Two days after casting a ballot, and we still don’t have a definitive answer about our new Superintendent of Education. Jim Rex has declared victory and is putting together his transition team. However, Karen Floyd has not conceded, and states that the 211 vote margin separating them still makes it too close to call. I get a feeling this could get REAL ugly. I hope, for Floyd’s sake that it doesn’t. The taint of "Sore/Loserman" and Florida’s hanging chads still hang over those that challenge elections, or are perceived as ungracious losers. Floyd obviously has some high political ambitions, and I think it would be in her best interest to bow out and be seen as gracious if she wants to continue. However, I guess one could argue otherwise. I mean, look at what just happened to the newly independent and recently re-elected Liebermann.
Even though the opportunity for voting for one of them has passed, I decided to look at some of the other party candidates. Constitution Party candidate Ralph Lindblad seems like a real wingnut. Here are some choice quotes from various interviews…
"The government should not be in education," said Ralph Lindblad, a Fountain Inn resident and machinist by trade. "And the Department (of Education) should be closed and abolished."
One of the main purposes of public education is to indoctrinate students, he said. Government involvement has only served to dumb down the American populace. Government’s only legitimate function is to protect life and private property, he said.
"If we’re going to provide free education, why not provide free groceries, health care, entertainment?" he said. "Where do you draw the line?"
If he is elected, Lindblad will do everything in his power to promote Christian education, home-schooling and school privatization.
"Everyone should applaud me, because with each student leaving public education, it will save the taxpayer $10,000 (annually)," he said. And the tyranny of government-controlled education that keeps the Ten Commandments out of the classroom and infringes on the rights of Christians to practice their religion can be abolished.
"Catholics can have their Catholic schools, Baptists can have their Baptist schools, atheists can have their atheist schools, gays can have their gay schools, environmentalists can have their environmentalist schools," he said. There is no reason non-Christians should be subjected to Lindblad’s ideology, just as there is no reason for Christians to have to abide by the artificial separation of church and state, he said.
The average government school student in this state costs the tax payers $9,800 a year and we are last or near last in almost every category of measurement. It is pretty clear that government education is a failure. It is a cash cow for the politically connected. The change agents that run it have an agenda to create loyal serfs for the New World Order and do not care about reading, writing, and arithmetic.
Lindblad believes that ultimately privatization of the schools is the only thing that will ever restore America’s Christian Heritage. Let everyone with any view have their own school then no one can use the line about separation of church and state to destroy patriotism. When Jesus is unwelcome in the schools, I don’t want my tax money to fund it.
The scary thing is, Lindblad got 6325 votes statewide, or 1% of the vote. Typically, a voter must be truly motivated to vote for a third-party candidate. Even though this is a low percentage, it means that there are at least 6325 people in this state that would love nothing better than to see public education destroyed. These are just the ones whacko enough to vote for Lindblad. There are also the shades of gray that were content with a less radical, but just-as-dangerous solution such as Karen Floyd.
Regardless, I’m glad Ralph came in dead last in this particular contest.
NOTE: While discussing this post with Laura, she pointed out that I should be thankful for those 6325 people who voted for Lindblad. Those votes would have otherwise gone to Floyd.