Freedom lovers against tax-funded vouchers

by Marshall Fritz

Originally published in The Education Liberator, Vol. 2, No. 6, July 1996

The debate over tax-funded school vouchers historically has been framed with two sides: Dr. Milton Friedman and fellow freedom lovers up against a huge education lobby of teacher unions and school administrators.

Neither side of this traditional debate welcomes the FLAV crowd into the arena (Freedom Lovers Against Vouchers). We make both sides uncomfortable with our message that if Dr. Friedman's voucher wins, the education lobby will extend its controls to the formerly independent schools.

One California think tank evaded the discomfort during the 1993 contest on Proposition 174 by ignoring FLAVs when selecting a dozen authors for a book putatively covering the spectrum of opinion. The same held true for the debates; the FLAV side was usually treated by both sides as if it didn't exist.

For decades, the primary attack of the FLAV folks has been the expected loss of school autonomy when government funds start flowing to "private" schools. For the last two years, however, the "expansion of dependency" argument has been gathering steam. I remember asking one VMD (Very Major Donor) to a freedom foundation how I could distinguish, in principle, between him and a liberal. This was at the height of the socialized medicine debate, which he vigorously opposed, yet he saw schooling and school stamps as appropriate uses of government. (He didn't quite answer my question. He was too polite to hang up on me, but we haven't spoken since.)

Now it's time for the FLAV crowd to speak out. Part of this is to see just how strong we already are, and that's why I put together this list. I know quite a few more who are just as against the voucher as those listed below, but it is not CC (Conservatively Correct) to go public just yet.

John Baden

Foundation for Research in Economics and the Environment

Prof Calvin Beisner

Author

Samuel Blumenfeld

Author

Burt Blumert

Center for Libertarian Studies

Pat Buchanan

The American Cause

Rev David Chilton

Author [RIP]

Paul Cleveland

Birmingham Southern College

Steve Dasbach

National Chair, Libertarian Party

Jack Dean

Dean Spear & Associates

Douglas Dewey

National Scholarship Center

Cathy Duffy

Home Run Enterprises

Brandon Dutcher

Oklahoma Center for Policy Analysis

Joe Fuhrig

Golden Gate University [RIP]

Ben Gilmore

Principled Approach

Roy Hanson [Jr.]

Family Protection Ministries

David Henderson

Naval Postgraduate School

Jacob Hornberger

Future of Freedom Foundation

Jeff Hummel

Golden Gate University

Philip Kell

Southern Baptist Foundation

H F Langenberg

Smith Moore & Co Inc [RIP]

Dwight Lee

University of Georgia

Bob Marlowe

Council for Educational Freedom

Rick Maybury

Author

Robert McGee

Dumont Foundation

John McManus

New American Magazine

Dr Gary North

Firestorm Chats; Remnant Review

Jackie Orsi

National Center for Independent Education

Rev James Patrick

East Moline Christian School

George Pieler

Nat'l Scholarship Foundation

Carole Ann Rand

Advocates for Self-Government

Prof Charles Rice

Notre Dame Law School

Sheldon Richman

Author

John Robbins

College of the Southwest

George Roche

Hillsdale College

Lew Rockwell [Jr.]

Ludwig Von Mises Institute

Rev R J Rushdoony

Chalcedon [RIP]

Hans Sennholz

Foundation for Economic Education

RC Sproul Jr

Ligonier Ministries

Robert Thoburn

Fairfax Christian School

Robert Thompson

Lane/Patterson Center for Ethical Public Policy

Dr Ron Trowbridge

Hillsdale College

Jeff Tucker

Mises Institute

Perry Willis

Exec. Director, Libertarian Party

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Last updated April 18, 2007