Race to the bottom

In just three hours, we'll know the SCOTUS decision on health care.

Before the flood of commentary on that, here's a bit of comic relief -- or rather it would be funny if it were not such a travesty for Texas children.   And it's not just Texas -- it's the whole backward movement of the Tea Party and worse mentality that pervades the Republican Party these days.

The Texas Republicans have written their platform for 2012.   In the section titled "Education Our Children" [sic] are these directives:

1.  Corporal punishment is effective.   Teachers should be given more authority to deal with disciplinary problems.

2.  Do away with mandatory kindergarten.  "Parents are best suited to train their children in their early development."    One politician argued that kindergarten leads to increased crime rates later on.

3.  Of course it advocates abstinence-only sex education.

4.  It opposes teaching "higher order thinking skills" -- a curriculum that encourages critical thinking, because it might "challenge students' fixed beliefs" and undermine "parental authority."

5.  It also endorses Texas law that denies public school education to children of illegal immigrants.    Federal officials have said this is against the law, but the Texas good 'ol boys and gals are still pushing it.

What a race to the bottom and back into the past.

Ralph