{"id":140,"date":"2009-03-08T18:27:54","date_gmt":"2009-03-08T18:27:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/lynnvsekulow\/2009\/03\/tell-rush-limbaugh-his-friends.html"},"modified":"2009-03-08T18:27:54","modified_gmt":"2009-03-08T18:27:54","slug":"tell-rush-limbaugh-his-friends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/2009\/03\/tell-rush-limbaugh-his-friends.html","title":{"rendered":"Tell Rush Limbaugh: His Friends Are Leading Us To Socialism!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nevada Senator Jon Ensign has leaped into the debate over the District of Columbia’s school voucher program with both feet.  <\/span>Although not usually known in Congress for his interest in education, his interest in ideology is apparent justification for attempting to continue a completely failed private school subsidy program for the District as part of the 2009 Appropriations bill.  <\/span>His amendment would continue a supposed “pilot program” from 2003 pretty much indefinitely, and not even bother to require that schools be constructed safely or have qualified teachers. I know I’m being picky here.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

School vouchers have been a certified scam since the first time any serious researcher examined their claimed “benefits”.  <\/span>The D.C. voucher program was examined twice by the Bush Department of Education and twice the studies showed<\/a> no significant differences between voucher students and their peers<\/a> in the public schools.  <\/span>In an even deeper analysis by the General Accounting Office<\/a>, a few new problems surfaced.  <\/span>Some schools got tuition paid for by us taxpayers even though the schools actually charged no tuition.  <\/span>In one year, three of the 52 participating schools admitted that at least half of their teachers lacked even a bachelor’s degree.  <\/span>And, yes, only about 25 percent of the students even left public schools that had been determined to be “in need of improvement” (the ostensible reason to start the program in the first place).  <\/span>I know I’m being picky here.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This year an even more ridiculous argument<\/a> has entered the debate.  <\/span>It centers on Sarah and Matt Parker, two students who with the aid of school vouchers, actually attend the Sidwell Friends school with the Obama daughters. <\/span> Sidwell doesn’t exactly go out of its way to take in many voucher students since they make much more from wealthy self-pay parents who send their children there, but the Parkers are a start I suppose. Most of the students in the voucher program are attending schools which lack the ethereal academic standing of Sidwell.  <\/span>Now here is the argument that has been picked up by the Right.  <\/span>If the program is closed immediately (itself, a red herring, because even many anti-voucher legislators would in fact be willing to “grandfather” in existing students), the Parkers would not be in a position comparable to the Obama kids.  <\/span>You know, that much would be true.<\/p>\n


<\/span><\/p>\n

Here’s where the “ridiculous” factor shows up.  Most of the ideological zealots who are now repeating this line have never before thought that all people (or even all children) should be equally entitled to any product or service. Should the Parkers<\/span><\/span> get a voucher for security guards, just like the Obama kids have Secret Service protection?  <\/span>Why should they have to drag themselves to some multiplex to see the latest Madea film when they could get a voucher to build a screening room in their home just like the theater at the White House?  <\/span>And, you know “swing set vouchers” would just be a step away. I know I’m being picky here.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span> <\/p>\n

    Of course, I know that there is a profound difference between education and swing sets   However, when truly “progressive” people talk about any kind of equality, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Glenn Beck argue we are a hair’s breadth from<\/span> socialism!  <\/span>I wonder if they understand that is the direction that Senator Ensign and the supporters of his amendment are leading us. <\/span>I  hope they read this blog to know the real sources of our march toward social egalitarianism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nevada Senator Jon Ensign has leaped into the debate over the District of Columbia’s school voucher program with both feet.  Although not usually known in Congress for his interest in education, his interest in ideology is apparent justification for attempting to continue a completely failed private school subsidy program for the District as part of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":164,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,11,10],"tags":[79,81,83,51,67,84,82,80],"class_list":["post-140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress","category-public-schools","category-white-house","tag-dc-school-vouchers","tag-equality","tag-glenn-beck","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-rush-limbaugh","tag-sean-hannity","tag-sen-john-ensign"],"yoast_head":"\nTell Rush Limbaugh: His Friends Are Leading Us To Socialism! - Lynn v. Sekulow<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/2009\/03\/tell-rush-limbaugh-his-friends.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tell Rush Limbaugh: His Friends Are Leading Us To Socialism! - Lynn v. Sekulow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Nevada Senator Jon Ensign has leaped into the debate over the District of Columbia’s school voucher program with both feet.  Although not usually known in Congress for his interest in education, his interest in ideology is apparent justification for attempting to continue a completely failed private school subsidy program for the District as part of…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/2009\/03\/tell-rush-limbaugh-his-friends.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lynn v. Sekulow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-03-08T18:27:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rev. Barry W. Lynn\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Tell Rush Limbaugh: His Friends Are Leading Us To Socialism! - Lynn v. Sekulow","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/2009\/03\/tell-rush-limbaugh-his-friends.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Tell Rush Limbaugh: His Friends Are Leading Us To Socialism! - Lynn v. Sekulow","og_description":"Nevada Senator Jon Ensign has leaped into the debate over the District of Columbia’s school voucher program with both feet.  Although not usually known in Congress for his interest in education, his interest in ideology is apparent justification for attempting to continue a completely failed private school subsidy program for the District as part of…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/2009\/03\/tell-rush-limbaugh-his-friends.html","og_site_name":"Lynn v. Sekulow","article_published_time":"2009-03-08T18:27:54+00:00","author":"Rev. Barry W. Lynn","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/2009\/03\/tell-rush-limbaugh-his-friends.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/2009\/03\/tell-rush-limbaugh-his-friends.html","name":"Tell Rush Limbaugh: His Friends Are Leading Us To Socialism! - Lynn v. Sekulow","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-03-08T18:27:54+00:00","dateModified":"2009-03-08T18:27:54+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/#\/schema\/person\/98ebaf547801cce8ce6fff4c27f51fc8"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/2009\/03\/tell-rush-limbaugh-his-friends.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/2009\/03\/tell-rush-limbaugh-his-friends.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/2009\/03\/tell-rush-limbaugh-his-friends.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Tell Rush Limbaugh: His Friends Are Leading Us To Socialism!"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/","name":"Lynn v. Sekulow","description":"A debate blog about church, state, faith and politics with Jay Sekulow and Barry W. Lynn","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/#\/schema\/person\/98ebaf547801cce8ce6fff4c27f51fc8","name":"Rev. Barry W. Lynn","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/32b\/32b0f12cad840c65bff61ad01e2664aax96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/32b\/32b0f12cad840c65bff61ad01e2664aax96.jpg","caption":"Rev. Barry W. Lynn"},"description":"Since 1992, the Rev. Barry W. Lynn has served as executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a Washington, D.C.-based organization dedicated to the preservation of the Constitution's religious liberty provisions (www.au.org). In addition to his work as a long-time activist and lawyer in the civil liberties field, Lynn is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, offering him a unique perspective on church-state issues. An accomplished speaker and lecturer, Lynn has appeared frequently on television and radio broadcasts to offer analysis of First Amendment issues. News programs on which Lynn has appeared include PBS's \"NewsHour,\" NBC's \"Today Show,\" Fox News Channel's \"O'Reilly Factor,\" ABC's \"Nightline,\" CNN's \"Crossfire,\" CBS's \"60 Minutes,\" MSNBC's \"Countdown with Keith Olbermann,\" Fox News Channel's \"Hannity & Colmes,\" ABC's \"Good Morning America,\" CNN's \"Larry King Live\" and the national nightly news on NBC, ABC and CBS. On the radio, Lynn serves as host of \"Culture Shocks,\" a daily look at various issues affecting society and the culture. In the 1990s he served for two years as regular co-host of \"Pat Buchanan and Company\" and after that did a weekly syndicated radio program, \"Review of the News,\" with Col. Oliver North. Lynn is a regular guest on nationally broadcast radio programs, including National Public Radio's \"All Things Considered,\" \"Morning Edition\" and \"Talk of the Nation,\" as well as having appeared on national networks such as CBS Radio, CNN Radio, ABC Radio and AP Radio. Lynn began his professional career working at the national office of the United Church of Christ, including a two-year stint as legislative counsel for the Church's Office of Church in Society in Washington, D.C. From 1984 to 1991 he was legislative counsel for the Washington office of the American Civil Liberties Union. In 2006, Lynn authored Piety & Politics: The Right-Wing Assault On Religious Freedom (Harmony Books). In 2008 he coauthored (with C. Welton Gaddy) First Freedom First: A Citizen's Guide to Protecting Religious Liberty and the Separation of Church and State (Beacon Press). Lynn writes frequently on religious liberty issues, and has had essays published in outlets such as USA Today, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Nation. Lynn also has op-eds published frequently by the McClatchy and Scripps-Howard newspaper chains. A member of the Washington, D.C. and U.S. Supreme Court bar, Lynn earned his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 1978. In addition, he received his theology degree from Boston University School of Theology in 1973. Lynn, who was born in Harrisburg, Pa., and raised in Bethlehem, Pa., lives in Chevy Chase, Md., with his family.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/author\/blynn"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/164"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}