OPINION:
It is now plain to see that our government is being transformed from a lawful republic into a lawless monarchy. Yet, we may still be able to save it — by motivating enough Americans to join forces to restore liberty and justice for all. This requires a bipartisan, cooperative effort among the American people and our public officials.
For the very first time in history, modern technology makes it possible for all of us to influence fellow Americans in all 50 states, in mere seconds, without spending an extra dime. This provides us the opportunity to inform and inspire Americans of all stripes and political affiliations to join together with our political leaders and ordinary citizens to overwhelmingly pass the one bill that will surely set our nation back onto the path of liberty, justice and equal opportunity for all.
In fact, the Education Freedom Accounts Act (S.2455/H.R.4426) provides all Americans with a benchmark to determine which of our candidates for public office can be counted on to honor the most fundamental of our founding principles: “the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.” The vacuum left when liberty is removed is quickly filled with tyranny and lawlessness, as is now happening.
This universal school choice bill is the first in Congress, in the more than six decades since the late, world-renowned economist Milton Friedman taught us to apply free enterprise to education, consistent with the Constitution. It empowers all District of Columbia parents to rescue their children from D.C. Public Schools and send them to quality schools for a fraction of the cost. Overwhelming passage will end the greatest hostage crisis in American history — the masses of American children being kept in schools that cause more harm than good and destroy lives, families and our entire system of government, in blatant violation of the Constitution. Substandard D.C. Public Schools are also costing American taxpayers more than $29,000 annually per child.
Every American citizen now has the incredible opportunity to dedicate the days leading up to this November’s election to save the lives of innocent children and simultaneously rescue our country from tyranny. The new book by bestselling author Eric Metaxas, titled “If You Can Keep It: The Forgotten Promise of American Liberty,” makes it clear that the Founders knew from the very beginning that our system of government can only last as long as we the people make it last. In the words of senior statesman Benjamin Franklin in describing the form of government the Founders had created, “A Republic — if you can keep it.”
The coming election enables us to restore our government to what it was meant to be — in the memorable words of President Abraham Lincoln — a government “of the people, by the people and for the people.” The Constitution did not establish a parliamentary system. Parties, by any name, are not granted any degree of power by the Constitution. Relinquishing our political power to party bosses has given us a lawless administration, a useless Congress and a Supreme Court that routinely disregards the Constitution.
This is most important for delegates to the party conventions to consider when deciding who among the candidates is most fit to lead our government over the next four years. Delegates have been duly elected by we the people — not party bosses — to do what is best for the country. The lawlessness and strife that has now infected our society is proof positive that our party leaders are the problem, not the solution. The solution can only come from ordinary citizens carefully judging the record, bereft of party politics and self-interest. Democratic Party bosses who claim to stand for the poor and downtrodden but fail to deliver, and Republican Party bosses who claim to support school choice but refuse to support such legislation have no right to demand that delegates follow their misguided rules.
Incredibly, among all the presidential candidates, there is only one with the courage and conviction to restore liberty and justice, beginning with the rescue of innocent children whose lives are being sacrificed for the enrichment and empowerment of those who control both major parties — public employee union bosses. When President John F. Kennedy signed Executive Order 10988, creating public employee unions, he could not have known that he was creating a political army that today numbers some 7.2 million soldiers, about six times the size of the United States armed services, with billions in annual revenues supplied by hardworking American taxpayers.
This explains why leaders of both major parties went all out to deny Sen. Ted Cruz the nomination. This also stands as compelling evidence that Mr. Cruz is the one candidate among them all who is most fit to restore the Republic to what it was meant to be. Americans of all stripes and political affiliations can now prevail on our delegates to do what we elected them to do.
We can also use our political muscle to prevail on our public officials to support universal school choice by compelling Congress to overwhelmingly pass the Education Freedom Accounts Act, and on our state legislators to pass similar legislation. Universal school choice will undoubtedly usher in a new era of peace, prosperity, liberty and justice now and for generations to come.
• Israel Teitelbaum is cofounder of Alliance for Free Choice in Education.
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