR 72712
Arvest Bank Group Inc.
9/21/2004
$556

Burns, Max

Walton, John Mr
Bentonville,AR 72712
Arvest Bank Group Inc.
9/21/2004
$556

Davis, Geoff

Walton, John Mr
Bentonville,AR 72712
Arvest Bank Group Inc.
9/21/2004
$556

Dent, Charles Wieder

Walton, John Mr
Bentonville,AR 72712
Arvest Bank Group Inc.
9/21/2004
$556

McMorris, Cathy

Walton, John Mr
Bentonville,AR 72712
Arvest Bank Group Inc.
9/21/2004
$556

Renzi, Rick

Walton, John Mr
Bentonville,AR 72712
Arvest Bank Group Inc.
9/21/2004
$556

Tauzin, Billy III

Walton, John Mr
Bentonville,AR 72712
Arvest Bank Group Inc.
9/21/2004
$556

Walcher, Gregory Edward

Walton, John T
Bentonville,AR 72712
Arvest Bank Group Inc.
9/21/2004
$556

Boustany, Charles W Jr

Walton, John T
Bentonville,AR 72712
Arvest Bank Group Inc.
9/30/2004
$556

Neugebauer, Randy

Walton, John
Bentonville,AR 72712
Arvest Bank Group Inc.
9/20/2004
$555

Porter, Jon

Walton, John
Bentonville,AR 72712
Arvest Bank Group Inc.
9/21/2004
$555
Northup, Anne M

Walton, John
Bentonville,AR 72712
Arvest Bank Group Inc.
9/30/2004
$555

Wilson, Heather

Walton, John
Bentonville,AR 72712
Arvest Bank Group/Banker
9/29/2004
$555

Simmons, Rob

WALTON, JOHN T
BENTONVILLE,AR 72712
ARVEST BANK GROUP INC.
8/25/2004
$535

Arkansas Leadership Cmte 2003 FCRC

Walton, John
Bentonville,AR 72712
8/24/2004
$490
Republican Party of Washington

Walton, John
Bentonville,AR 72712
Arvest Bank Group Inc.
8/25/2004
$447

Republican Central Cmte of Nevada

Walton, John
Bentonville,AR 72712
Arvest Bank Group Inc.
8/31/2004
$357

Republican Party of Maine

Walton, John Mr
Bentonville,AR 72712
Arvest Bank Group Inc./Banker
8/27/2004
$357

New Hampshire Republican State Cmte

Walton, John
Bentonville,AR 72712
Arvest Bank Group
9/17/2004
$340

McMorris, Cathy

But, I guess I'll have to take your word for it that he's a really nice guy....

[Coyote_Bandit]

5. You have your mind made up

I will reach my own conclusions and state my own opinions as to whether or not I think someone is - or was - a "nice guy." I will judge based on my own criteria, experience, and observatns - not on political expediency or correctness. I prefer to think and expect the best in other people - without regard to their race or religion or gender or sexual preference or education or social or economic class or political affiliation. I prefer to have a broad range of acquaintances who hold different ideas and values. It broadens my outlook and it is infinitely rewarding. I've learned that folks can have different ideas and values and still be "nice guys." The label isn't a stamp of approval reserved only for those who share my own values, beliefs and agenda.

My family has lived in Arkansas since at least 1812. We were in Northwest Arkansas long before the Walton family. Those who are well versed in the history of Wal-Mart - and Northwest Arkansas - are well aware of just how small Bentonville was in the early 1950's - and how small it still is. Even as of the last census the Bentonville population was only about 20,000 people. The population in 1980 was a mere 8,756 people. At that time the town had one traffic light which blinked red in all four directions. The Walton's 5 and 10 which grew to become Wal-Mart opened on the square in downtown Bentonville in May 1950. The first Wal-Mart was opened in nearby Rogers (today the towns are divided by the centerline on a highway) in 1962. My childhood home was in what became the parking lot for Wal-Mart store number one. In 1905 the city had a population of 2,653. Bentonville was and in many ways still is a small town. Everybody knows everybody in small towns. That was especially true in the late 1940's, the 1950's, and the 1960's. It's not like there were any large metropolitian areas in close proximity to the small communities that existed in Northwest Arkansas at the time.

Oh, yes, and incidentally, there are voucher proposals where each student is given a voucher worth a stated sum which can then be applied to expenses at any public or private school. Every kid has an education voucher that is then applied at either a public or private school. Voucher proposals are not exclusively proposals that result only in money being taken from public schools to private schools. Perhaps an impact to public schools under such a plan that results in net negative funding should be considered an assessment that the public education in a particular school system is under performing. Though I doubt that there would be net negative funding in many of the public magnet schools that traditionally perform very well.

As for dismantling the education system, well, I'm not so sure that is such a bad idea. There obviously is something very wrong with out educational system. Consider the following compilation from an article by Michael Venture in the Austin Chronicle (his sources for the information cited are noted):

"* The United States is 49th in the world in literacy (the New York Times, Dec. 12, 2004).
* The United States ranked 28th out of 40 countries in mathematical literacy (NYT, Dec. 12, 2004).
* Twenty percent of Americans think the sun orbits the earth. Seventeen percent believe the earth revolves around the sun once a day (The Week, Jan. 7, 2005).
* "The International Adult Literacy Survey...found that Americans with less than nine years of education 'score worse than virtually all of the other countries'" (Jeremy Rifkin's superbly documented book The European Dream: How Europe's Vision of the Future Is Quietly Eclipsing the American Dream, p.78).
* Our workers are so ignorant and lack so many basic skills that American businesses spend $30 billion a year on remedial training (NYT, Dec. 12, 2004). No wonder they relocate elsewhere!
* "The European Union leads the U.S. in...the number of science and engineering graduates; public research and development (R&D) expenditures; and new capital raised" (The European Dream, p.70).
* "Europe surpassed the United States in the mid-1990s as the largest producer of scientific literature" (The European Dream, p.70).
* Nevertheless, Congress cut funds to the National Science Foundation. The agency will issue 1,000 fewer research grants this year (NYT, Dec. 21, 2004).
* Foreign applications to U.S. grad schools declined 28 percent last year. Foreign student enrollment on all levels fell for the first time in three decades, but increased greatly in Europe and China. Last year Chinese grad-school graduates in the U.S. dropped 56 percent, Indians 51 percent, South Koreans 28 percent (NYT, Dec. 21, 2004). We're not the place to be anymore."

If I am some evil persn because I think our public educational system is broken then so be it. And just because I consider somebody I knew many, many, many years ago a "nice guy" it does not mean that I am issuing some comprehensive stamp of approval regarding his values and beliefs. There are "nice" and "not so nice" folks in all walks of life.

[punpirate]

6. You provide a little background on Bentonville...

... which mostly ignores the contemporary record of the Walton family. You praise John for going to Vietnam. His sister, Alice, was the single largest contributor to Progress for America; she gave them $2.6 million last year. Remember them? They were the ones funding the Swift Boat Liars and promoted highly negative smear ads against Kerry.

These people are immensely wealthy from inherited wealth (the proof of that is that their wealth is very close to each other's and is directly related to the number of shares in WalMart they inherited), and they've consistently supported right-wing causes and parties that supported policies which would increase their wealth and reduce their taxes. Why should I think well of them?

You cite many examples of the educational system failing, but you ignore an important point. The very people you are defending here don't want to support the public education system with their taxes, either personally or corporately. They simply don't believe in it.

That's been a general trend since the Reagan years. State taxes depend upon federal returns, and every dollar they avoid in taxes at the federal level means they contribute less to state support of public schools. They are, therefore, part of the problem, not part of the solution. And they've accomplished that by exerting monetary influence on lawmakers through lobbyists. Corporate taxes as a share of federal revenues has now almost gone negative, when compared against subsidies, tax grants and tax relief for corporations. Public schools in this country overall are underfunded, and a principal reason for that is a preferential tax structure for the very wealthy and for corporations. Why should I praise that attitude?

If you really believe that privatization of the school system would be beneficial, just look at the effects of it in other countries and the intentions for it in the US. In the US, the driving forces for privatization of education are, first, the transfer of municipal wealth to private hands (this is the primary impetus for all such privatization schemes--to get access to communally-held resources and profit by doing so), and second, to institute an educational system which is predominantly religious in focus (many of the grants you say the Walton Foundation has provided were for vouchers to private Christian schools). The examples of poorly-run privatized schools in this country, particularly those run by Edison, are prominent--notably in Texas and California.

In sub-Saharan Africa, there's some strong evidence that privatization of schools (forced by World Bank debt restructuring agreements) resulted in a large drop in school attendance, particularly of girls. This was the result of shifting school costs to the poor who could not afford the cost of user fees, tuition and books which was required as part of what were known as "cost-recovery" schemes mandated in those debt agreements. That should suggest that the future of privatized schools in this country might not be as rosy as the right wing proselytizes.

Publicly-funded schools in this country were instituted by communities to educate their children because it was the only way to do so--they were seen as a shared resource of the community wealth. Before there was public education in this country, only the wealthy could afford schooling for their children, either at finishing schools, private academies or through tutors. That's the sort of situation which in extremis can result from privatization of the school system. Only the well-to-do may eventually be able to afford an education. The psychology of that is clear--if the wealthy are the only ones getting good educations, they continue to control the pathways to wealth--government, business and societal influence.

When I see extremely wealthy people promoting a system which existed in feudal societies, I am more than highly skeptical of their good intentions for us all.

Cheers.

[Coyote_Bandit]

8. Hmmmmm

I never said that Alice was a "nice guy." Or anybody else in the Walton family. I said that John was. I also said that conclusion was not a stamp of approval of his values and beliefs. I never asked anyone here to think well of him. We are all responsible to reach our own conclusions. Nonetheless, I refuse to condemn him simply because his values and beliefs differ from my own. To me, doing so is much like what the Catholic church did to Galileo. Again, everyone here is free to see things differently.

It is a basic principle of economics (and human behavior in general) that people act out of their own self-interest. My experience is that it is a bit unrealistic to expect anything different. That being the case, I personally am not expecting or relying on someone else's benevolence or good intentions to resolve my challenges or better my place in the world.

The flaws and failures of our public educational system are obvious. And have been for decades.

Our public education system simply cannot be fixed with money. It is simply untrue that money fixes everything. Such a "solution" completely ignores the more important attitudinal, disciplinary and behavioral issues among administrators, educators, parents, students and society.

Any improvement to the educational system will require at least two things. First, consumers (parents/students) must be able to hold individual schools accountable to deliver a quality education. If the school fails to do so then those consumers need to be able to go somewhere else without financial penalty. There needs to be practical consequences for those individual schools that fail to provide an acceptable education. Leaving and taking funding with you is a very tangible and practical consequence. And bringing funding with you when you enroll in a school should create a contract to provide certain educational services. Second, social and economic class need to become largely irrelevant in school selection. We can accomplish this to some extent if every student represents a certain amount of funding which can be applied at any public or private school and if private schools are penalized (e.g., loss of tax exemption and/or other financial penalty) for charging a premium (i.e., additional tuition and fees).

This is not a suggestion that advocates privatization of the educational system. It is a suggestion that argues for a meaningful choice to educational consumers, consequences to individual school systems, and less elitism in the educational system. I think this would be the wisest use of our limited resources - and certainly an improvement over the system as it nw exists. Again, I am not asking anyone here to agree.

The educational system is not like many of our utilities. Schools are fully capable of competing and specializing. And there is certainly an argument to be made that any school that receives its funding from taxpayer dollars - as under the voucher system outlined above - and operates under state laws and regulations is a public school. Yet we resist innovation and change to the status quo. Sometimes it seems we have a greater sense of obligation to protect the educational bureaucracy that already exists than to address our current educational crisis.

Compulsory education statutes in this country are such that kids between certain ages are *required* to attend school. There should be as much competition for female students - and the dollars they bring to an educational institution - as there is for male students. What is important in these schools is not whether they are publicly or privately managed but whether they successfully educate students - in an inclusive student body not segregated by race or religion or gender or economic class, etc.

The idyllic community school has never existed in this country. The well to do have always been able to provide expensive private educational opportunities to their children - and they have done so throughout our nations history. That is not likely to change. However, the fact that more and more parents are sacrificing to put their children in private schools - or to home school them - is a clear indicator that our public schools are failing.

If we have any sense of what is good for our nation and our future we will work together to resolve the crisis facing our educational system - and we will embrace any necessary changes to the established educational bureaucracy.

[punpirate]

10. Defend the wealthy if you must...

... they are not generally the geniuses in this land, and especially not the Waltons, who inherited all they possess--they gratefully received their father's money, and little else from him. In the final analysis, John Walton killed himself in a tinkertoy ultralight of his own design. That should speak volumes about both his intellect and his arrogance.

Praise this man, John Walton, if you will. That is your right.

But, if you embrace the ideas of an idiot with money, you will have to live with the results of his deceits willingly. Others of us will simply have to grudgingly endure those ideas, unless we throw them over.

Idiots with money are running this country, and you are trying to tell me that your best example of same is a great man. Well, I beg to differ with you. You've ignored everything I've laid bare about this shitheel, you've ignored his inglorious recent past and have made excuses for his program to ruin education in this country--repeatedly. You are just in love with this bozo who killed himself due to his own goddamned ignorance and incompetence, and you want me to be impressed with his ideas and plans for education?

Sweet jesus on a bicycle... that's just a bit too much. You follow John Walton off the cliff. I'll watch. And contact the rescue squad for you, because not a one of the fuckin' Waltons will be there backing you up.

[Coyote_Bandit]

11. The ideas I expressed regarding school vouchers

were my own. I could care less what anyone here thinks of them. The present state of our public education system is absolutely deplorable.

Anyone who works in the financial services industry will tell you that financial decisions are largely driven by the emotions of fear and greed. It is equally true of the rich and the poor - we are afraid of losing what we have and simultaneously we want to acquire more. That is human nature.

You apparently hate and loathe a rich dead guy you probably never met because he didn't advocate your agenda. More importantly, he didn't finance it. He did, however, by your own admission, try to protect his own interests. Don't we all?

[burrowowl]

7. I don't think

Murikans understand that repukes want to destroy Public Education because the Fascist/Corporatist don't want a Society of the People to be able to REASON!
Many at DU don't know the difference between Libertarian, Democrat, Republican, Bullmoose, Progressives, Debs, Socialist, Communists, Fasist, etc.

:crazy: :think:

Friggin SAD!

[Coyote_Bandit]

9. Promise

I know the difference.

Those in power don't want people to be able to REASON. The same is usually true for anyone with an agenda. Why? Because they are more concerned with successfully making an argument and getting someone to adopt their conclusions. Reason, on the other hand, requires embracing and evaluating ideas from all sources rather than selectively censoring and considering only those we find acceptable.

Ours is a society that is focused on winning rather than honest evaluation of issues, people and ideas. Unfortunately, that seems to be true across the political, idealogical, and theological spectrum. Agendas are such that those advocating them often outright reject anything or anyone who does not serve their own self-interest. As a society we do not value collaboration, compromise or tolerance.

Ours is not a pluralistic society. We are divided by political affiliations and agendas, by economic and social class, by religious faith, by race, by gender, by nationality, by education and by age. Logically, the ultimate result of the divisions, hatreds, stereotypes and rigidity in our views will be civil war. It will be the rich against the poor (many economic historians will argue than is much the same as our last civil war). Money and the power that comes with it will be the primary motive. And when it is all over we probably still will not be able to build a pluralistic, inclusive, diverse society. Why? Because we do not allow for multiple viewpoints. We have made everything black or white - for us or against us. Our nation would be far healthier if we had a multi-party political system that required coalition building and compromise to govern. But we cannot embrace that because doing so requires compromise and that prohibits winning.

I fear for the future of our nation. That fear is founded more in my assessment of the attitudes and priorities of our citizens than in the structure of our government or the current power brokers.