America Does Not Need Another Bush at the Helm

nytimes.com

Jeb Bush acts suspiciously like someone shooting for a run at the presidency in 2016.  Buyer beware!  As the governor of Florida, he had one redeeming trait--the ability to handle storm emergencies effectively.  In his newly-released book,  Immigrations Wars: Forging an American Solution, Bush departs from his previous stance and argues, along with co-author Clint Bolick, that offering illegal immigrants a pathway to citizenship would serve to encourage more illegal entries to the United States.  As Florida's governor, he argued exactly the opposite.

His claims of successful education reform in Florida are at best, suspect, and at worst, outright lies.  Bush encouraged the proliferation of charter schools, some of which performed admirably, while most failed to meet the accomplishment of public schools in their areas.  According to Scott Maxwell's October 16, 2012 article in the Orlando Sentinel, one out of every five charter schools closes its doors, and charter schools accounted for 50% of F-rated schools in 2011, even though they constitute just 11% of the schools in the state.  Those statistics alone should raise eyebrows and call into question the accountability issue Bush touts as fundamental to success.  Apparently, charter schools get a free pass in his view, while public schools must adhere to strict standards.  As a whole, charter schools fall seriously short of educating students according to established standards.

Bush also pushed for the FCAT as a measure of not only of student success, but also of teacher success.  Forget the fact that not all classrooms are created equal in Florida.  He'd like us to forget that a huge divide exists in schools that serve the have's and those that serve the have not's.  Reality doesn't penetrate his view of what's best for Florida schools.

Beware of Bush's glowing assessment of his achievements as governor offered in Sunday's Tampa Bay Times.  Under his leadership, the seeds of the coming economic debacle were planted, and we are still experiencing the effects today.  Republicans dole out incentives for businesses to relocate to Florida as a means of increasing jobs, but the results never match the promises.  Instead, taxpayer money goes to companies rather than to Florida's citizens. 

In the same article, he states that "Americans need to re-establish that success is a good thing," implying that citizens no longer believe that.  Underlying that comment lies his insidious hidden agenda to continue and increase the huge gap between the wealthiest Americans and the shrinking middle class.  It's nonsense to ignore how the distribution of wealth has changed over the last 20 years.  We need substantive reform of the tax code and government incentives for improving education and restoring faith in those who choose teaching as a profession.  We don't need to spend money to attract business.  Businesses will choose Florida when evidence shows that we have a competitive educational system which produces clear-thinking graduates with a firmly-grounded work ethic.

President Obama is three months into his second term, and we're already seeing Bush's return to the limelight in preparation for the next election.  Please, give me a break!  The last election bombarded us for most of 2012.  Let's not start the next race already.  Maybe if we're lucky, the Supreme Court will overturn Citizens United, and we can return to a modicum of sanity during the election season.  I know.  Call me a dreamer!