Resolved: State government will only provide the services our people need and only tax enough to cover costs for these needs.
Many will unpack this resolution differently. Some will confuse “need” with “want.” Others will severely limit the needs government should cover. Let’s shine a little light on this.
The 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gives states tremendous power to meet the needs of their citizens.
The Mississippi Constitution says our state government exists “solely for the good of the whole” and emphasizes the importance of public “safety and happiness.”
So, our state government has the constitutional power and the constitutional purpose to provide services Mississippians need. Now “the whole” means all the people, not some of the people or just the people in power.
Balancing the needs of the poor and the rich, the old and the young, the Coast and the Hills, etc., for the benefit of the whole is the great challenge of state government. That’s why compromise – the seeking of balance – is the heart and soul of a democratic republic like ours.
As noted, public safety is a constitutional priority. So too are public schools. Our constitution mandates the state maintain free public schools. There are no more important economic and social needs the Legislature will address than these two. Legislators seem to understand the public safety issue. They will debate the depth and breadth of school needs, again, during the upcoming session. Let us hope the New Year will see school needs adequately addressed along with public safety.
Colleges and universities have needs; their students have needs. But there is no constitutional requirement that the state address them, other than “happiness” and "the good of the whole." One of our great hurdles in economic development is our low educational achievement level. We need more graduates and more of them to stay in Mississippi.
Transportation infrastructure is not a constitutional duty. But, our constitution clearly shows its importance by making eminent domain power available for “roads and bridges for public conveyance.” We need a long-term funding solution for repairs.
Let us hope the New Year will see all these needs addressed.
Healthcare, mental and physical, is not a constitutional duty. However, since 1862 our constitution has emphasized the importance of providing care for “those persons who, by reason of age, infirmity, or misfortune, may have claims upon the sympathy and aid of society.” Mississippi’s health ranking among the 50 states is dead last. Nursing homes, hospitals, community clinics, residency training, and more are regulated by and depend upon state government, especially Medicaid. A vast majority of states do much more than Mississippi to cover these needs. Let us hope the New Year will see us do better.
And, let us sustain the many “happiness” services government provides – hunting, fishing, gambling, museuming, librarying, politicking, retiring, and so on.
Happy New Year!
Crawford is a syndicated columnist from Jackson
14 comments:
Public education was never and still isn't in the Constitution. Dunce Crawford at it again.
Needs vs Wants. We've gone too far down that road to change direction now. I hate it, but it will only get worse.
Crawford conflates deserve, need, want, be entitled to with government services that are paid for with fees, like hunting, fishing, gambling and retiring. Hence he promotes his form of marxism by equating the robbing of one group who earned their way to give to another group who will not, to buying a fishing/hunting license? Brilliant.
1862? Actually, our present constitution was adopted in 1890. I don’t recall that there was a constitution adopted in 1862, but if one was it is of no legal significance now. Mr Crawford’s claim that State government is “required” to provide services is a slippery one. I’m not quite sure which provision of the 1890 constitution he has in mind (he doesn’t cite a provision), but I feel certain that the people who drafted the 1890 constitution did not imagine that were creating a government that would be required to provide anything like what Mr Crawford thinks is required. The exception being “education”, which the constitution does speak to. Unfortunately, Mr. Crawford, like the legislature, seems to confuse quality of money spent with quality of education provided. The State already spends an enormous amount on “education”. Whether it gets value for its dollars is a different matter.
Mississippi has always had a sense of balance in providing for the needs vs the desires of it's people. More so than any other state. The needs of the poor and least powerful are debated and minimized. The desires of the rich and powerful are met as much as possible. It's called limited government, Mississippi style.
The first time I heard somebody say the Department of Education (state or federal) I thought they were nuts. Then they asked me to list one academic metric that has improved since its inception. I couldn't list one. Nobody can.
The DOE has overseen nothing but decline.
“Then they asked me to list one academic metric that has improved since its inception. I couldn't list one. Nobody can.”
Graduation rates of all students - not just white kids
Reading on grade level
Attendance
When a writer uses the word “unpack,” that always alerts me that a huge load of horse shit is just about to be delivered.
That reference to our 1862 constitution should signal everyone that this Crawford doesn’t know half what he’s talking about. Oh, he has feelings for the poor, yes, the downtrodden, and the minorities. But he argues his feelings like a woman would and throws reason right through the window.
Article 8 of the Mississippi Constitution is entitled Education. It has 16 sections.
Section 201
Text of Section 201:
Free Public Schools
The Legislature shall, by general law, provide for the establishment, maintenance and support of free public schools upon such conditions and limitations as the Legislature may prescribe.
Local government under local leadership and control is support to provide services to people not the State. I wonder why Crawford did not know that.
Bill continues to make his argument - while quoting (part) of the constitutional language - that the state is responsible for providing free public education.
Yet in a typical Crawford approach, one he has attempted to preach for several years in his writings, he wants to define this and set the parameters under his terms. This time, his continuing to babble has caught him in the tangled web that he weaves.
We are to provide 'free public education' - but then, a paragraph later, colleges and universities are evidently not education. Guess that is somewhat not surprising considering the few years Crawford spent at Meridian Junior College (oh, excuse me, Mississippi Community College, either way, it is evidently not education by Bill's definition.)
So Bill wants to claim that the legislature is to provide - which in his term means fund completely - public education. Requiring local communities to provide part of this funding according to the Tablets According to Bill is a first violation of this requirement of our Constitution.
BUT - BILL. Please help us here. Where in that sacred Constitution does it say that "public education" is the K-12 program that you consider the requirement? It ain't in there, Bill. And just like you can decide that colleges and universitites are not part of the definition of 'public education' there is nothing that says anything past the sixth grade, or the fourth grade, or Kindergarten or Pre-K, is the 'public educaiton' that is included in the 1890 document.
And, if you go back and study that document that you want to tout so often in this regard, tell us what the normal completed grade of school was obtained during the period of writing of this document. Not just here in our beloved Mississippi, but because we are being measured against the entire country - what was it nationwide?
The Education Act of 1880 in the UK required that children attended school through the age of twelve, although most did not meet this requirement, and the education system in American was not up to this standard. So when the MS Constitution put in the term of "free public education" there is no standard that says this applies to the K-12 program that we consider as the standard today.
Also, the concept of providing 'free public education' throughout the country was based on funding that program through property taxes. Since our constitution provided that property taxes would be collected and used by the counties and cities of the state, there is nothing in the fact that the state provides for funding education via these property taxes today. Sorry Bill - but you should consider all parts of the 'requirement' of the Constitution, not just the phrases that you choose to define.
AND of course, you need to pick up the rest of that sentence that you pull from the Constitution. It reads "provide for free public schools upon such conditions and limitations as the Legislature may prescribe."
Next time when you come to lecture on your opinions maybe you can use the benefits of your free public education (including those couple of years at the free Academy) to not only read parts and pieces, but to apply reasonable interpretations to the language.
WHEW! Take a breath, 12/26 @ 10 p.m.
"...shall provide for free public schools upon such conditions and limitations as the Legislature may prescribe".
[Mississippi compulsory school attendance law requires all students between the ages of 6-17 years of age to be enrolled in a public, private or home school educational program.]
The preceding was 'prescribed' by the Mississippi Legislature. The age of school children in 1890 is irrelevant. So, there's that.
Yes, 433 AM - that is what the legislature has now prescribed. Just as the legislature has prescribed that local districts shall be funded partly with property taxes. Ergo, the entire funding of the program is not the duty of yhe state as Crawford tries to sell.
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