Educational Reform is Slavery and The Sunday Education Weekly Reader 07.01.12

What does increased taxation mean for education "reform"?

The Sunday Education Weekly Reader is reposting two blogs (rather than tweets this week) with serious questions about increased taxation and the results of this governmental power.  

Ponder these questions when thinking about the educational reforms and the increasing centralization of control and power by the Federal government and venture capitalists.   Education centralization is not only the death of individualization for common outcomes, it also includes government mandated, NOT voter approved, tax increases in the cost of common core standards, assessments and implementation.

Are taxpayers slaves to the system?  Should students be subject to a "reform" movement that is not about improving education, but is a movement for centralized power and control?

From Power and Control:

Slavery

The central issue of our times:

The power to tax is the power to enslave.

For what are you willing to be a slave?

For what are you willing to enslave others?

Pass it on. Claim it as your own.  

What does this "power to tax" mean in the end?  Will this expansion of control "reform" education?  Remember, education reform is not really about "choice" or entrepreneurship.  These educational "entrepreneurs" are not using their own money for "choice schools".  They are not the "player" in the computer game Empire (below) with a "small limited amount of money to start a settlement".  They are using taxpayer money for their schools that are operating under the same mandates as traditional public schools. 

Their plan, however, is the same as the player in the game...to create a settlement and establish trades from which an economy could be created.  Read any educational venture capitalist company or educational company press announcement.  These companies aren't concerned a bit about what type of education students receive.  They just want a piece of the pie for the services needed.  They are quite content to deliver products required for a centralized and common educational plan.

Arne Duncan's talking points are not about reforming education, they are about making money from a planned educational economy while using tax dollars for this money making scheme.

Nice one at: The Future Of The World Is Slavery:

A Lesson in Taxation…

Some many years ago, during the reign of DOS and Windows 3.1, I actually stooped to purchase a game off the shelf in a computer store.  It was called Empire.

The basic idea was to build a nation from a wilderness.  The play was set in a land region with no facilities at all.  The player had a small limited amount of money to start the settlement.  The plan was to create a settlement and establish trades from which an economy could be created. 

It was a fun game to play.  If the player failed to keep Caesar happy the player wound up as a slave rowing oars in the galley of a Roman ship.  If you managed to keep Caesar happy you were allowed to continue to build your nation.  If you succeeded in building your nation well you were eventually offered the seat of Caesar by a happy population.

One of the lessons I learned from this game was the negative effect of taxation.  During the course of one game it came to the point that I needed to raise cash for improvements and an army for defense.  So, I raised taxes.  The tax revenue actually started decreasing as the population of the nation started decreasing. People were moving out but I did not realize it.  So, I raise taxes again and again.  Finally, riots broke out all over the place in retaliation for the extreme taxes.  The riots had to be quelled and that too cost money, for containment of the people and to rebuild the damage.  I found the best solution to the discontent was to lower the taxes.  As I brought the taxes back in line with the original starting point the population started to increase again, the disturbances ceased and revenues started rising.  I found that by increasing the population through entertainment and trade the economy would produce more tax revenue even though I was not raising taxes.  This became a hugely successful strategy. So successful in fact that I could at certain points lower taxes from the starting point with greater returns as the economy increased in trade.

Yes, it was only a computer game and one might question the basis for economic reality.  None the less, it was a working experience which I never forgot. It was great to reach the level of Caesar.