School Choice is Republicans Genie in a Bottle

posted by Robert Hornak
Tue, 03/28/2006 - 1:30pm

What is wrong with New York republicans? As each year passes I am increasingly amazed that the party drifts further and further away from our core ideology and continues to build itself up on a dying cult of personality for our chief executive while also building a cult of patronage and liberal special interests. The NY Republican Party has ceased to exist as an entity that stands for anything republican.

For years our various leaders and advisors have been telling us what we need to be to win (while losing time after time) instead of letting us be what we are and working to make our issues resonate. They just don't understand that you can't fool the voters. It's time for that to change. It's time for the NYGOP to get back to representing average republicans and fighting for our ideals.

And I have the perfect issue for republicans as a party to focus on - school choice.

This is a winner for republicans in so many ways. We all talk behind closed doors at club meetings and at parties about how good a voucher program would be for New York's children. How it would allow poor children in failing schools - the only kids who really need to get vouchers right now - to escape from government and bureaucratic education hell and get an education that will lead to a life of achievement instead of a life of poverty.

Vouchers would positively affect the system much faster than any other single action touted as a fix for the system. More money is not the solution, as nobody can point to where the money needs to be spent that would make any significant difference. We can spend billions more tinkering with the system and not see any substantial improvement. Attempts to improve the teachers contract or any other procedural change could conceivably improve things, but will not create the kind of systemic reform needed.

Vouchers would shake things up almost overnight. As local community organizations start their own schools for local children, and the failing local public school rapidly begins to lose students, it might actually cause the staff to do something to keep the remaining students and their parents happy, or they might just take the hint and flee for their educational lives. With few students in a failing school, there is no reason to keep it alive. Job security then will finally depend on performance.

But, for republicans, there is an even more practical, or at least a more political reason to champion this cause. To be a relevant political force in New York politics, republicans need to stand for something that people can, first and foremost, identify and understand, and second, believe in.

Republicans also have another problem - little real support in minority and immigrant communities. And here's where these three issues overlap. It's schools in minority neighborhoods that perform the worst. This is, arguably, the most pressing issue in these areas, as only improved education can lead to the economic redevelopment needed to bring good jobs into disadvantaged communities. Without an educated, employable community base, any economic development will only provide jobs for neighboring areas.

So, black and hispanic neighborhoods have a specific and urgent need not being addressed by democrats. Republicans have a solution that most community leaders would jump at the chance to bring to their constituents, and this opens the door for republicans to build a strong relationship with minority communities.

What could be a better win-win scenario? This is the best solution to the problem and democrats won't touch it for fear of Randi Weingarten and the long knives of the teachers union.

But instead of seizing this opportunity and becoming the champions of poor New Yorkers, republicans sit on their hands while being laughed at by Weingarten and her henchmen and at the same time continuing to distance themselves from minority voters.

People of color tend to be fairly socially conservative, having a high rate of participation in their local religious institutions. They know they can rely more on the church than on government for support. This actually means they have more in common with most republicans than than their rich, white, liberal counterparts in the democratic party.

Unfortunately, most people of color feel more comfortable with democrats than republicans. By championing school vouchers and giving local communities control over the education of their children, republicans would begin to change that. Of course, if republicans just drop the "oh, don't go there, they'll never vote for us" mentality, it would probably go a long way to building a relationship even absent vouchers.

The Republican Party in New York has become completely comatose. However, there is a genie in a bottle that can grant the three wishes we need to pump life back into our moribund political organizations. All we need to do is find the courage to rub the bottle and let the genie free. Then we can fix the schools, give our party a cause to champion that will resonate with voters, and most important, build a strong relationship with minority voters.

C'mon republicans what are we waiting for?

Quinnipiac NY SEN AND GOV

Submitted by EnWhySeaWonk on Tue, 03/28/2006 - 1:58pm.

I have to admit that as a Democrat I'm thrilled with the state of the GOP in the state. That said, I think two of the hugest liabilities for your party in this state are the heads of your party.

A) George has done nothing to build the party in nearly 12 years in office.

B) Dubya is not a real Republican--he is a Neo-Con/Christian Fundamentalist who has fooled a lot of people in this country to support him even though he does not really care about them. New Yorkers are smarter than that and have turned away from your Party because of what it has become Nationally.

I can "agree to disagree" on a lot of truly Republican issues (like, for instance, I don't know, vouchers), but the Neo-Con/Christian stuff I can scream outload "you are absolutely wrong!" on most of what they espouse--I can't agree to disagree on tax cuts for the rich during time of war (unprecidented in American History, but as Dick said "Reagan taught us deficits don't matter"), the war in Iraq (which was planned before 9/11), gay marriage will ruin the family, loosening environmental standards, and who cares that the Chinese own $600,000,000,000 of American money in bonds etc., etc., etc. No matter what issue you pick, your party is severely tainted in this Blue state.

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