When Sparks talked about favoring a state lottery to help kids attend college, Bentley observed that it's not the job of government to send kids to college, that's the job of families.
http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2010/08/robert_bentley_and_ron_sparks.html
During the 90-minute debate sponsored by the Arab Chamber of Commerce, Sparks contended the state needs a lottery to provide high school graduates with the opportunity to attend college.
He said children in nearby states, including Tennessee and Georgia, have more access to a quality education and job opportunities as a result of college scholarships offered through lottery programs in those states.
Bentley said he would not support a lottery and pointed out that the state a decade ago soundly defeated one proposed by then-Gov. Don Siegelman.
"I remind you we have a governor sentenced to jail as a result of things he did connected to that lottery. I'm personally against it. It's not the answer," said Bentley.
Sparks fired back, saying that, without a lottery, some deserving Alabama students would never be able to afford a college education.
"Since when did it become the job of the government to provide a college education to every child?" Bentley responded, looking toward Sparks.
"That's not the government's job. That's your job," Bentley said, pointing to the crowd of about 140. "Not every child can go to college, or should they."
If what Bentley said is truly controversial, then God help the idea of freedom in America.
Yes, voters have already defeated a lottery proposal once. And no, it isn't the job of state government to send kids to college or help fund their education.
I truly do not understand what is so controversial about those statements, but they cut to the heart of what role we expect our government to play. Bentley is espousing a government that stays out of peoples' lives, while Sparks clearly wants our state government to be bigger. Tack on a few more tentacles...
The two went on to spar over how to increase state revenue... And on that I think they're both wrong. Government always wants more, even when there is less to be had. But I don't think an automatic increase in spending every year is necessarily a good thing. What happened to SHRINKING the size and scope of government, not to mention the cost? Is either candidate talking about privatization of some services?
Not that I've heard. The idea isn't to fund government growth the "right" way, the idea is to find ways to REDUCE the cost of government, and to work to make it smaller and less intrusive.
So today I'll give Bentley the win on this debate, but I'll do it reluctantly because he sounds like another big-government Republican... As long as government grows in the areas HE thinks is appropriate.
Haven't we had enough of that?
The problem here is that there's only "X" number of jobs in life that require a really smart guy.
ReplyDeleteBy the late 1960s in Germany...there were various college graduates who were wrapping up a degree that was mostly worthless unless you wanted a teaching job...so a significant number of young Germans were disenchanted with the government, and being led to cab driver jobs or acting as a business operations manager over two gas stations (you basically hired, fired, and added up the profits of your two stations). The significant amount of trouble coming out of the 1960s of Germany...leads back to these graduates with no life or real job.
You can see the same issues with 2010 in America. If we pumped out another 300,000 extra college grad's a year, where exactly where they be hired and fit into?
What bothers me about this is that we need a good community college system where a kid could go and spend a year...building up some trade. For some odd reason, these Washington guys always dream big and don't want to just settle on a simple trade education deal.
Bentley is right on this issue, but according to Reverend John Killian @ http://johnkillian.blogspot.com/2010/08/amazing-dr-bentley-alabamas-next.html
ReplyDelete“Bentley's speech oozes with compassion. Repeatedly calling himself a Populist Republican”.
If Dr. Bentley is a populist, I’m a Pope. If he repeatedly calls himself a populist of any stripe, he must be a habitual liar.
Bentley admits he is firmly opposed to Initiative and Referendum (I&R), a populist process that gives power to the people that they can use when necessary to correct situations that elected officials won’t correct. According to the Birmingham News he’s on record as saying, “We have a representative republic and not a direct democracy.”
After Bentley became a gubernatorial candidate, in May of 2009 I sent an email (which I have on file) to Bentley asking if the Birmingham News had been correct, and if so, if he still held the same position in respect to I&R. He replied saying yes to both questions.
Now, rather than having our representatives settle the gambling issue, Bentley says the people should settle it. He can’t honestly have it both ways.