A recent Cato Institute survey of American adults under the age of thirty found that more than sixty percent of them hold a "favorable" opinion of socialism. Even more alarming is that half of this pro-socialism crowd also see socialism's brute force next step, Communism, in a positive light! This is appalling, but shouldn't really be a surprise to anyone. For years, "higher education" across America has been deeply infested with ideologically leftist teachers, professors, and administrators, who are increasingly aggressive in their advocacy of decidedly un-American ideology.

 

Do not doubt that this is a direct result of the indoctrination taking place throughout American "higher ed." Moreover, this trend isn't just happening at Harvard and Berkeley! It is beyond naive to expect that the leftist infiltration of "education" stopped at the border of Wyoming. With even a cursory examination, it becomes clear that it is happening in Laramie as well! Recent public discussions of UW curriculum requirements prove that, per University standard practices, students enrolled in every course of study from AG to arts to "education" (of course), will graduate as "experts" in such meaningful and useful topics as social justice, gender consciousness, Counterculture awareness, climate change, and DEI.

 

Regardless of their chosen fields, students are compelled to spend time and money immersed in the standard Counterculture fare that they could easily absorb simply by watching CNN and reading the New York Times in their spare time. Consequently, students are destined to become indoctrinated foot soldiers of Counterculture, though such efforts encroach directly on the efforts and energy they might otherwise be devoting to the necessary core studies of their chosen fields.

 

For an AG degree... really?

Somehow, the bulls and cows (the average unschooled ranch hand can still tell the difference) are supposed to care about that? Is there an actual need for ranchers to assure proper Angus representation among Charolais and Heifers? It is no wonder that students across America are increasingly substandard on real academics, the kind good schools used to teach. While Wyomingites have historically enjoyed freedom from so much of the social maladies that degrade life in "Blue" dominated states, some of the trends at the root of those problems are inarguably encroaching.

 

The devastating effects of such manipulation cannot be overstated. As American kids are receiving leftist programming in lieu of real academics, their ability to properly function and compete in the real world plummets. Outside of the cloister of publicly funded "higher education," real competency is essential, and this deficiency spawns increased corporate demands for H1-B visas to fill the void in expertise with foreigners. Is it becoming obvious yet how leftist ideology is a cancer on America?

 

To nobody's great surprise, the career politicians and bureaucrats with their hands on the purse strings in Cheyenne and elsewhere have a ready answer to this predicament. Spend more money of course! In a heroic effort to represent the citizenry, the Wyoming Freedom Caucus has called for fiscal responsibility and proper accountability, both of which would refocus educrats on their actual intended purpose. Yet they have been severely castigated and condemned by those on the "inside" who seek to maintain the pipeline of money from taxpayer pockets into their own special interest feeding troughs. Are there any Somalis in the room?

This dire situation, and the leftist/RINO hysterics associated with it, peel back the veneer of one of the ugliest scams that has ever been perpetrated against the American people, which may seem shocking, though it has been right in front of everyone for a long time. In short, the present system incentivizes institutional failure! Parents are rightfully concerned that their children get the best education possible, from Kindergarten through post graduate studies. Unfortunately, at some point the educational "ruling class" succeeded in making the case that more money would automatically yield better results. Somewhat mysteriously, while costs have steadily risen, the trend in performances has been downward ever since!

 

The underlying cause becomes obvious, the instant the situation is deconstructed with reason, rather than emotion. Sure Johnny deserves the best. But the moment his academic scores actually improve, the education "Establishment" loses its greatest leverage to ask for more funding. So instead of improvement, students are redirected into every social "cause" deemed worthy by the "Establishment," at the expense of such quaint notions as "reading, writing, and arithmetic." Any suggestion of rethinking this despicable status quo results in widespread, fully coordinated attacks from those who might face a financial risk from an objective examination. Amid such vehement concern and crocodile tears, the actual well-being of students is nowhere to be found.

 

One of the biggest proponents of this failed approach is Wyoming's RINO Governor Mark Gordon. His recent condemnation of efforts by the Wyoming Freedom Caucus to introduce an element of sanity to the ever bloating budget sound more akin to anti-ICE protesters than any rational consideration of how to make the budget work for Wyoming taxpaying citizens, as well as those at the receiving end of the money pipeline. Among Gordon's attacks are incendiary claims that even a modicum of restraint would constitute a "demolition budget," along with an alarmist insinuation that it would eradicate "core institutions."

 

Clearly, Gordon's strident opposition to actually fixing the inevitable problems of lack of genuine oversight, while perpetuating the cycle of ever more expensive unaccountability, means kids lose while somebody within the system gets ever more wealthy. And by leaving these policies in place, fighting only for increased funding, and shielding the despicable "status quo," Gordon and his fellow Democrats (Yes Mark. Your mask is off!) prove their real indifference to the plight of students growing up in Wyoming and attending UW, and a willingness to see them used as pawns to advance the leftist agenda.

 

Gordon asserts that fiscal responsibility is not necessary, since Wyoming faces no immediate financial crisis. So why not help create one! Admittedly, this ploy has done well in the past. The bureaucracy works to bloat the budget when the economy is thriving, and then demands that taxes be raised to maintain it at previous levels, the moment there is any prospect of a downturn. If the family budgets of Wyomingites are demolished, so be it. But the system must be preserved at all cost.

 

From his virtuous perch, Gordon advocates "protecting core institutions," by which he means maintaining the status quo of "education" budget bloat. And of course all of Gordon's "concerns" come with a presumption that if it is sufficiently indulged, things will work properly. From the perspective of Gordon and the bureaucracy, dysfunctional schools are sacrosanct. So one metric is never mentioned or offered for spending "cause/effect" evaluation, that being the much needed improvement in the academic performance of students.

 

Not surprisingly, to maximize the fear and hysteria, Gordon and his fellow Democrats also reverted once again to the scam of "baseline budgeting." This fiscal sleight of hand, an outgrowth from the D.C. Swamp world of bureaucratic bloat at the public trough, presumes that if a department demands a 100% budget expansion, and only receives a 90% allocation of that demand, it constitutes a "cut." This is how the budget committee can be accused of "slashing millions" as actual expenditures go up! Even Obama's "Common Core Math" didn't bollix things that badly!

 

If the Good people of Wyoming want better results than they have been getting, they must endeavor to understand why past practices have failed so miserably, and that they were designed to do so. Once again, allocating more money for poorer performance incentivizes failure. The real victims are the students, and any parents who are sufficiently uninformed as to keep voting for "Establishment" political players who promise more money as the "fix" instead of seeking accountability and proper use of the vast funds already being poured into the "education" morass.