Education

A Model for the Nation

If there's one thing Republicans should have taken away from the 2012 election cycle, it's that you should be very careful what you describe as a model for the nation. A lesson that Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal clearly didn't learn.

“I think there is a moral imperative that it’s not right that only wealthy parents get to decide where their kids go to school,” Jindal told an audience at Washington’s Brookings Institution. [...]

“To oppose school choice is to oppose equal opportunity for poor and disadvantaged students in America,” he said. “What we are putting in motion in Louisiana can be done across the country.”

At face value, what he says may sound appealing, but describing it as a model for the rest of the nation won't seem like such a good idea after people learn that the primary benefactors of your policy are religious fundamentalists who believe Jesus rode a dinosaur and that the Loch Ness Monster really did ask Chef's father for $3.50.

Voters also may not find that idea quite as appealing after they learn that they will be the ones paying for it, as Jindal's voucher program uses money intended for public schools to send children to alternative schools where they learn that dragons are real and that the KKK really wasn't so bad.

Of course the fact that the law was recently found unconstitutional may also prove to be a snag in Jindal's plans to push this on the rest of the nation.

Bobby Jindal clearly has his eyes set on higher office, but Governor Howdy Doody is completely out of his depth. No amount of sweet talk will erase the batshittery he has supported or the fact that he strongly resembles a more soft-spoken version of Rick Santorum.