As a typical Libertarian, I believe that government has grown way beyond its proper scope and function. Many of the difficulties we read about daily, and see on the TV nightly, and e-mail each other about incessantly, are caused by a misplacement of power, authority, and trust in government. I believe in a strong government, but only to the extent that it does what it was designed to do: protect life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Unfortunately, our government is presently a major player in several industries that were never in the vision of the wise founders of this great state, and this great country.

Education is a case in point. Our government needs to get out of the education business. It is doing a poor job. It only appears to keep up ... barely ... by continuing to throw big bucks and big programs at the problem, of course raising our taxes as it goes. Meanwhile, parents and other volunteers (including well-meaning "partnership" companies, agencies, and action groups) are way over-invested in helping this gigantic and monstrous bureaucracy limp along. Here comes another season of people crying for new programs, new funds ... calls for tax increases to make these happen. Most everybody thinks and assumes that we must do this. Most everybody thinks we have no other choice.

Well, not everybody actually, for we Libertarians know that this would be throwing good money after bad. We have a solution. We have a real answer ... and, yes, it's radical. It is radical in the true sense of the word, meaning "going back to the root or cause of the problem; dealing with a problem on a fundamental basis." The solution: get the government OUT of education. We must carefully, gradually, and compassionately transition from a predominantly government-run education system to a predominantly free-market system of education. The problem does not reside in the students, the teachers, the parents, or even the administrators. The basic problem is that we have put a central (and often distant) authority in charge of a system that deserves and truly requires local, private control! Individual parents (and, of course, pairs of parents) ought to be the fundamental units of decision and power in our community - just as they are when it comes to nutrition, housing, and clothing. Do we have a nationalized or state-run clothing industry? or restaurant industry? or construction industry? Hell no! Then why in the world do we allow this when it comes to education?

As a former elementary and middle school teacher (with 17 years of experience), I have asked myself and others this question literally thousands of times. The most common response is that we must guarantee a good education to all children. Be honest and ask yourself if the government-run system of education has accomplished this. In fact, we owe a great deal to our kids, and first on my list is the liberty, dignity, and respect on which this country was founded. We are a nation of capitalists - free traders. We engage in business with one another voluntarily -- business that is mutually beneficial to all parties involved. We abhor government that is too restrictive, that would infringe on our inalienable rights. As a parent, I have a moral imperative to feed, house, and clothe my children. Likewise, I have a moral imperative to educate them. I am tired of standing by and seeing our government representatives limit our children's choices to education, and then making us pay for an inappropriately large portion of their mistakes and bad policy decisions.

If we really want to see test scores improve ... and we really want to see our children's aptitudes challenged ... and we really don't want to see anybody's child left behind, then help me speak out against the status quo of government-run education. Together, we can de-regulate the education industry, and then the Invisible Hand of Adam Smith will perform the wonders that it has performed in those sectors of our society where free markets flourish.