Why We Don't Need the Department of Education

Plus: A listener asks the editors whether a Kamala Harris presidency would have been preferable.

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Why We Don't Need the Department of Education

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In this week's The Reason Roundtable, editors Peter Suderman, Katherine Mangu-Ward, Nick Gillespie, and Matt Welch explain why eliminating the Department of Education entirely is long overdue.

 

02:52—Trump administration cuts to the Department of Education

25:55—Mahmoud Khalil detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement

37:13—Weekly listener question

45:22—Lightning round: Congress passes a continuing resolution budget deal

53:41—This week's cultural recommendations

 

Mentioned in this podcast:

"Is This the Beginning of the End for the Department of Education?" by Emma Camp

"DOE Set To Die," by Liz Wolfe

"U.S. Attorney Threatens Georgetown Law for 'Teaching DEI,'" by Emma Camp

"Abolish the Department of Education," by Neal McCluskey

"The Next President Should Abolish Everything," by Katherine Mangu-Ward

"The Ever-Shifting Politics of the Department of Education," by Jesse Walker

"An Education in Empire Building," by John Fund and Martin Wooster

"Mahmoud Khalil Is an Easy Call," by Robby Soave

"Mahmoud Khalil, the Great Rorschach Test," by Liz Wolfe

"Is it Constitutional To Deport Immigrants for Political Speech?" by Jack Nicastro

"The Case Against Deporting Immigrants for "Pro-Terrorist" Speech [Updated]," by Ilya Somin

"Who Is the Palestinian Columbia Student Detained For His Protest Activity?" by Matthew Petti

"Trump Administration Deports Alleged Venezuelan Gang Members Despite Court Order," by Katarina Hall

"The House's Budget Bill Cuts Earmarks, but Spending Will Be Going Up Anyway," by Jeff Luse

"The House GOP Budget Blueprint Promises More Borrowing, More Debt, and Not Enough Spending Cuts," by Eric Boehm

"Rand Paul: Businesses and Workers Think Tariffs Are a Bad Idea," by Robby Soave

"Rep. Thomas Massie: 'We don't really have 218 conservatives here [who] meant what they said when they said they wanted to repeal Obamacare,'" by Matt Welch

"Rand Paul: Budget Deal Should Be Renamed 'The Status Quo Protection Act,'" by Matt Welch

"House Republicans Voted To Keep the Government Working," by Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole

"COPS on Hiatus?" by Nick Gillespie

"Renowned British Writer, a Virulent Anti-Semite, Being Considered for Sainthood," by Robert Philpot

"The Back of the World," by Adam Gopnik

 

Reason Speakeasy: Is Satire Still Possible? March 20, New York City

 

Send your questions to [e-mail]. Be sure to include your social media handle and the correct pronunciation of your name.

 

Today's sponsor:

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Audio production by Ian Keyser

Assistant production by Hunt Beaty

Music: "Angeline," by The Brothers Steve

• Video Editor: Ian Keyser
• Producer: Hunt Beaty

What are we consuming this week?

Matt Welch

• Flow

Katherine Mangu-Ward

• Ensign Peak Hike
• American History Hit: Mormons & The Founding of Salt Lake City

Peter Suderman

• Avowed

Nick Gillespie

• The Substance

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Comments

[Don't look at me! (No longer muted!)]

A listener asks the editors whether a Kamala Harris presidency would have been preferable.

LOL

[damikesc]

Impressive members of that audience.

[Chupacabra]

Was the listener Buttplug, strawcasmic, PedoJeff, JFree or Molly?

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

I see the slimy pile of lefty shit Tony has disappeared again. He used to brag about being a morning drinker; we can hope his liver got him, the asshole.

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (Trump Ascendant!! )]

Tony = Molly Godiva, right?

[Uncle Jay]

The United States needs the Department of Education like a bird needs a flight instructor.

[AT]

Do you know a student looking for a transformative opportunity that supports the foundations of a free society?

Yes. I keep them far, far away from here.

[JesseAz (mean girl ambassador)]

Lol.

[MollyGodiva]

Maybe we do, maybe we don't. But until Congress eliminates, the President is obligated to administer the department in good faith.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

Good faith as determined by whom? He's the President, in charge of the executive branch. Seems like it's pretty much up to him, up to the point the House impeaches him.

[MollyGodiva]

For starters, follow federal law. And Trump is not doing that with the mass firings.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

So you say. What do the courts say? You know, Rule of Law and all that? What makes you the expert haruspex around these parts?

[InsaneTrollLogic (On The List!)]

Cite? And cite the full law with a link.

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

"For starters, follow federal law..."

As a slimy pile of TDS-addled lefty shit, you continue to claim that 'the law' isn't being followed.
And when asked, you never have a citation to back your bullshit.
You.
Are.
Full.
Of.
Shit.
And those of us who have some degree of intelligence know it. Fuck off and die, lying pile of lefty shit.

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (Trump Ascendant!! )]

Bullshit Tony. Cite the law he’s breaking. You always come in and make some unsupported, non specific claim like this. The fact is that it isn’t illegal at all

You and your pinko friends just don’t like it.

[Fire up the Woodchippers! (Trump Ascendant!! )]

Define ‘administer’ in this context.

[TJJ2000]

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

Show us where the Constitution enumerated the 'Fed' for a Department of Education.

That's the problem with Leftards. They absolutely REFUSE to adhere to the Supreme Law (the very definition) of the USA.

[Sevo, 5-30-24, embarrassment]

"...A listener asks the editors whether a Kamala Harris presidency would have been preferable..."

To WWIII? Probably.

[NCMB]

The DOE, and many other federal departments, need to go. While I don't necessarily agree with the current administration's methodology/process to eliminate departments that should not exist (you know, the one's that have no basis in the enumerated powers clause in the Constitution), somebody has to do it.

I've listened to federal level candidates/officeholders vow to "go thru the federal budget line-by-line and eliminate waste, fraud and duplication" for more than 40 years. Still waiting, but it least I'm seeing some effort lately.

My previous US representative had a penchant for announcing million dollar federal grants to local emergency services agencies, local schools, local water providers, etc. I repeatedly asked him why he was doing this since none of those services are a federal responsibility. His response was the he was "just getting back our fair share of federal tax dollars." I told him there was a simpler way: don't take it in the first place and there would be no need to get it back; not to mention the fact that a dollar sent to the feds and then returned doesn't come back as a dollar, it's diminished by the administrative costs of collecting it and returning it.

The best government is local government. The scope and size of the federal government has to be reduced.

[Thought about __ all my life]

Let's make the case more logically.
Education since the DoE has been on a continual decline.
Teachers send their kids to private schools at TWICE the natioanl rate.
Lawmakers for eduction send their kids to private schools at a Guinness Book rate :
40 percent of members of the House and 49 percent of members of the Senate send or have sent at least one of their children to a private school.
Moreover, the survey found that members of the House and Senate who serve on the committees that have jurisdiction over educational issues are the most likely to send their children to private schools. Of survey respondents with children:

61 percent of Senate Finance Committee members and 57 percent of Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee members send or have sent their children to private school;

43 percent of House Ways and Means Committee members and 33 percent of House Education and Workforce Committee members took advantage of the opportunity to choose a private school for their children;

33 percent of Members who represent the congressional districts of the 10 largest U.S. cities have chosen the private school option; and

28 percent of the Black Caucus and 14 percent of the Hispanic Caucus chose to send their children to private schools.
===========================

28 % of Black Caucus -- and where dit the great modern enemy of school choice and charter schools send his kids ??? Obama shelled out BIG BUCKS for Sidwell for two daughters
PER STUDENT
Lower School (preK-2): $51,410
Lower School (Grades 3-4): $53,920
Middle School: $57,150
Upper School: $57,620

[Thought about __ all my life]

Do they read write and do math better. Not in any do they do better.
I teach college, started 10 years ago. EVERY year they are worse.