Conservatives and Values
Conservatives are careful with the liberty, property, life and values of others. For the next few weeks we’re going to take a look at the values piece of that equation. We began with the issues of color and religious liberty – today’s let’s a look at justice and education.
Justice
One of the more destructive forces in our culture receives very little scrutiny and even less accountability. Our judicial system has become morally corrupt – unpredictability, repetitive delays, and high costs are the routine for a system that is run with nightmarish inefficiency. Most criminal courts in America plea bargain 95 plus percent of their cases – a figure having more in common with spring cleaning than justice.
There are reasons beyond self-service that lawbreakers hold our court system in almost universal contempt – these professionals recognize criminal enterprise when they see it. Those who violate the law do not all need to go to jail, but they do need timely and reasoned consequence. Multiple delays, purchased deals, and absence of jail space and alternative sentencing assure that most courthouse visitors come away feeling mugged.
When laws are created and selectively enforced – disrespect results. Without the level playing field of fair and timely justice, trust for our society is eroded and more people are prone to take short-cuts to avoid being left out. True conservatives make and enforce laws with matching compassion and enthusiasm.
Solutions will not come from the primary beneficiaries of these inefficiencies. Any culture producing more attorneys than doctors has its priorities upside down. It is no coincidence the legal profession has disproportionate representation in government and a propensity to feed itself first.
The breakdown in our justice system is a root cause of the growing need for government entitlement programs that have us ignoring causes and chasing symptoms. When justice is an authentic priority, the pain and costs of cultural corruption subside. Judicial reform is necessary in America for the same reasons that banking system reform is needed.
The first mission of our judicial system is preventing crime by putting a pause button in the minds of men. The second mission is assuring that consequence is meted out reliably and fairly. That pause button will work no better than the system behind it.
“When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men living together in society, they create for themselves in the course of time a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it." Frederic Bastiat
Education
We are blessed to live in a world that is becoming increasingly prosperous – a point of celebration for all who delight in uplifting their fellow man. This progress can be traced to increased productivity; the opportunities of global commerce; and social progress with health, hunger, and education. Prosperity increases competition – including how well we educate our children. This is one of many areas of social functioning where America, by international standards, is losing ground.
Money, facilities, and attention are not the problem. We are spending far more on public education now that we ever have; schools are newer; and the number of students per teacher has declined for decades. What has also declined is the quality of the attention our children are receiving. Education on how to compete, survive, and thrive in the real world has been replaced with education on how to feel good in a make believe world.
Many communities suffer a 50% high school drop-out and those students who do graduate often have tremendous skill and knowledge deficits. Students, sensing that they are part of an insincere education process are disengaging – mentally, emotionally, and physically.
In a culture that increasingly prioritizes personal entitlement over personal responsibility, it is not surprising that our educational system is being dumbed down through political correctness. Rewritten history and comfort curriculums will not bridge our children to a future of hope, security, and potential. A more direct connection to reality might.
Self-serving teacher unions are another enemy of education. These organizations persistently resist any efforts to address teacher performance and accountability. Though unions stand behind the pretense of protecting our children and teachers – their actions speak to the agendas of power and self-service as more sincere motivators.
Part of our education system failure can be traced to elitist state and federal bureaucrats using dollars to steal control from local communities. Buckets of money and reams of policies and procedures will never replace the connected and loving hands of caring parents and teachers closest to the student reality. This is where America’s public education system will be repaired – by people more dedicated to outcome than bureaucratic procedures.
“What we want to see is the child in the pursuit of knowledge and not the knowledge in pursuit of the child.” George Bernard Shaw
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