Vouchers for the Poor

At this point in the 2008 election cycle, with all the hubbub about the attack ads placed against Rush Limbaugh (who isn’t even running), it would be nice if we could get back to some real issues, like school vouchers. Vouchers have been shot down time and again by powerful unions that are protecting their own existence and using scare tactics to manipulate the uninformed. If you want vouchers to become reality, then across the board vouchers for everyone is probably not going to happen overnight, if ever. But don’t worry about that. You might not need to get vouchers into every parent’s hand in order to reach the objective of vouchers, which is better educational opportunities for all children. Perhaps providing vouchers to a segment of the population will be enough, and that’s why those in favor of vouchers should focus on the poor.

Democrats are generally against vouchers, and Republicans are generally for them. Democrats are perceived as being advocates of the poor, and Republicans are generally perceived as being advocates of the rich. Whether or not this is the case doesn’t matter, because we’re more concerned about the perception than the reality. What matters is that Republicans can hammer away on this issue as being an example of how Democrats say they’re for the poor, but that it’s just words with no action. By pushing hard for vouchers for the poor, Republicans can run ads that say “We’ve heard your cries and your suffering as your children go to schools where they have to walk through metal detectors and where drugs are easier to get than math books. But do you have any other option? With vouchers, you will. Republicans are working to pass an education reform bill that provides a $20K-per-student voucher to families that earn less than $40K per year. These vouchers will allow you to send your child to the school of your choice, even expensive private schools like Barack Obama’s kids go to. But Democrats are blocking the way and preventing this option from becoming reality. Who’s really on your side? Vote Republican, vote for the sake of your children.”

What Republicans need to do is push hard on issues like this that matter a lot to voters who would otherwise never think of voting anything but Democrat. But I don’t believe these voters can’t be coerced away. I think they only vote Democrat because they don’t know the truth. If they did, they’d run all the politicians from both parties out of town. But Republicans can become advocates for a voting bloc they traditionally lose, the poor, by hammering away on this issue. And by helping the poor when it comes to education, it might help all children, rich or poor or in between.