Learning Curve
Yesterday, Betsy DeVos got a tiny glimpse of how much she doesn't know about public education. At least, she did if she's paying attention.
After her first day as the least qualified Secretary of Education in history, she tweeted, "Now, where do I find the pencils?" (Though her punctuation was less excellent than mine, having left out the necessary comma.)
Twitter exploded with teachers and others informing DeVos that our woefully underfunded public schools don't provide pencils, and that teachers routinely purchase supplies for their classrooms out of their own pockets. Of course, the money DeVos spent purchasing her position would have bought quite a number of pencils, but maybe we won't go there right now. Instead, let's talk about the learning curve.
During the presidential primary season, Rick Perry recommended abolishing the Department of Energy (or did when he could remember the list of which departments he wanted to get rid of). Then he was nominated to a cabinet position running that department, and someone finally briefed him on what the DOE actually does. Now he's a fan of the department's "important work." (By the way, the DOE does quite a lot, including managing our nation's nuclear arsenal, ensuring closed (and operating) nuclear plants don't fry us all, and such.)
I've realized something important: The Republicans who hate government have absolutely zero idea of what government actually does.
If you listen to right-wing media, you'll get the idea that the EPA's primary purpose is to regulate companies out of business, the Department of Education is designed to indoctrinate children, and the Department of Energy is designed to prohibit energy development. If ever any regulation keeps some giant company from raping and pillaging the earth, causes some backward public school to stop forcing its Muslim students to pray "in Jesus' name," results in girls' sports being funded as well as boys' sports, or delays the construction of a pipeline that might threaten the cleanliness of one of the largest aquifers in the nation, the agency charged with enforcing it becomes the enemy.
The Republican Party is now run by modern-day robber barons. They hate the EPA, whose mission is "To protect human health and the environment." Folks, the EPA is our best friend. The EPA is the reason rivers don't burn in the US, our air is mostly breathable, and our drinking water is mostly clean. This was NOT the case in 1970 when the EPA was created by the Nixon administration.
The EPA has never been beloved by industry. But it didn't really come under fire until it was charged with enforcing carbon emission limits at power plants under Obama's Clean Power Plan. The "controversy" over anthropogenic global warming has been created by those who want to burn fossil fuels unfettered, and as cheaply as possible. The EPA is on the front lines of that battle, charged with enforcing regulations designed to slow global warming by reducing the amount of carbon dioxide poured into the air by our addiction to fossil fuels.
The Department of Energy keeps our nuclear plants from melting down and spearheads cleanup when they do or when they are shut down. It manages the safety of our nuclear weapons. And it also sometimes regulates oil exploration in ways people who don't care about the safety of others dislike.
The Department of Education enforces federal laws around education, like Title IX. It also has offices dedicated to civil rights, student loan abuses, making sure for-profit colleges actually offer an education, etc. The more education becomes a business (big business, including for-profit universities, charter schools, student loans, and the like), the more regulations are hated.
So what's the truth of this? The Republican Party has cast itself as the party of business, particularly big business. Compliance with regulations can sometimes cost money. Therefore, the Republican Party must take the position that all regulation is bad, because GOP lawmakers are bought and paid for by business. (Some Democrats are in the same boat -- but since the GOP is in charge right now, they are my target.)
More truth: We NEED the kind of regulation and services these federal agencies provide. We need the EPA unless we want to be like the industrial areas of China, where people who can afford it have to buy technology in their houses to clean the air and water enough to be safe. We need the DOE because we don't want to be irradiated or blown up. We need the other DOE because we want kids in every district to have educational opportunities, girls and boys and transgender students to have equal opportunity, student loans to not be structured so unfavorably as to constitute usury, etc.
Perhaps from now on, any congressional representative or senator who wants to vote on anything having to do with lowering the budget of, reducing the power of, or eliminating any federal agency should have to pass a basic quiz about what that agency actually does. If the lawmaker can't get 90% on the quiz, her or she is barred from acting to affect that agency until he or she becomes an "A" student. Of course, this won't happen, but, hey, a girl can dream, right?
But more importantly, there should be a test for people nominated to head these agencies. They should be questioned about their knowledge and understanding of policy, function, and management of these departments. They should have to answer to those who will confirm their nominations.
OK, all of that happens. It's called a confirmation hearing. But the idea behind it, GOP, is that if someone fails the test miserably and can't answer the questions, YOU DON'T GIVE THEM THE JOB.
A steep learning curve, indeed.
After her first day as the least qualified Secretary of Education in history, she tweeted, "Now, where do I find the pencils?" (Though her punctuation was less excellent than mine, having left out the necessary comma.)
Twitter exploded with teachers and others informing DeVos that our woefully underfunded public schools don't provide pencils, and that teachers routinely purchase supplies for their classrooms out of their own pockets. Of course, the money DeVos spent purchasing her position would have bought quite a number of pencils, but maybe we won't go there right now. Instead, let's talk about the learning curve.
During the presidential primary season, Rick Perry recommended abolishing the Department of Energy (or did when he could remember the list of which departments he wanted to get rid of). Then he was nominated to a cabinet position running that department, and someone finally briefed him on what the DOE actually does. Now he's a fan of the department's "important work." (By the way, the DOE does quite a lot, including managing our nation's nuclear arsenal, ensuring closed (and operating) nuclear plants don't fry us all, and such.)
I've realized something important: The Republicans who hate government have absolutely zero idea of what government actually does.
If you listen to right-wing media, you'll get the idea that the EPA's primary purpose is to regulate companies out of business, the Department of Education is designed to indoctrinate children, and the Department of Energy is designed to prohibit energy development. If ever any regulation keeps some giant company from raping and pillaging the earth, causes some backward public school to stop forcing its Muslim students to pray "in Jesus' name," results in girls' sports being funded as well as boys' sports, or delays the construction of a pipeline that might threaten the cleanliness of one of the largest aquifers in the nation, the agency charged with enforcing it becomes the enemy.
The Republican Party is now run by modern-day robber barons. They hate the EPA, whose mission is "To protect human health and the environment." Folks, the EPA is our best friend. The EPA is the reason rivers don't burn in the US, our air is mostly breathable, and our drinking water is mostly clean. This was NOT the case in 1970 when the EPA was created by the Nixon administration.
The EPA has never been beloved by industry. But it didn't really come under fire until it was charged with enforcing carbon emission limits at power plants under Obama's Clean Power Plan. The "controversy" over anthropogenic global warming has been created by those who want to burn fossil fuels unfettered, and as cheaply as possible. The EPA is on the front lines of that battle, charged with enforcing regulations designed to slow global warming by reducing the amount of carbon dioxide poured into the air by our addiction to fossil fuels.
The Department of Energy keeps our nuclear plants from melting down and spearheads cleanup when they do or when they are shut down. It manages the safety of our nuclear weapons. And it also sometimes regulates oil exploration in ways people who don't care about the safety of others dislike.
The Department of Education enforces federal laws around education, like Title IX. It also has offices dedicated to civil rights, student loan abuses, making sure for-profit colleges actually offer an education, etc. The more education becomes a business (big business, including for-profit universities, charter schools, student loans, and the like), the more regulations are hated.
So what's the truth of this? The Republican Party has cast itself as the party of business, particularly big business. Compliance with regulations can sometimes cost money. Therefore, the Republican Party must take the position that all regulation is bad, because GOP lawmakers are bought and paid for by business. (Some Democrats are in the same boat -- but since the GOP is in charge right now, they are my target.)
More truth: We NEED the kind of regulation and services these federal agencies provide. We need the EPA unless we want to be like the industrial areas of China, where people who can afford it have to buy technology in their houses to clean the air and water enough to be safe. We need the DOE because we don't want to be irradiated or blown up. We need the other DOE because we want kids in every district to have educational opportunities, girls and boys and transgender students to have equal opportunity, student loans to not be structured so unfavorably as to constitute usury, etc.
Perhaps from now on, any congressional representative or senator who wants to vote on anything having to do with lowering the budget of, reducing the power of, or eliminating any federal agency should have to pass a basic quiz about what that agency actually does. If the lawmaker can't get 90% on the quiz, her or she is barred from acting to affect that agency until he or she becomes an "A" student. Of course, this won't happen, but, hey, a girl can dream, right?
But more importantly, there should be a test for people nominated to head these agencies. They should be questioned about their knowledge and understanding of policy, function, and management of these departments. They should have to answer to those who will confirm their nominations.
OK, all of that happens. It's called a confirmation hearing. But the idea behind it, GOP, is that if someone fails the test miserably and can't answer the questions, YOU DON'T GIVE THEM THE JOB.
A steep learning curve, indeed.
Comments
Post a Comment