When Are We Ever Going To Learn.

David Brooks is a conservative columnist I don't usually agree with. He's not a Glen Beck conservative. You know, a foaming at the mouth ultra-conservative. He's a more thoughtful, moderate conservative, and today I somewhat agree with him on his column. He suggests that during these times of grave economic dangers, we need to learn how to be somewhat conservative. We need to pare back government somewhat. Then we disagree a bit. I think we need more government for the short term to begin to rebuild infrastructure. Then we agree again because "pruning back our government" overlooks the need to educate our people or as he puts it, "rebuild America's human capital". He says, and I agree, we need to improve our educational system and bring it back to it's former greatness. We can't be just "good", we need to be the best again if we hope to continue to be the strongest country. If we hope to keep our society employed and successful, to replenish our middle-class again, to hold our place in the world community, we need to have the best education we are capable of having. We'll need to scrap many of the old notions of education and recognize those examples that work and discard those that don't. And we need to begin to reward job creation and find a way to punish job restriction. But that will only work if we have an educational system that is up to the task and a financial community that is prepared to partner with America to advance inovation, and a government that clears the way and nurtures sound, safe  and honest industrial partners. He goes on to recognize that middle-class wages have been stagnant for a generation leading to a more and more stratified society with little chance for economic mobility. He's right. A pampered upper class has become dominant in the political culture of Washington, providing them with all the advantages, leaving none for anyone else. So we need a government that's big enough to get the job done, but small enough to recognize when it's in the way.