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Betsy DeVos was confirmed yesterday as Secretary of Education.
Because two Republicans refused to vote for her, the Senate was tied at 50-50 in the vote.
VP Mike Pence was forced to cast the tie breaking vote in her favor.
Why is the Left so strongly opposed to Mrs. DeVos?
And why did two Republicans refuse to vote for her?
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Vice President Mike Pence stepped to the microphone yesterday and said, "The Senate being equally divided, the vice president votes in the affirmative, and the nomination is confirmed."
Democrats have been under intense pressure from the teacher's unions and the National Education Association to block the nomination of Betsy DeVos.
Some have speculated that there is a push back because of the enormous wealth of the DeVos family. Betsy DeVos' husband is the son of the founder of Amway. The family is worth several billions of dollars.
It's more than class envy at work.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), a leading advocate against all of Trump's nominations, has attempted every possible tactic to destroy her nomination---including a filibuster on the floor of the Senate this week.
Schumer has said, "Mr. Trump has picked the most controversial Cabinet in memory."
However, Schumer has been particularly focused on Mrs. DeVos. He has said she is "uniquely unqualified," "unfit," and "incompetent." In fact, he called the two Republican defectors--- Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine---"profiles in courage" giving them equal billing with those Republicans who "courageously" defied the GOP Platform and supported same-sex "marriage."
Schumer and others who have worked so hard to defeat her nomination, have given endless lists of what Betsy DeVos doesn't know about our current "public education system."
Schumer has said on the record that DeVos is not up to speed on the federal education law that guarantees education to students with disabilities, won't affirm that security officers would never be allowed to carry a gun in schools and she isn't conversant on "the long simmering debate in education policy about measuring growth verses proficiency."
Mrs. DeVos is well known as a Christian woman who is a philanthropist and one who has been deeply involved in education.
Why then is Mrs. DeVos so hated and feared by the far Left progressives?
Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) says, "Mrs. DeVos's resume contains no experience in public education at any level, not as a teacher, not as an administrator, not as a student or a parent"---Betsy DeVos attended a private Christian college and her children were home schooled and attended a Christian school.
Gary Bauer, with "American Values," shared some interesting observations with One News Now earlier this week.
He says the criticism is unjustified on a couple of fronts.
First, "The Department of Education is not the Department of 'Public' Education---it's the Department of Education."
He says, "Betsy DeVos is a bright lady. She's an accomplished woman, somebody who has economic good sense, somebody who knows how to run large organizations and is articulate."
It should also be noted that the two Republican Senators who bailed out on DeVos are Republicans who have received substantial amounts of money from the public school establishment. Bauer says he thinks they are merely doing their bidding.
Another argument against Betsy DeVos was revealed in an exchange between DeVos and Senator Elizabeth Warren (D- Mass.) in her committee hearing.
Warren: "I think it's important for the person who's in charge of our financial aid programs to understand what its like for students and their families who are struggling to pay for college. Mrs. DeVos, have you ever taken out a student loan from the federal government to help pay for college?"
DeVos: "I have not."
Democratic Senators are criticizing DeVos for not going into debt to attend Calvin College in Michigan, which cost about $53,000 dollars in today's money.
Are they also saying a judge who has never committed a crime is not qualified to preside in a court of law, or a doctor who has never been cured from a fatal disease is not qualified to perform life saving surgery on someone who is terminally ill?
What are they saying? You can't help a drug addict if you yourself have never been addicted?
In effect, yes. They apparently believe that if you are not a part of the fabric of a miserably failing education system you cannot possibly fix it.
Common sense says the opposite is true.
Public education, as we have come to know it, is more about indoctrination---social engineering---than education.
It is a far Left secular progressive's dream come true.
While I am not suggesting all teachers are far Left, secular or progressive activists---my daughter-in-law has a master's degree in education and has taught in the public schools---some are.
I am saying however, that public, government run schools and the education industry built around the "neighborhood school" idea has become a boon for the radical Left.
Indoctrination of far Left beliefs begins day one, and continues to the last day in the classroom. Biblical Christianity is scoffed at and discredited, perverted forms of "marriage" and "family" and human sexuality are elevated and normalized, while historic, biblical models are mocked and marginalized.
Public education has become the fountain head of a worldview that undermines the very existence of America as our Founders intended it to be.
Government run education prides itself in being open minded, until a student claims to believe something other than the accepted liberal narrative.
Following the confirmation of Betsy DeVos, Washington State's Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, vowed to "continue championing quality public education in America."
If this is true, Ms. Murray should pleased. Right?
Murray said, "We may have lost this fight today, but people across the country have stood up and made their voices heard on the importance of strong public education in America, and we're not going to stand down."
She's right. Americans have spoken on education. Their voice and vote put Trump in office and Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education.
The reason the far Left secular progressives have fought so hard to defeat Betsy DeVos is because she is not one of them, nor will she become one of them.
She will return parental authority to its rightful place in education.
She will advocate for school choice---yes, "choice," including vouchers.
She will liberate poverty stricken children who are locked into failing schools by giving their parents or guardians a choice. She has already worked tirelessly to help low-income children have more have more choices of better schools.
She will shut down the indoctrination by homosexual activist groups, and the abortion queen Planned Parenthood.
She will not treat Christianity as though it is a "toxic" substance.
She will embrace "real," "authentic" education.
She will turn education away from telling children "what to think" and toward teaching them "how to think."
Columnist Thomas Sowell said earlier that a "historic opportunity will be lost if the teacher's unions and their allies can defeat the nomination of DeVos."
Thanks to a president, a vice president, and a Republican senate---except for the two---who resolutely did the right thing.
Mr. Sowell, the opportunity was not lost.
Be Grateful. Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Vigilant.