The Hill News

What should the government no longer do? That is the question that no conservative political leader will answer when arguing for smaller government.  It is the elephant in the proverbial smoke-filled room.  When I was a candidate for Congress in 1994, I campaigned on the need to balance the budget, reduce government and make it smaller.  A reporter from the Fresno Bee, hounded me with the question, “What are you going to cut? What are you going to cut?”  After days of badgering I finally responded, “The Department of Education.”  

You can imagine what happened next.  The Bee attacked me for being anti-education. My opponent accused me of being against education.  They said I was against school children, for ignorance and not supportive of hard-working families. 

The fact that the Department of Education has done nothing but preside over the decline of American education ever since it was created didn’t matter.  What mattered was! that the federal government was involved â€" which was a good thing to those who think the only proper way to express the value of education in America is to knight it with federal department status and top it off with a cabinet secretary.  I touched the untouchable and created a local firestorm by questioning the role of the federal government in education.  So much for education and so much for reducing government.

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