ADAM RICKETSON COMMENTARY: McCain's Plan For Militaristic Propaganda

During the debate, earlier this week, Sen. McCain (pictured) suggested that the government has a special interest in getting retired soldiers into teaching positions. The libertarian Democratic blogger charges Sen. McCain with soldier worship and says beware: "All together, this strikes me as plan for systematically introducing militaristic indoctrination into our schools. McCain is asserting that military veterans have special character traits that they should pass on to Americas children. B___t! Before anyone accuses me of hating soldiers, let me say that I have no problem with soldiers or with them taking up teaching after retiring from the military. What I have a problem with is a government program to stack the schools with people from a particular background, especially one that correlates with particular moral and political values. I also have a problem with the notion that soldiers are somehow better than the rest of us 'regular' Americans, and that they should be given special treatment outside of the benefits associated with their military career."

My response: Because socialists have been arguing for big-government-liberalism-"common good" causes like Teach For America to promote their propaganda - a point that Mr. Ricketson does not acknowledge in his piece - Sen. McCain is merely adding a big-government-conservative twist to it by promoting Troops To Teacher. However, both options are wrong. This is yet another reason why school vouchers are a good option. Parents can select the sort of school that they want for their children. You want a militaristic education for your child, fine. You want your child to pray to Allah many times a day, fine. You want your child to get an Afrocentric education, fine. Market competition will focus on academic performance and will determine which schools survive and which ones do not.