Monday, May 29, 2006

Government schools suck / The Preamble Reconsidered

On the 2+2 forums (Niels' favourite), Michael Owen ("Borodog") makes a great post about why government schools suck:

In my opinion, not a single one of these students has any business being anywhere near a university, except possibly working in the cafeteria. That may sound harsh, but it's the truth. The majority are wasting taxpayer dollars earning fraudulent degrees in voodoo fields like education.
(...)
They are the inevitable products of a system that is not built to educate children, it is built to pay bureaucrats, which it does exceedingly well. Administrators of failing school systems make six figure salaries. Educational spending is inversely corelated with academic achievement: The more you spend, the worse they do.



Jim Davies shows us how to realize that the Preamble of the US Constitution is complete bullshit, at least from a market anarchist perspective.

"... establish Justice..."

Oh, really? Let's leave aside the monstrous caricature of justice that the government monopoly has become, and notice just the theoretical nature of what the Constitution put in place.

They first monopolized it--government (in its several levels) was to administer the whole industry, with no competition allowed. Appeals were to be possible, but the Supreme Court was not to be obliged to hear them. Very few specific powers were either granted or prohibited to the judicial branch by Article 3, leaving the whole system wide open to self-monitored abuse--an opportunity of which it has taken full advantage.

Then they based it upon retribution. Yes, civil cases were contemplated, but the essence of their idea of "justice" was that of crime and punishment, not injury and recompense. This is barbaric and to this day a victim or his survivors can be seen vindictively celebrating if a defendant is found guilty of harming him and sentenced harshly. He walks out of court happy with what he thinks is "closure," but without a penny in compensation. The perp is left to rot behind bars and the taxpayer is forced at gunpoint to foot the bill. Some justice.

The Founders showed no evidence of having thought through what justice truly is, and their claim in this Preamble to have "established" it is therefore so much hokum.

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