Bureaucracy Is Now A Republican Thing

The Republicans in the Florida Legislature portray themselves as anti-bureaucratic. If that is the truth, then why do they continue to pass laws that require more bureaucrats to administer?

Because of the supposed freedom to have parents involved in every school decision, a recent article in the Washington Post claimed that a student needing a band-aid, a cold compress, a student wanting his schoolteacher to call him Billy instead of William, or checking out a library book all require someone to keep track of the needed permission slip to do so.

I am in favor of parents being involved but leave it to the politicians to make the simple complicated. This added burden of paperwork falls on overworked employees of school districts to make sure all are complying.

It has become so bad that a student visiting his guidance counselor on a repeated basis will need a permission slip from a parent. Moms for Liberty goes further and wants every meeting to require a permission slip. Not much liberty in that.

Florida’s Escambia County’s district has found objectionable material in 1600 books including dictionaries and the World Book Encyclopedia. Parental rights are now being used as a convenient foil in fighting the culture wars. And the only one suffering are the kids.

More and more, we have allowed a small minority to call the shots. The Washington Post found that just 11 people nationwide were responsible for 60% of the schoolbook challenges in the 21/22 school year. This is just ridiculous.

This is a national trend of politicians promulgating silliness and it continues. Congress seriously has decided to cut housing aid to poor families. The only hope to house many people in this country is through the housing voucher program. One of the “benefits” of the deal to keep the government open between Senate Majority Leader Schumer and House Speaker Johnson would eliminate about 80,000 vouchers.

The House Republicans are demanding sweeping cuts to other anti-poverty programs such as SNAP. With these measures, many families may find themselves on the street without food or shelter. But at least the kids will not be damaged by William calling himself Bill, consulting a dictionary, or speaking with a guidance counselor.