Republicans Cheer Home School Advocates In Iowa
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- Three potential Republican presidential candidates courted home-school advocates in Iowa on Wednesday, saying the government was a threat and may have "trampled" on the rights of parents to educate their children.
U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas and Georgia businessman Herman Cain spoke before about 1,000 people outside the Iowa Statehouse at an annual rally in support of home-schooling. All had harsh words for government's role in education.
"The family has a level of authority that the government may have trampled on," said Bachmann. "We need to make sure that families enjoy their untrammeled right without state interference."
According to the American Homeschool Association, home-schooling is legal in all 50 states, although laws and regulations vary between states. The U.S. Supreme Court has never ruled specifically on home-schooling, and the subject remains a topic of legal debate.
Bachmann, who noted she had home-schooled her five children for a number of years before enrolling them in a Christian school, said parents have an absolute right to decide how their children are educated.
"It's about freedom. It's about liberty. It's about knowing our children better than the state knows our children," said Bachmann. "I was part of starting the very first home-school class in my community. If you have the expertise and the ability, why not do that?"
Bachmann told reporters before the rally that she likely would decide by summer whether to seek the GOP presidential nomination.
She has drawn heavy attention in Iowa, where precinct caucuses launch the presidential nominating process. The Republican caucuses are dominated by social conservatives, many of whom are strong advocates of home-schooling.
Paul told the crowd that public schools have changed since he was young, and that those changes led to the home-schooling movement. Among those changes, he claimed, was an effort to keep discussion of religious issues out of the classroom.
"The government will always be a threat," said Paul. "The government doesn't like competition, be it education or medicine. They want to have control."
Paul argued that people are ahead of the government on the issue of home-schooling.
"There's a revolution going on in the country," said Paul. "It just hasn't gotten to Washington yet."
Cain, a former executive at the Godfather's Pizza chain, took a similar stand.
"Get government out of the way of our education so we can educate ourselves and our children," said Cain. "There are some people in our government who aren't interested in the same things that you and I are interested in. They are trying to create some kind of world order."
Bachmann took note of the November election, in which Iowa voters ousted three state Supreme Court justices who had joined in a unanimous 2009 ruling that legalized gay marriage in Iowa.
"What I love about Iowa is you are fighters, you don't take no for an answer," said Bachmann. "If you have judges who thwart the will of the people you send them packing. Thank you, Iowa, for what you have done to uphold the constitution. There are separate jurisdictions."
After the rally, all three headed to a meeting of the Network of Iowa Home School Educators to tout what is a growing movement of home-school advocates. Since the Iowa Legislature authorized home-schooling in the 1980s, the number of children taught at home has grown to roughly 35,000.
Bachmann, who was born in Waterloo, sought to stress her ties to the state and her ideological alignment with the home-school advocates.
"I come here as one of you," said Bachmann. "As home-schoolers, you have jurisdiction and control over the right to educate your children."
"Our culture is being attacked," Cain told the group. "We have got to move from an entitlement culture to an empowerment culture."
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