I wrote a suggestion to my Arizona State legislators about de-funding the state universities in favor of tuition vouchers. Vouchers would be in keeping with Arizona's conservative libertarian bias in favor of a low taxes-low wages-strong small business environment. If I lived in Massachusetts or Minnesota where the culture favors high tax-high wage-strong big business I would never have made this suggestion. Anyhow, I am through with school. As a good libertarian and social Darwinist it is now time to screw the following generations.
When I inappropriately sent a selection of my idea as an off topic contribution to the Phoenix Linux email list I was astounded that the comments came not from the left but from the RIGHT! The respondents were self-educated technicians suspicious of higher education in general and wanted NO public funds spent on higher education. It started me thinking about the bases of libertarianism and American conservatism. Previously when I had thought of libertarianism, I had not thought of it as particularly based in a moral principle. I thought it just a political extension of liberal or neo-classical economics that reduced the general welfare to economic efficiency. Of course, I knew there was another strain in libertarianism that was based in morality. This was an ideological commitment to maximize individual freedom. Basically Aleister Crowley's "Harm no one and do what thou wilt", with the "harm no one" clause being optional--particularly when doing business. But there other moral strains mentioned by one of my libertarian Linux respondents. "Taking money from some one who earned it to give it to some one who didn't is stealing, government or otherwise." This actually combines two moral axioms common to libertarians and conservatives. The first is that taxes are a form of theft. The second is that it is immoral to give (poor) people money. (Exceptions are made for rich people and corporations because in that case they earn the money through their cleverness and not through class conscious theft). The morality of "taxes are theft", in particular, is logically self consistent; therefore, convincing on its face. <lemma> I used to be a pacifist. I was raised Mennonite. Pacifism is a logically self-consistent principle. Killing is horrific, killing is murder, killing for a cause or for war is still horrific and is still murder. The problem is that war is an inescapable part of the human condition. Even in the best of times the potential is there. Pacifism doesn't allow for the complexities of human reality, it isn't pragmatic. <end lemma> The moral principle that "taxes are theft" suffers from a similar limitation. Logically taxes ARE theft. However, one must be expedient and practical. We have a society to run. We need to buy social goods. Social goods have to be paid for and that money has always come from taxes. There is a more fundamental problem with libertarianism and some of David Brin's thought. Libertarianism assumes humans descended from tigers. Unfortunately, humans descended from chimpanzees which are the most intensely social primates. Humans are as social creatures, they have an individual dimension, but human experience cannot be reduced to individualism. Government--or rather governance--is NEVER going to whither away. Governance is part of organizational behavior, and any human society larger than a hunter-gatherer troop has to have some formal organization and that organization has to be governed. Even if we assume that one day soon (no more that 10,000 years) humans will be succeeded by their brain children, those children will soon run into the organizational behavior and governance problem. Managing your relationships in ever increasing troop sizes will not scale in polynomial time. Begin forwarded message: > From: Trent Shipley <tship...@deru.com> > Date: August 3, 2009 3:01:01 PM GMT-07:00 > To: lg...@azleg.gov, dquell...@azleg.gov, jwei...@azleg.gov > Subject: Higher Education Vouchers and Oddments > > Dear Senator Linda Gray, Representative Doug Quelland, and > Representative Jim Weiers, > > I am a resident of District 10 living a 4750 West Acoma Drive, > Glendale (vote in Phoenix), AZ 85306 > > > > Suggestions for the Reform of Public Higher Education in Arizona. > > The following are suggestions to reduce the deficit in the current > budget crisis and are in keeping with Arizonans' values of free > enterprise and small government. > > 1 Replace Subsidy with Vouchers > > Subsidies to community colleges and state universities should be > replaced with a one-size-fits-all higher education vouchers. > Students and parents have little or no sense of how much public > higher education is subsidized so receiving a voucher will seem a > huge boon, even if the actual size of the per capita subsidy is > reduced. Using vouchers will also contribute to a free market in > higher education services, leveling the playing field between the > University of Phoenix, Grand Canyon University, and the state > universities. To the degree that state funds are spent on higher > education vouchers, direct subsidies to public institutions of > higher education can be reduced. Naturally, it would not make sense > to endanger Arizona's sovereign rights over state trust land by > cutting direct support for land grant universities excessively. > Likewise, it would be inexpedient to hurt receipt of Federal revenue > through excessive cuts, though even this might be possible after a > substantial electoral success. > > 1.1 Hold the Line on the Higher Education Budget > > With direct subsidies to public institutions of higher learning, > failure to keep pace with higher education inflation translates into > higher tuition, which is perceived as a tax increase. By using > vouchers, not raising voucher subsidies will be seen as prudent > control of spending so that taxes can be kept low. Furthermore, by > holding the line on spending for vouchers, natural inflation will > ensure that the real cost of higher education in the state budget > will go down over time—especially if a fixed number of vouchers are > awarded to students on the basis of merit. > > 1.2 State Universities should Pay Rent to the Treasury for their > Campuses > > Since one purpose of the voucher system is to level the playing > field between state and private universities, it follows that free > rent is also an unfair advantage for state universities. Therefore, > state universities should pay fair market rents to the state > treasurer for their facilities. Being forced to pay rent at the > same time as adapting to a voucher system may be an excessive shock > to the state universities, so it is suggested that rent be phased in > about five years into the voucher system. > > 2 No Lower Level Classes at State Universities > > Money can be saved by requiring students to get lower level credits > at county community colleges. (Note that this effectively creates > an unfunded mandate on the county community college districts.) It > may be desirable to allow honors students four years of university > level education. > > 3 Lease Student Housing to Highest Bidder > > State owned student housing should be leased to the highest bidder. > The bid winner should be allowed to set rents as the winner sees fit. > > 4 No Tenure Should be Awarded to New Hires > > 5 Arizona's Center for Educational Excellence and Research > University Should be Located in Tempe > > Having two research universities is an expense that a mid-sized > state like Arizona can ill afford. Phoenix is the demographic, > economic, and political hub of Arizona and the premiere educational > and research center should be located in the Metro Area. This will > please more voters than leaving the better research center in Tucson > and moreover will better please Republican voters since Tucson is > more Democrat that Phoenix. This should be phased in over the next > twenty years or so. > > 6 Mission Statement Resolution > > “Be it resolved that the mission of Arizona's public institutions of > higher education is to educate undergraduates and train graduates > for essential professions.” _______________________________________________ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
