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Originally Posted by The_Dunedan
KISS. Classrooms don't need Smartboards; blackboards work just fine. Likewise nobody in Middle School needs a new $3,000 microscope for science classes when the older units work just as well. Quit dumping money into the newest, latest, greatest, shiniest reinvention of the Wheel. Try getting rid of the crappy power-mad illiterates the NEA insists -must- continue teaching and getting some actual educators instead. A good teacher is a whole helluva lot more important than a shiny new toy for a shitty teacher to play with.
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How about leaving that responsibility with the States, where it belongs? Maybe then the Fed will stop using federal highway/infrastructure money to blackmail and browbeat States into going along with whatever ridiculous social-engineering scheme is popular that week. If the States want to raise their taxes, hold a lottery, or hire guys in clown suits to take donations, that's fine and that's what elections are for.
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Maybe the Feds could try getting out of the way of new nuclear-generation technologies. The reason the Chinese and French have left us in the dust is that a pack of moronic Luddites have stuck us with old, outdated, less-safe technology left over from the late 60's. Pebble-bed reactors, to say nothing of the micro-reactors being developed in Japan and Sweden (and currently being tested in Alaska), are leaving us in the dust technologically. They're safe, they're clean, they're getting a -lot- cheaper, and the rest of the world (except Germany, which gets the vapors whenever someone mentions Atomkraft) is laughing at us. Allow reconstitution of spent fuel and you've not only tackled particulate pollution but cut the nuclear-waster problem by 2/3 or better.
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More rhetoric and no specifics.
Yes....education is primarily a state function (thus only 10% is from federal funds). So how would you replace that shortfall of $50 billion/year for schools that are, in large part, already over-crowed and under-performing.
Infrastructure is a national issue with national economic implications...or perhaps you want to tell truckers..."stop at the border of this state that has not invested in infrastructure improvements, detour miles and miles out of your way til you get to this state that has made that investment."
Nuclear...Obama supports it....but it is far from the only solution. China, India, and many European countries that fund or subsidize clean energy r&d and provide tax benefits for their production (creating jobs) are also leaving us in the dust....which has implications beyond energy dependency. Those who develop the clean technologies reap enormous economic benefits.