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| Former state Sen. Jeff Smith (center), D-St. Louis, exits the Thomas Eagleton Federal Courthouse on Tuesday after pleading guilty to two counts of conspiracy to obstruct justice. Smith faces up to 20 years in prison and/or a $250,000 fine for each count. (Matt Mitgang | Student Life) |
...so what's the problem? Stop labeling all education reform as being proposed/directed by ALEC, conservatives and the right-wing. Stop closing your eyes to the fact the educational blueprint being offered is supported and being implemented by a Democratic administration. The old labels of "liberal" and "conservative" and Democrat and Republican are outdated and archaic terms. The only term you need to understand is "global citizenship". Determine if your politicians/lobbyists/special interest companies and individuals fit into that reform mantra.
The post below details disgraced former Missouri Democrat politician Jeff Smith's (now a university professor) accolades for former Republican governor Jeb Bush (now an education reformer). It seems as if this previously labeled "right-wing" former governor is embraced by a left leaning politician turned professor. It's one big elitist party of using taxpayer dollars and taxpayer children for their own version of what's best for local communities and children.
Questions. Why are Republican Missouri legislators also supporting Jeb Bush's educational reform measures? Do they want to support the same policies as former Democratic politician Jeff Smith? Is there any difference in the Republican legislators and Jeff Smith when it comes to educational policy? The Republicans tout "local control". Are these reforms allowing decreased federal control and spending?
Why would a far left politician seemingly support a Jeb Bush presidency?
From Grumpy Opinions:
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Overnight Sandra in Brevard sent me a link to a CNN Opinion Piece Can Jeb Bush sway the GOP on taxes, debt? By Jeff Smith.
Smith was clearly lobbying for a Jeb Bush candidacy in 2016. For the most part the article was really complementary of the Bush family. Smith went back as far as Prescott Bush, and pointing out that as a US Senator, back in the 1950s Prescott was somewhat of a social progressive and Eisenhower’s favorite golfing partner.
He was little bit harsh on George Bush for being too conservative, but pointed out he had to take conservative positions because at the time the Republican Party was moving in a conservative direction. Among other things Smith pointed out that:
- Jeff Smith: No American family embodies Republicanism more than the Bushes
- Smith: Jeb Bush, a potential 2016 presidential candidate, may be bucking the trend
- He says Jeb Bush advocates for fiscal responsibility and standing up to Grover Norquist
- Smith: If GOP can return to its more centrist roots, then it has a chance to win more voters
There was something about the article and Jeff Smith’s promotion of liberal social agenda that made me wonder exactly who Jeff Smith is. According to his CNN profile:
Editor’s note: Jeff
Smith, who represented Missouri’s 4th Senate District from 2006-09, is a
professor in the urban policy graduate program at The New School. He is
on Twitter: @jeffsmithMO.
Somehow it struck me odd that is CNN profile would mention that it
been a Missouri State Senator, but did not mention any party
affiliation, I was also curious about The New School, so I took a quick
trip to Wikipedia and found Jeb Smith had been a Democrat when he served
in the State Senate, I didn’t see anything to indicate he’s changed his
party affiliation. I also found:
In September 2004, Smith submitted a
false affidavit to the Federal Election Commission relating to a
conspiracy with a group called Voters for Truth in the summer of 2004,
to run negative advertisements against Russ Carnahan, Smith’s opponent
in a congressional race. In January 2009, the FBI and the U.S.
Attorney’s Office, acting upon newly discovered information, opened a
criminal investigation to determine whether anyone had attempted to
obstruct the Federal Election Commission proceeding. Smith was betrayed
by his former associate Steve Brown after Brown was approached by the
FBI to wear a wire. Brown escaped a jail sentence by betraying Smith,
his longtime friend. Smith pleaded guilty to two felony counts of
conspiracy to obstruct justice. Each conspiracy count is punishable by
up to 20 years in prison and $250,000 in fines. He resigned effective
August 25, 2009 and was sentenced to one year and a day of prison. He
also was fined $50,000. His lawyer requested Smith be sent to a prison
camp in Marion, Illinois.[7] However, Smith was sent to a federal prison in Manchester, Kentucky.[8] In late August 2010 he was released to a halfway house in St. Louis.[9] In November 2010, he was released early from the halfway house and is no longer in federal custody.[10][11]
Current Life
In spring 2011, Smith was married and in
September, he and his wife Teresa had their first child, Charlie Wallace
Smith. Smith accepted a professorial position in urban policy at the New School’s Milano Graduate School of Management and Urban Policy in New York City. At present he writes for The Recovering Politician [12]and contributes to Politico - The Arena.[13] His writing has been published in Inc. magazine [14] and praised in New York Magazine’s Approval Matrix.[15] Smith plans to publish a book, which details his time in politics and federal prison, in late 2011 to early 2012.[16
Yeah okay what kid of school hires an ex politician with a criminal conviction for conspiracy to obstruct justice– The line for Miracle On 34th Street comes to mind
It’s a Progressive School!! Climate Change, Globalization, Environmental Policy and Sustainability Management and all those other little catch phrases liberals love are very much on display
Again from Wikipedia
In 1964, the J. M. Kaplan Center for New
York City Affairs was founded as the first teaching and research center
in the United States devoted to the study of a single metropolitan area.
In 1975, under the leadership of Dean Henry Cohen,
the Kaplan Center evolved into the Robert J. Milano Graduate School of
Management and Urban Policy (now the Milano School of International
Affairs, Management and Urban Policy), which was named in honor of the
former New School trustee Robert J. Milano (1912–2000), who had also
been a member of the advisory board of the J.M. Kaplan Center.
Curriculum is structured to encourage creative thinking in aid of
progressive social, economic, and political change in the public,
private, and nonprofit arenas
In 2011, Milano The New School for
Management and Urban Policy came together with the Graduate Program in
International Affairs at The New School to create the Milano School of
International Affairs, Management, and Urban Policy
So why would a leftist professor start lobbying Jeb Bush to be the Republican candidate almost 4 years ahead of the election. The answer’s simple, first of all with the political left considers a moderate Republican now Jack Kennedy (a democrat) we have considered a flaming liberal. Over the years progressives and their communist friends have managed to drag the Republican Party establishment so far to the left that they are more liberal now than the Democrats were 50 years ago.
The Bush Clan helped enable the party to be dragged towards the left. Smith probably sees Jeb Bush as someone a progressive could beat an election. But Smith is also looking at the possibility that Joe Biden might run for president, get the democratic nomination and get clobbered in the general election. If that happens the left want someone in the White House they can depend on to help push their educational and globalization schemes. In other words they can live with another Bush, after all it was Jeb's Father that signed Agenda 21 for the United States.
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You can check out Smith's writing at his site The Recovering Politician and also his recent talk at TED about what he learned in prison.
He talks about learning about "hustles" while in prison. Is he now "hustling" education reform?
I have never read so many conspiracy theories put together as fact in one place before.
ReplyDeleteAnd what part of this do you see as a conspiracy theory. The republican establishment has moved farther left than the Democrats were under JFK..
DeleteAnonymous:
ReplyDeleteDo you find it ironic Republicans support Democratic education reform and Democrats support ALEC initiatives? Does that make sense? Where's the conspiracy? That's fact.
I'm not sure I'd want to use the term "conspiracy" if means anything beyond the normal conspiracies of politics, but it is fascinating that "conservatives" would go along with statist, utopian educational policies like No Child Left Behind (Bush) and Race to the Top (Obama).
ReplyDeleteConservatives used to believe in INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY and FAMILY VALUES, but the federal government's educational policies of the last decade put ALL of the responsibility for student failure on teachers and schools, when ALL research supports the fact that, more than anything else, socio-economic status determines educational outcomes. Check out what George F. Will had to say about the silly "liberal" notions of the Obama Administration (same as the "liberal" notions of the Bushes) when examined in the light of reality:
http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/opinion/perspectives/george-f-will-stuck-in-the-60s-239068/
http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/opinion/perspectives/george-f-will-americas-tragic-number-261709/
And, a couple years ago, Barack Obama was in Florida lauding Jeb Bush as "a champion of education reform"!
The War on Teachers waged by both the Bush and Obama Administrations makes no sense from a "conservative" point of view. Beating up on teachers and schools will NOT improve educational outcomes. (Indeed, from a truly conservative point of view, all we can try to do is guarantee opportunity; it is impossible to guarantee equal outcomes!)
So, what is going on? Why are the powerful Republicans and Democrats in bed on this?
Whatever other reasons they have, my guess is the primary reason is MONEY--and the making of it thereof!
I think you'll find that Conservatives still support individual responsibly, family values and the Constitution. What republicans support is another matter.. Conservatives tend to vote republican because they tend to dismantle the Constitution a little slower than democrats so they go with what they perceive to be the lessor of two evils. One reason Romney lost was because he never got anything more than lukewarm support from people conservatives.
DeleteTo a great extent the GOP and Dems are seeking the same thing, with slight variations. George Washington warned that eventually party loyalty would replace patriotism (his word) We've moved past that point. Both Parties want Power, both want as much power as possible concentrated in Washington DC- The GOP is willing to allow some power to remain with the states, democrats not so much. Both parties realize how powerful a tool education is, and how much money is spent on it.. Here's where the approach varies.
The democrats want a massive bureaucracy with a couple quasi government agencies called controlling things-- key jobs in the consortium are well paid political rewards- Linda Hammond Darling for example. She magically ended up on top of one consortium with a 160,000,000 grant in hand. I'm guessing she'll find a way to pay herself a comfortable salary with a few incidental perks. Her consortium will dictate what other (State-local) government employees teach at a local level
Republicans on the other hand see a vast amount of money that can perpetually fund various levels of profitable low risk entrepreneurship.They don't really need the consortium to create a reward system, private ownership provides it's own rewards..
In both cases what children learn in school will be decided in Washington. Children, teachers and taxpayers aren't much more than a necessary evil.
Nice Job Gretchen, thanks
DeleteSo True!!
Delete"from a truly conservative point of view, all we can try to do is guarantee opportunity; it is impossible to guarantee equal outcomes!"
And when one looks closely at Common Core, a restriction of opportunity with mediocre content is apparent...
Create a "crisis"... profit from the "remedy" ... history repeats...
LOL-- Not just the conservatives- Remember we have a President who in his words "Sought out Marxist Professors and friends" With him in charge, the deck is stacked in a way designed to assure his commissars live comfortably; ie Hammond Darling and their mutual friend Bill Ayers. That 160,000,000 was just start-up money- use of the consortium's services will come with a price tag that ultimately the taxpayer are stuck with-
Delete