School Choice: Lying Liars and the Lies They Lie About

(Chuck Muth) – Some people wonder why Democrats continue to stand in the schoolhouse doors and refuse to let low-income, minority children escape from the liberal government indoctrination camps and inner-city failure factories commonly referred to as our “public schools.”

It’s really quite simple.

Democrats know that if those low-income, minority children are allowed to attend a private school of their choice, they’re liable to get a better education and learn to think for themselves instead of blindly and unquestioningly following the “woke” crowd.

And if that happens, they won’t vote for Democrats when they grow up.

So it’s all about political self-preservation, not “for the children.”  They’re holding these kids hostage while providing government education bureaucrats and the powerful teachers unions aid-and-comfort.

Politically-speaking, ignorance is Democrat bliss.

And in their minds, the ends justify the means.  So they have no reservations whatsoever about telling the most blatant lies about school choice imaginable.  In fact, they and their media propaganda allies are absolutely shameless in telling whoppers.

For example, during the recently-ended session of the Nevada Legislature – in which Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo’s proposal for a modest increase in the funding for Opportunity Scholarships didn’t even get a fair hearing, let alone a vote by the Democrats who control both houses – Senate Minority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro actually said…

“Our first obligation as legislators is to fund our public schools…”

No it’s not. The obligation is to fund public EDUCATION.

And that obligation can be fulfilled by non-government owned and operated private schools which, in many cases, do a heckuva better job.  I mean, to tackle hunger, we don’t force low-income people to shop at a government grocery store.  We give them food stamps to use in PRIVATE grocery stores.

Can you just imagine what a government-run grocery store would look like in your neighborhood?!!

Which brings us to left-winger Annette Magnus of Battle Born Progress, who majored in Stupidity at some liberal arts college and chooses to call Opportunity Scholarships “vouchers” even though they’re not.

“The reason why vouchers are so problematic is that they go to those who already have money, who usually already have the means to go to a private school,” the walking chicken nugget cluck, cluck, clucked.

“It’s essentially a coupon for kids who can already afford to go to a private school and get some money off of going to that private school,” the Dina Titus mini-me burbled.  “It’s not going to the young people who need the most in our communities.”

Liar, liar, pants on fire.  It’s gonna take two hands to handle that whopper!

Opportunity Scholarships do NOT go to “those who already have money” and “the means to go to that private school.”  Opportunity Scholarships are restricted to low- and middle-income families who “need the most in our communities.”

“We’re talking about a program that funds low-income students,” Erin Phillips of Power2Parent accurately explains about Opportunity Scholarships.  “We’re allowing low-income students an opportunity to have a quality education.”

And why doesn’t the media challenge prevaricators like Magnus – who tell such bald-faced lies – and ask if they oppose giving “food coupons” to poor people that are used at private grocery stores?

Because they’re in on the kidnapping.  And perhaps the worst offender and unindicted co-conspirator is the Pravda-like Las Vegas SUN.

In an end-of-session editorial, the SUN parroted the Magnus claim that Opportunity Scholarships were “private-school vouchers” – because I’m sure they’ve poll-tested the verbiage and found “voucher” to be a naughty word even though the scholarships aren’t “vouchers.”

The editorial went on to claim Gov. Lombardo lacked “any identifiable mandate from the public” for expanding Opportunity Scholarships.  Um, two things…

One, Lombardo campaigned on expanding school choice options, including an increase in Opportunity Scholarship funding. And, um, he was elected.  Unless you’re an idiot, that’s considered a public mandate.

Secondly, the most recent polling out there on this issue showed that over 70 percent of Nevadans support Opportunity Scholarships.  Again, here on Planet Reality, that’s considered a pretty strong mandate.

Unable to counter the common-sense arguments in favor of Opportunity Scholarships, the SUN then resorts to personal attacks, referring to Gov. Lombardo as a “petty political opportunist” and accused him of “political barbarism.”

At least we know their “Thesaurus” button is working.

They then mimicked Magnus’ talking points by claiming Lombardo was just trying “to please his wealthy donors” and giving “taxpayer dollars to rich people” even though Opportunity Scholarships are restricted to low-income families.

I mean, you could look it up.  According to the Nevada Department of Education…

“Students whose family income does not exceed 300% of the federal poverty guidelines are eligible for the Nevada Educational Choice Scholarship.”

For a family of four, that means the cut-off limit is an annual combined income of just $83,250. And most qualifying families earn far less than that. So anyone claiming those families are “wealthy, rich people” is just lying through their teeth.

It’s as clear as the beak on Annette’s face.

In fact, according to Transparent Nevada, Sen. Cannibizzaro herself – a government employee – hauled in almost double that number in 2020, with her pay and benefit package totaling a whopping $152,181.27!

It’s shameless for racists such as Cannibizzaro, her fellow Democrats, goofball left-wingers, and their amen corner in the media to deny minority children in low-income families the same educational opportunities they enjoy.

But voters are starting to catch on.  The lies aren’t working any longer.  People now see through them.  School choice is spreading like a wildfire across the fruited plain.

And with any luck, there will be a reckoning at Nevada ballot boxes next year.

FAMOUS LAST WORDS

“If you could get your kid to postpone college for a year and go work in pure, hardcore direct sales…the education of the year in sales would be infinitely more useful to him than the four years that he’s going to get in college.” – Dan Kennedy

Mr. Muth is president of Citizen Outreach, publisher of Nevada News & Views, and founder of CampaignDoctor.com.  You can sign up for his conservative, Nevada-focused e-newsletter at MuthsTruths.com.  His views are his own.