Profiles In Weakness

If political flip-flopping were an Olympic event, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro would be a gold medalist.

Shapiro pontificated, “I believe every child of God deserves a shot here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. And one of the best ways we can guarantee their success is making sure that every child has a quality education.” One week later, as the state budget deadline loomed, Shapiro shed his mantra about being a “different kind of Democrat” and put on his full leftist monte. Shapiro’s pledge to provide $100 million for Lifeline Scholarships, a program for children from K-12 in the lowest performing 15% of schools statewide would be sacrificed by the first-year governor’s line-item veto.

Shapiro’s longstanding campaign promise which was an eyeopener was just another political shell game. The strategy was as simple as it was cutthroat – give voters the expectation of school choice, then flip the script and provide the teachers’ unions their anticipated due.

Once upon a time in America, school choice used to be a bipartisan cause. In retrospect, it is easier to find a mermaid in the Susquehanna River doing the backstroke than it is for any Democrat supporting school choice.

As state attorney general during COVID-19, Shapiro made sure we were locked down and masked up defending then Gov. Tom Wolf’s unconstitutional diktats. Did you really believe a wealthy politician and lawyer, who is Democrat royalty from the Philadelphia area would leave the teachers’ unions high and dry by pledging scholarships? 

Apparently, Shapiro has presidential aspirations so staying in good favor with the public educational industrial complex controlled by the teachers’ unions is a must even at the expense of the most vulnerable children in Pennsylvania. Imagine a politician who prioritizes himself and his political future over the needs of his constituents. 

There is no greater exemplar of Democrat hypocrisy than denying school choice to poor children. Democrats believe in public education for the unwashed but not for them. Many who opposed the scholarships are graduates of private schools or send their kids there, including Shapiro and many others throughout Harrisburg’s and Washington’s politico class. The elites don’t send their children to public school, so why would they care about public education? 

According to Shapiro every child deserves “a quality education,” as such parents should be able to choose the school best for them. The only choice a parent has today is when to terminate their child’s beating heart in the womb.

The school choice movement is gaining ground as EdChoice finds that 69% of Pennsylvanians support choice. Arizona enables parents to use their tax dollars to send their K-12 children to the school of their choosing, including private, religious and homeschool options. The only true way to secure parental educational rights is to fund students directly and empower choice. 

The longer this overt hypocrisy is tolerated, the larger the educational and wealth gaps grow. A failing public school system is just another tool in how Democrats maintain their economic dependency plantation. It is pure power and control. If Republicans were smart, they would emphasize this nonstop because an America with an educational caste system will be a very different country.

Teachers’ unions own the Democratic Party and are only concerned with the welfare of their members, not the students. Besides, failing schools do not vote or fund any Democrat’s campaign like the unions do. Failing schools protect unionized teachers, which keeps the dues monies flowing into Democrat coffers. Children are mere pawns in this political game of charades.

One vestige of systemic racism is the deliberate entrapment of poor minority kids in failing, yet overfunded public schools. Without choice and the means to opt out for a better school – hope is extinguished. And here I thought Democrats wanted to end such things as systemic racism. However, when such malfeasance lines your pockets perspectives change.

The children most impacted are in the worst school districts, often minorities and poor white kids that don’t have parents that can afford to move to where the public schools are semi-competent.

These are the same people Democrats claim to champion.

Shapiro can take pride in wearing his flip-flopping gold medal and join Admiral Levine, Fetterman, and Scranton Joe on Pennsylvania’s Democrat Mount Rushmore.