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Irrationally excessive libertarianism drives me nuts.

I’m on a mailing list on which there is a flurry of heated discussion about whether schools have the “right” (the word here is “power” not “right” and you’d think self-described libertarians would know and appreciate the difference) to make students stand and say the Pledge of Allegiance.

The irrational faction says no, which means it’s story time.

When I was in grade school, we had a classmate (no names) who would dump in his pants, then stand up and sit down with enough force to squish it all over and create a mess. Now, he did this so he’d get sent home, which the teacher did until she got tired of it. She called his parents, and they began sending him to school with extra underwear and pants. When he tried his previous trick, our teacher made him first clean himself up and change clothes, then stand in front of the class and apologize for what he’d done.

What he had been doing was unacceptable behavior. The teacher was doing exactly what she should have done, and taught him a lesson about how to behave like a civilized human being.

So would these irrational “do your own thing at all times and all places no matter what the consequences” libertarians be screaming that she violated this kid’s rights? Would they be claiming that he had a right to mess himself, then deliberately “share” it with all of us so he would get sent home from school?

Yes, the school not only has the power to teach students to respect their flag and nation, but the duty to do so as well. The alternative is behavior like this:

“Rights” aren’t relevant. Civilized, responsible behavior is.

This entry was posted by rightwingprof on November 17, 2005 at 10:24 am under Education, Conservatism. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

2 Comments

  1. phil says:

    Phil here obviously doesn’t read anything I write, and decided to rant here instead of getting his own blog:

    Would true conservatives countenance the fiscal rape of their children and grandchildren?

    One thing the Bush Administration clearly has been very good at is focusing the attention of the press (and by extension the American people) on issues that they want to highlight. This has had the effect of advancing the Bush agenda, but has had the added effect of deflecting focus away from things that the Administration does not want to highlight. One of those issues is clearly the rampant, runaway spending of your tax dollars by Bush and the Republican majority congress. At this point there can be no doubt that, as they try to focus your attention on issues like stem cells and Supreme Court nominations, Bush and the Republican Congress are spending us all into a hole from which it will take us, our children and our grandchildren years to recover.

    You don’t need to take my word for this, nor the words of any democrat or Bush-hater. You need only to read what conservatives like George Will are saying, or the people at conservative think tanks like the Heritage Foundation and the Cato Institute. The Cato Institute recently completed a report on the spending habits of all US presidents during the last 40 years. If you’re interested in reading the report I’ve included a link at the end of this post.

    If you want to continue to believe that Bush and Congressional Republicans are “on your side” or if you care only about saving stem cells and banning gay marriage perhaps you should read no further. But if you’re interested in the truth and are concerned about your financial well-being and that of your children, perhaps you should read on. Here’s some of what the Cato Institute report had to say about presidential spending over the last 40 years:

    All presidents presided over net increases in spending. As it turns out George W. Bush is one of the biggest spenders of them all. In fact he is an even bigger spender than Lyndon B. Johnson in terms of discretionary spending.

    The increase in discretionary spending in Bush’s first term was 48.5% in nominal terms. That’s more than twice as large as the increase in discretionary spending during Clinton’s entire 2 terms (21.6%) and higher than Lyndon B. Johnson’s entire discretionary spending spree (48.3%).

    Adjusting the budget trends for inflation Bush looks even worse; his spending rate is much higher then Lyndon Johnson’s. In other words, Bush expanded federal non-entitlement programs in his first term almost twice as fast each year as Lyndon Johnson did during his entire presidency.

    George W. Bush is the biggest spending president of the last 40 years in both the defense and discretionary spending categories by a long shot. He beats Johnson by almost 4% in defense spending growth and more than 3% in domestic discretionary spending growth.

    And conservative columnist George Will points out that in his column today that federal spending has grown twice as fast under President Bush and congressional Republicans as under President Clinton. And with respect to the argument that this profligacy is related to 9/11 and homeland security, Will and the conservative think tanks have noted that over 65 percent of the spending increase is unrelated to national security.
    Will further reports that Congressional Republicans (who achieved their majority by promising fiscal discipline) have presided over an orgy of pork spending with your tax dollars the likes of which have never been seen before. In 1991, the 546 pork projects in the 13 appropriation bills cost $3.1 billion. In 2005, the 13,997 pork projects cost $27.3 billion.

    You may support Bush and the congressional Republicans because of some vague promise of “progress” on social issues with which you and the Republicans agree. In that case perhaps you are entitled to refer to yourself as a “social conservative.” But nobody who calls themselves a fiscal conservative could support Bush and the Republican Congress who are spending your tax dollars in an orgy of profligacy the likes of which has not been experienced in our lifetimes. You can continue to deny yourself this truth, but be assured that true conservatives know the truth. Bush and the Republican Congress are asking you to mortgage their futures and the futures of their children and grandchildren in exchange for soft “promises” on social issues. You are justifying the fiscal rape of your children and grandchildren perpetrated by your “moral” leaders in exchange for a vague promise of gains on social issues. Do yourself and your kids a favor; look them in the eye and explain to them why you have chosen to saddle them with these financial burdens, explain to them your reasoning. Then look in the mirror and explain to yourself how you can continue to support the people who you know in your heart are screwing you and to your kids. Is that morality? Is that conservatism?

    Read the whole Cato article here:
    http://www.cato.org/pubs/tbb/tbb-0510-26.pdf

    Read the Will column here:
    http://www.suntimes.com/output/will/cst-edt-geo17.html

    Yup, I’ve read both, and before you posted them. Course, what “Bush agenda” means to you, I have no idea, since Bush is no conservative. And I’ve done more than my fair share of ranting about the GOP Congress — try reading the blog.

    So Phil, baby, how come you don’t get your own blog?

    November 17, 2005, 11:07 am

  2. Mahndisa S. Rigmaiden says:

    11 19 05

    Hey Prof:
    He wrote the exact same thing on Patrick’s blog. He is just some troll who wants to shoot off his chops; pay it no mind!

    November 19, 2005, 10:40 pm