One of the most common arguments that school authorities use to justify public schools is that all children have a "right" to an education. And subsequently the right to other activities that have been a parallel with school, like extra-curricular activities. Where the notion of a basic right to an education comes from is anybody's guess. All basic rights a person has exists without any need of another person to lose their rights in order to provide that right. Freedom of speech is a basic right, no one has to lose anything to give you the right to speak out. What you do not have is the right for your speech to be heard, because it would force people to be listeners. The only non-basic right guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution is the right to a trial by jury; because it forces people to become jurors.
Local or state governments can guarantee this alleged right in two basic ways. They can own and operate all the public schools and force all children to attend these schools, or they can give subsidies (vouchers) to parents to pay for tuition in the private school of their choice. Since most school authorities strongly oppose vouchers, that means they support only a government-controlled system of compulsory public schools and school taxes to guarantee children this alleged right to an education.
But our government produces nothing by itself. Our government gets its money by taxing us. To guarantee this alleged right to a product or service, government tax collectors must therefore take money from one person to give it to another. They must take from Peter to pay Paul, as the saying goes. To guarantee education as a "right," local, state, and federal governments must tax all Americans to pay for public schools. All of us are taxed, whether or not we have school age children or think these schools are worth paying for. So when some parents claim that their children have a right to an education, they are really demanding that their local or state government steal money from their neighbors to pay for their children's education.?
No goal, not even educating children, justifies legalized theft. One of the Ten Commandments says, "Thou shalt not steal." It does not say, "Thou shalt not steal, except if you need money to educate your child." Since no one has a right to steal from his neighbor, no one, including children, has a "right" to an education.
In 1925 the United States Supreme Court declared, “The child is not the mere creature of the State.” (Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U.S. 510) . And subsequent decisions by the Court hav held the same premise. Yet this has largely been ignored, allegedly for the sake of the children, despite being in violation of the principles of personal liberty that this country was founded on. There is also no mention of education, public education, or a right to an education whatsoever in the United States Constitution
The VOTERS decided the fate of the referendums in Brainerd and in other districts.…not one man. People should be ashamed for trying to victimize the people that stood up for what they believed in and for protecting THEIR rights.
