Well La-Tee-Dah! As reported here at The Hayride, Louisiana’s Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley is being considered to lead the federal government’s Dept of Education in a possible Trump administration. This is presented in mostly positive terms in the article, but nothing very good would come of it for all the parties involved.
First, it further entrenches the idea that the federal government should be involved in directing education in the States. There isn’t the slightest hint of a clause in the federal constitution giving it that power. This is admitted even by the strongest supporters of the Philadelphia charter at the time of the ratification debates. Tench Coxe of Pennsylvania was one of those men. In his writings he produced some lengthy lists of powers granted to and withheld from the newly re-organized federal government. Among those powers forbidden to the federal government he included the ability to regulate education (bolding added):
‘They cannot interfere with the opening of rivers and canals; the making or regulation of roads, except post roads; building bridges; erecting ferries; establishment of state seminaries of learning; libraries; literary, religious, trading or manufacturing societies; erecting or regulating the police of cities, towns or boroughs; creating new state offices; building light houses, public wharves, county gaols, markets, or other public buildings; making sale of state lands, and other state property; receiving or appropriating the incomes of state buildings and property; executing the state laws; altering the criminal law; nor can they do any other matter or thing appertaining to the internal affairs of any state, whether legislative, executive or judicial, civil or ecclesiastical’ (Mike Maharrey, ‘Tench Coxe: A Detailed Breakdown of State vs. Federal Powers’, tenthamendmentcenter.com).
Second, his efforts would be largely wasted if he became the federal Secretary of Education. A lot of his time and energy would be wasted fighting recalcitrant federal bureaucrats opposed to using the department to promote conservative/revivalist policies. More of his effort would be wasted in fighting Blue State governments who would throw up as many obstacles as they could think of to block his policies in their jurisdictions.
And they would actually be justified in doing so, per Tench Coxe, James Madison, and others, who were emphatic that the States should resist unlawful federal encroachments into their domains. We would note that Mr Brumley is one of those who used that same prerogative of the States to block some of the Biden regime’s unconstitutional and un-Christian rules. Would he then renounce the principle of State sovereignty simply because he had become the wielder of federal power and force Blue States to do his bidding? We hope he would have more integrity than that, particularly since education was not envisioned as one of the areas in which the federal government was to have one iota of influence.
The better alternative is to stop illegitimately using the federal government to cudgel one’s opponents, whether Red or Blue. If neither side is willing to agree to a détente, then a separation of the States is needed.
Third, Mr Brumley leaving Louisiana for a job in DC would further promote Louisiana’s ‘brain drain’, essentially reinforcing the message to Louisianans that they ought not to stay and labor to build a better State, but rather that they ought to flee elsewhere as soon as an opportunity opens up. We would like to see the opposite begin to happen: All the Right-leaning folks who have fled to DC should return home to build up Louisiana. Mike Johnson, Clay Higgins, John Kennedy, and others – crush the pride that seeks fame and celebrity; reject the lure of high position; turn away from the temptation to handle and direct billions of dollars in the federal budget. Come home, and put your talents directly to work on improving Louisiana.
We have heard the old saw for many years now, that we need to send people with Louisiana values to DC to change the place and ‘save the country’. To start with, that plan has been a pretty dismal failure. And we would answer further that Louisiana is our country. Would a hot-tempered Cajun feel welcome or understood in the Seattle metro area? No. Would the patient, slow-as-molasses demeanor of a Bawcomvillite feel at home in New Jersey? No. Would a rapping, rhyming, carefree black fellow from the Mississippi delta fit right in in the middle of North Dakota? No.
But they do fit in and feel at home here in Louisiana. These are our people, our ways, our customs, and have been for centuries. Louisiana is our country (it is the same with every State: Every one of them is a country, with a history and culture uniquely her own). We (Mr Brumley included) need to look to Louisiana’s needs first and ignore the messy melodrama of the DC swamp for a time. Ol’ FedGov will get along just fine without us, we reckon, and we without it. Once we have got our own house in order, then we can begin to think about re-engaging with it. With the help of St Martin, we will make some headway in that direction.