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<p>Oooh, straw man alert!</p>
<p>While there are different versions, essentially the “voucher idea” is that the amount of money spent per student in a given district (a number easily obtained from any state government education dept) is put into the hands of families to purchase the schooling of their choice. They can put that amount toward Sidwell Friends and such, or use it to enroll at a Catholic/Lutheran etc. school, or for a secular school organized and run by educators who once worked for public school systems, and so on. </p>
<p>Many voucher proponents like to point out the distinction between government-financed and government-operated education. The question isn’t whether or not socialism is involved, but whether freedom is involved.</p>
<p>And on the subject of politicians who employ school choice for themselves but don’t support the same opportunity for the less affluent: the ultimate in hypocrisy. Can anyone possibly be so blind to political reality not to realize that the anti-choice position is directly the result of special-interest financing and political support of the education status quo? </p>
<p>No, it is not ‘capitalistic’ to believe that each family’s share of the education payout must be spent at a government-operated, rather than a privately-operated, institution.</p>