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I was listening to local talk radio the other day and I heard something mentioned that struck me as odd.

There was a guest on the show who is running for public office to represent the people of Kentucky. The topic of conversation was the healthcare summit between Republicans, Democrats, and President Obama taking place that day. The host of the show asked his guest if he thought the Republicans were wise to attend the summit to which the reply was of course.

What was the guest’s reasoning? It was an opportunity for the Republicans to sell their ideas on healthcare reform to the American public.

Normally I’m not too animated when listening to this kind of stuff, but…I started yelling in my car.

Why? What’s wrong with that, you ask?

Here’s the problem. I’m sure that a lot of folks think the healthcare summit really was a great opportunity for the Republicans to sell their ideas to America BUT our representatives shouldn’t be selling the American public on anything! We don’t elect representatives to sell policies to us rather we elect them to represent us!

We need a mindset shift away from our elected representatives being some holy, untouchable group of salesmen that tells the public what is good for them back to representing the will of the people.  Remember, they are public servants! Servants!  They serve the public!

The graph I posted a few minutes ago is already out of date. The Kentucky Department of Education just released the 2009-2010 results for the ACT, Incorporated’s EXPLORE and PLAN tests.

I ranked the high schools in Knox and Corbin for the new PLAN data and added that to the data I ranked earlier for the 2008-09 year.

Here is how that came out.

Note to avoid confusion. The graph I posted earlier is for the eighth grade EXPLORE data, not PLAN data. I’ll post that tomorrow.

As you can see, Corbin improved its ranking, while both high schools in the Knox County system lost more ground.

– Lawyers swap arguments

– Kentucky Commissioner of Education urges mediation

As the deadline closes for Saturday’s rally to support school choice in the Knox/Corbin area, the lawyers for the two sides are swapping arguments with the Kentucky Department of Education.

The lawyer for Knox County is mostly complaining about all the money his district loses. Somehow, that lawyer thinks that more money automatically will equate to better educations. There is a ton of research, including some of our own in our Bang for the Buck report, that proves otherwise. Knox’s lawyer better try another tack.

The lawyer for Corbin takes the high ground, talking about the much better education kids get in Corbin while offering a rebuttal to the idea that somehow the kids magically bring better educations with them when they switch school systems. The Corbin lawyer cites evidence that shows it’s the Corbin schools – not something innate in the kids – that provides those better educations.

Certainly, there is no doubt that kids in Corbin run educational rings around the Knox County kids.

For example, consider the ACT, Incorporated’s high school readiness test called EXPLORE, which is given to all public school eighth graders in Kentucky.

Out of over 300 schools that get EXPORE scores in Kentucky in last year’s school term, Corbin’s middle school ranks 36th. In very sharp contrast, Knox County’s two schools rank near the bottom of the stack.

I have four children, and I want them to grow up in a country that has a working First Amendment.

Even though he is no longer with us, I think Milton Friedman should still be offered a seat at the healthcare summit going on in Washington D.C. right now.  Maybe in his absence we can just play this video…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPADFNKDhGM]

This morning on NPR, Steve Inskeep interviewed Senator Richard Durbin regarding the healthcare legislation currently before Congress.  The conversation moved towards the potential use of the reconciliation strategy that would allow congressional democrats to pass healthcare legislation with a mere 51 votes in the Senate.

After some generalities were discussed, Inskeep asked a very direct question: Even knowing that the majority of Americans are opposed to this legislation, will you pass this using reconciliation? 

His response: I hope it doesn’t come to that.

Seriously?  Inskeep, not satisfied with the answer, asked the question again.  This time Durbin basically said that Americans may be scared of it now but the legislation will benefit them in the end.

Wow.  Regardless of how you view healthcare reform, this is a problem.  Is this the attitude we want our elected representatives to have? This is a problem that is true on every level of government and is particularly of interest in Kentucky right now as the 2010 General Assembly is under way.  Take the time to learn about what is going on in Frankfort and contact your representative to tell them how you feel about legislation that is important to you.