Promoted from the Comments - Teacher Currie has Clue Zero About "Compare and Contrast" - Granite Grok

Promoted from the Comments – Teacher Currie has Clue Zero About “Compare and Contrast”

blood letting

Grokster Ian had a short but apt comparison of schools vs doctors over time as an Object Lesson: School Funding: A lot changes in a century, except in schools. I liked it and the entire text is here (yes, it’s that short; reformatted, emphasis mine).

In 1918, doctors did things a lot differently.  For example, they thought that bloodletting could cure any number of conditions, including epilepsy.  In 2018, medicine costs a lot more, but it does a lot more. In 1918, schools did things… pretty much the same way they’re doing them now.  In 2018, schooling costs a lot more, but… it does a lot less.

A time-traveling doctor from 1918 would hardly know what to make of a modern hospital.  But a time-traveling teacher from 1918 would feel right at home in a modern school. And while we wouldn’t think of letting the doctor from 1918 practice medicine today, we would be happy to let the teacher from 1918 pick up where he left off — practicing the educational equivalent of bloodletting.

To set the stage for what I really wanted to show off, here’s the comment from our Socialist friend, Bruce Currie, who immediately took exception to it (yes, he’s a teacher in a Government School):

Yet another tendentious screed attacking public education. This one contains a patently false analogy when it compares education to modern medicine, which is a blindingly obvious apples and oranges comparison. Doctors still attend medical schools, that use teaching methods including classroom instruction, hands-on experiences, and clinical practice. Perhaps Underwood would prefer a doctor who was “self-taught” thanks to Youtube videos and on-line texts

Pretty much, Bruce never accepts our sources nor the arguments (which is the same one, over and over, just dressed up in a slightly different shabby suit). While it can be off-putting (especially him never answering rather direct questions), it does something for we on the Right that he never seems to learn. While the Right is always having to learn HOW to debate, the Left doesn’t and Bruce is no different.  While he presents the same front, it does force us to think about issues more deeply.  Like Commenter Bryan W:

When I was in school, high school English included a multi-week module on “Compare and Contrast” – how you take two similar things and compare then, but also how you take two different things and draw a comparison — how they both evolve over time in similar circumstances was the easiest comparison to make.

You don’t like his analogy, fine. Say so and say why. That’s valid critique. But trying to distract people by attacking the process of “Compare and Contrast” – something taught for decades and still taught (according to the teachers in my family), then mounting a massive overgeneralization, is a pretty low tactic. (Ian is generalizing to some extent, which would be a valid critique if you had made it.)

But let’s start with the most basic distinction: What you call “Public Schools” I call “Government Schools” because “Government Schools” is more accurate. History and experience has shown us over and over again that government is the least efficient, and eventually corrupt, way to deliver a service:
– Federal Minimum Wage
– VA Health Care
– Medicare
– Medicaid
– Section 8
– Food Stamps/EBT
– TANF
– OASDI
– Energy Regulation
– K-12 Education
– Pre-K Education
– etc etc.

You cannot find one word in the Constitution granting power to Congress to spend a single penny with any of the above. The states wouldn’t do most of the above if left to their own devices.

Even the places that have some nexus to the Constitution are massive wastes of money:
– any military contract (just watch Pentagon Wars)
– Transportation
– Post Office

Because Government is the least efficient vehicle, and powerful politicians direct “projects” to their states and districts

And then Bruce simply tosses all of that off with an off-handed sentence. It’s about the only answer he generally has. If you go to the post, you can see I popped in. But the real important bit was Bruce’s retort because it makes it clear, in black and white, the huge difference between the Left and the Right: What is the Proper Role of Government?

First and foremost, your understanding of the purpose of our government is completely off the mark. Even if we stuck to your definition – to do that which benefits all – I would be somewhat happy, because that is the original meaning of the “General Welfare” clause. But it doesn’t “benefit all” because Congress and the ruling class are completely corrupt – especially Shaheen, Hassan, Pappas, & Kuster. A road in Ohio does not benefit me generally here in NH or people in South Carolina (Gold star to anyone who understands this reference).

The Founders were very clear: the purpose of government is to preserve the rights of the American people. That’s it. Is our government well beyond it’s boundaries? Absolutely. The Impeachment Part Deux is a crystal clear example. The so-called COVID relief bill is yet another. Tell me again what gender studies in Pakistan has to do with COVID relief for Americans? But just because they are well beyond the boundaries doesn’t mean that principled legislators and judges couldn’t roll it back to where it belongs. Or, if necessary, a consortium of states gets together to make amendments that will force it back. “The problem is too big, and you’re too late” is a lame excuse.

Now, to the point at hand: what is the source of these “market inefficiencies” in these industries?

When I did some work for Eli Lilly, I had to go through the [now former] visitors entrance, which was also their media welcome center. It was a very large room. All around it, from the left around the back, to the right, was a mural entitled something like “Life Cycle of Drug Development.” The mural was easily over 200′ long. The first 6 feet on the left was “Discovery” on thousands of compounds. (The last part of the Discovery phase was what I was there to work on – the computer systems that kept their Cray fed. The Cray was doing molecular modeling.) The next 10 feet was animal cell then animal testing – on hundreds or thousands of compounds. When they started human cell trials was when the feds became involved – the Human cell trial was another 10 feet. The next 60 or so feet were human Phase 1, Phase 2, and Phase 3 trials. These were for < 10 compounds. Then there was about 80 feet of government paperwork and review before LIMITED production began under provisional approval. One year after Limited production, they received final approval, and full production started. The exclusive time period under US Patent was about 3 feet, then it switched to generic manufacturing. They could research other uses and off-label uses, and get the patent extended. But all that time and money went into drug development only to have multiple agencies of the government delay the process for YEARS.

Most of the market inefficiencies today are caused by government intervention where it has no legitimate business. The health insurance system we have was initially caused by FDR’s wage and price controls in WW2. The massive expansion of federal power traces to one Supreme Court Case – Wickard v Filburn. This bad case law has resulted in a complete twisting of the Commerce Clause and government intervention into every facet of our lives & businesses. Supreme Court justices are now just as political as the politicians that nominate & confirm them.

There are fixes, and they won’t be easy.

Indeed.

As I said right after that, this is what Socialists / Communists are unable to accept – that the Individual is Primary and not the State. WE are the Sovereigns in this self-governance model – the State is supposed to report to us and not we to the State.

In their worldview, it is the collective, the State that has Primacy. Socialist “leaders” are just the reincarnation of the Feudal Aristocracy and in this age, President Xi of China is the ultimate Monarch. Different titles, same roles.

Same outcomes. Who Chooses? Not us in the Socialist/Communist model – exactly the opposite of what our Founders desired and wanted to make sure would be their legacy.

At this time, it is always about “Who Chooses” and “What is the Proper Role of Government”?  Bruce, in another post, has made it clear his belief that the US Constitution is a living document and that anything that is needed “to do that which benefits all” can be derived out of that thin air between “the written lines”.

He’s happy – Government should not be constrained by that dusty document and it isn’t. He’s also happy that in order to have that happen, he’s good that Government must first take from others to give to others.

And we should not allow that to continue in order to return Liberty and Freedom to their right place.

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