Of all the useless and counterproductive bureaucracies in Washington, the Department of Education may be at the top of the list.
It certainly hasn’t produced good results, at least if we care about student performance.
Though it does keep a bunch of bureaucrats on a gravy train, so there are some (undeserving) beneficiaries.
Speaking of which, the top bureaucrat at the DOE, Secretary Miguel Cardona, recently showed that he skipped some history lessons.
As shown in this amusing little video, he completely botched Reagan’s famous warning about getting “help” from government.
Fixed it. pic.twitter.com/6R6Zcr8uBE
— Dave Rubin (@RubinReport) November 27, 2023
To be fair, Reagan’s quote was about government and help, so even though he turned the quote upside down, he was referring to something real.
Moreover, I recall that President George W. Bush said something that libertarians didn’t like about it being government’s role to help when someone is hurting. So I wouldn’t be surprised if Secretary Cardona simply mixed up a good Republican president with a not-so-good Republican president.
Since I once made a $16 trillion mistake on a national TV program, I won’t be overly critical of his misstatement.
But I am glad that his goof has drawn attention to Reagan’s very apt warning.
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Image credit: The U.S. National Archives | Public Domain.
