Friday, August 30, 2019
Monday, July 1, 2019
Friday, May 31, 2019
Monday, April 29, 2019
Education Industrial Complex
My Turn: Beware the education-industrial complex
President Dwight Eisenhower’s 1961 farewell address remains consequential. A five-star general, Ike warned of the dangers of the military-industrial complex – an informal alliance between our military and business establishments. This relationship between the government and “defense” corporations benefited both sides – one obtaining redundant and extravagant war weaponry while the other made huge profits from supplying it all. Taxpayers anteed up accordingly.
A soldier and patriot, Ike saw the military-industrial complex as a threat. Veterans who’d been in harm’s way echoed Ike’s sentiments. Those who committed their lives to our nation’s defense saw that pledge as sacred, and like Ike, had contempt for war profiteers safely seeking to get rich while paying lip service to national security.
Now in 2019 we must similarly shine a light on an education-industrial complex, which like the military-industrial complex involves special interest alliances seeking to materially and politically benefit from a supposed advocacy for youngsters and teaching – when in reality this alliance threatens education.
Consider Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris’s recent call for a $13,500 or a 23% increase in salary for each teacher nationwide. That’s good politics in that her proposal mobilizes countless educators for her candidacy.
Harris – a lawyer – has spent minimal time in the education trenches. So let’s see her proposal for what it is – a craven, cynical and unaffordable exploitation of teachers. But committing teachers’ unions to liberal causes worked well for California Democrats, while public school enrollments – and test scores – dropped. The sordid mess that California became under Democratic rule rates much attention – but that’s another column.
Consider the recent calls of Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren to refinance or forgive college student loan debt while making public colleges tuition-free.
The student debt debacle is of Democratic making. As college costs shot up – largely due to exorbitant salaries – Democrats were at the forefront to make money available for student loans. Students subsequently went deeply into debt. But the beneficiaries were college faculties and administrators, whose pay skyrocketed. The more loan money the government made available, the more colleges spent, while professors redirected much largesse back to Democratic politicians. Campaign contributions are public record. It’s a shameful shell game. And yet many proselytized college students pathetically voted for Democrats. But they’re finally figuring out that they’ve been fleeced by the folks they supported.
Having enriched their academic allies and advanced their political agendas while putting students deeply in debt, Sanders and Warren typically now want to leave taxpayers on the hook.
Ponder that Warren “earned” $429,981 as a part-time Harvard law professor during 2010-11. Or that Sanders’s wife, Jane, made hundreds of thousands of dollars while mismanaging Burlington College into bankruptcy. Or that many New Hampshire school superintendents make more than our governor.
Education-industrial complex indeed!
Like war profiteers who wrapped themselves in the flag to position themselves to make money, education profiteers cite “the children” as they seek to redirect public money to themselves.
The percentage of school budgets that actually go to classroom teachers is smaller than ever. Check out how much money now goes to administrators, bureaucrats, lawyers, lobbyists, consultants, accountants, “support” personnel and the like, not to mention numerous other budget line items that rate more attention. But rather than make tough choices to support education fundamentals or protect taxpayers, school boards err on the side of “the children” as property taxes go ever higher.
This plays into Democrat hands, as Dems call for broad-based taxes – ostensibly for “property tax relief.” The reality is that new taxes allow Democrats to expand government and hire countless more public-sector workers who then become Democratic voters.
Many of us who devoted our lives to education did so not to get rich or to advance political agendas, but rather to enjoy the intrinsic rewards associated with making differences in people’s lives. So it’s painful to see a liberal education-industrial complex convert our academic establishments into subsidiaries of the Democratic Party.
It may be good politics, but it’s not good for taxpayers or for traditional Granite State educational priorities and values.
Or for “the children.”
I’m sure Ike would agree.
(Michael Moffett of Loudon is a retired Marine Corps officer who also taught in public, parochial and military schools, as well as at the community college and university levels. He served on a school board as well as on the House Education Committee.)
Wednesday, January 2, 2019
Two Flights, Two Fathers
TWO FLIGHTS, TWO FATHERS
By Mike Moffett
Sport is usually a safe discussion topic at holiday gatherings. So it seemed safe when basketball came up during a conversation with a Michelle Walters---a friend of my co-author, Fahim Fazli---at a California social event last month. Then I mentioned that I’d once coached college hoop and Michelle responded that her dad had also been a college basketball coach—at Evansville University in Indiana.
Our eyes locked and I knew we were both thinking of one of the most tragic sports stories ever.
###
I was seated with a dozen other Marines in the back of a CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopter flying over rugged Korean mountains when the engine started screaming and the aircraft started shaking. Terrified, I looked to the crew chief for reassurance, but he too, looked concerned as he spoke on his headset to the pilot. Then he yelled to us:
“Tighten your seatbelts! We’re going down!”
###
Evansville.
It was on Dec. 13, 1977, that a Douglas DC-3 crashed on take-off in Indiana—killing all 29 aboard, including every member of the University of Evansville Purple Ace men's basketball team, except for one who was not traveling with the team. Was Michelle’s father among the victims?
###
Our CH-53 came down in one piece in a dry stream bed near a small Korean school. Youngsters swarmed out to see the spectacle. Repairs were made and we flew back to base to further prepare for a special training mission for Lima Company 3/5—a long distance night raid over the Korean mountains. We’d utilize six CH-53s in a reprise of the ill-fated Iranian hostage rescue mission of 1980—four years earlier. One of the pilots from that Iranian mission would lead our operation.
###
Two weeks after the Indiana plane crash, the only member of the Evansville team who was not on the plane was killed by a drunk driver.
Michelle’s dad, Dick Walters, was NOT on the plane. The head coach was a Watson, not a Walters. Bobby Watson was named Evansville head coach in 1977, beating out Walters and distinguished Evansville grad Jerry Sloan for the job. (Sloan would go on to become one of the NBA’s winningest coaches.) The charismatic Watson was fired up about his program advancing to the Division I ranks. A standout player at Virginia Military Institute, Watson was a highly decorated Viet Nam vet, earning, among other awards, FIVE Purple Hearts. Walters took over the program after Watson’s death. Had Walters been named head coach in 1977 instead of 1978, Michelle would have lost her dad in the plane crash.
###
American and South Korean Marines loaded into the six CH-53s after nightfall on March 24, 1984, for our raid mission. We flew over jagged Korean mountains en route to our objective, near the DMZ, far to the north. We ran into bad weather and the Sea Stallions were buffeted about in the dark, terrifying many Marines—including me. We eventually turned around and returned to base. But when we landed, there were only five CH-53s, not six.
###
Walters sought to honor the Purple Aces by not only reviving but elevating the Evansville program. His 1978-79 team went 13-16 and steadily improved thereafter. In 1982 the Purple Aces went 23-6 to earn an NCAA bid—losing a close first round game to Marquette University, led by Doc Rivers. Michelle, aged 10 at the time, remembers the joy that team generated, and how their success helped honor the memories of the fallen Purple Aces.
###
Our missing CH-53 had crashed into a mountain, killing all aboard. I accompanied a detail that quickly flew to the crash site to retrieve the bodies—accomplished with great difficulty, given the steep, rugged terrain.
###
The day after my conversation with Michelle, I received a Facebook invitation to join a special group of Lima Company survivors, for whom a 2019 reunion is being planned. I happily accepted the invite and quickly made my first post. I soon received a message from a woman named Jessica Liddle. She asked if I knew her dad, Staff Sergeant John Liddle—a Viet Nam veteran and a Lima Company platoon sergeant—and if so, did I have any memories of him? Liddle’s was one of the bodies we’d retrieved from that 1984 crash site. Jessica was five at the time. I replied to her that I indeed knew her dad. I shared some recollections, to include that he’d become a big San Diego Charger fan—despite his earlier K.C. Chief inclinations—and that we’d often talked football. She seemed happy to learn more about her father.
###
At yet
another California social event on New Year’s Day I received a surprise.
Michelle’s dad showed up late in the afternoon. We subsequently spoke at length
about basketball, life, and death. Coach Walters shared much about his
basketball journey, including wondrous anecdotes about the likes of Bobby
Knight. But clearly the Evansville plane crash was something that’s never far
from his mind. That his Evansville predecessor had survived the horrors of Viet
Nam only to perish with his basketball team will always be a tragic irony.
###
Through the wonders of social media, communication continues with
the extended basketball and Marine networks associated with Michelle and
Jessica. The holiday recollections about fallen Marines and deceased basketball
players revived their spirits while reminding us of our mortality and how
precious life is.
Semper fi … And go Purple Aces!
#####
(Immediately below are Michelle and Dick Walters, on New Year's Day 2019 and at a basketball camp, circa 1978. Below that, me and Coach Walters. Further below: Jessica and John Liddle.)
Friday, December 7, 2018
Saturday, November 17, 2018
Time to Retire, Mr. President
NOW’S
A GOOD TIME TO RETIRE, MR. PRESIDENT
By
Michael Moffett
Dear President Trump:
Granite State Greetings from the site of your first
election win.
With the 2020 New Hampshire Presidential Primary less
than 15 months away, voters and pundits are already pondering political
possibilities. And whereas spirited GOP challenges to your reelection once
seemed likely, your rising poll numbers changed the calculus.
Lower taxes, less regulation, fairer trade policies,
enhanced border security, solid judicial appointments, low unemployment and a
booming economy have all combined to strengthen a case for your reelection. Our
country has done well during your tenure. Thank you!
So why does this open letter implore you not to run
for reelection?
Because we want to see your sound policies continue to
bear fruit. Any successful Democrat nominee will reverse those policies while
raising taxes, adding regulations, loosening border security, demeaning the
constitution, and promoting poisonous identity politics. Creeping socialism is
not good for America.
You like blunt straight talk, right Mr. President?
As craven and corrupt as your 2016 opponent was, she
still outpolled you by almost 3 million votes. Razor thin margins in Midwestern
battleground states gave you the necessary electoral votes, but the mid-term elections
just showed that you shouldn’t expect a reprise of 2016 in 2020.
Beyond the daunting demographic and electoral
challenges you face, you’ll also have to deal with a relentlessly unfair media
establishment—not to mention contrary academia, hostile Hollywood, and the long
list of usual leftist suspects.
While you could certainly count on folks like myself,
would we be enough, given Republican Establishment realities? Don’t expect Low
Energy Jeb to help much. Or Little Marco. Or Lying Ted. Or Carly. Or Kasich. Or
the McCain people. On and on.
And we’ll need all hands on deck in 2020 to keep the
White House.
Another reality is that you’re the oldest man ever
elected president. Fair questions will be asked about prospects for your continued
good health. Many other fair questions will be asked on other topics—questions
that the electorate is weary of hearing.
Maybe you can pull it off. But do you really want—or
need—to put yourself and the country through another exhausting campaign marked
by the emotional excesses that your brawling approach invites? (And I write
this as one who appreciates your brawling approach!)
Ironically, the best way to preserve your
administration’s accomplishments may be to let younger, fresher faces emerge
who can unite our party and win in 2020.
Consider just one of numerous possible scenarios—a
Nikki Haley/Marco Rubio ticket that would strike fear into the hearts of the
Dems. Space doesn’t allow me to describe why that combination would be so
appealing to so many. There are other exciting possible tickets as well—tickets
which would remove the Dems’ biggest issue: You.
Straight talk.
You have a wonderful opportunity, with things on the
upswing, to step away on your own terms. George Washington, Teddy Roosevelt,
Calvin Coolidge and others left their presidencies on their own terms—and
history has been kind to them.
History has been less kind to rejected one-term
presidents. Think Herbert Hoover or Jimmy Carter.
Freed from having to put all that time, energy,
emotion and wherewithal into a reelection campaign, you could focus on
consolidating and expanding upon achievements that, ironically, would more
likely be preserved under a president other than yourself. You could be an extraordinary President Emeritus.
And you could remain the brawler who’ll fight back when
needed—in New Hampshire and elsewhere.
Let your final decision reflect courage and wisdom—not
ego and hubris.
Straight talk indeed.
Live Free or Die!
#####
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