You are correct that the constitution has not stated the duty of the government to provide or fund public education. It does, however give that right to the states, which all states have decided to exercise. The duty of providing public education is implicit in the very nature of democracy in all it's forms. Thanks for the debate. While you also avoided many of my questions and points, I think it was productive to get both sides of the dime out there.

Making education part of the business world would create a permanent class system. You say that people will have the choice to get educated or to educate their children, but that would only be true for the first generation. Nobody after that gets to make that choice. This is supposed to be a land of opportunity. Don't you want to be able to tell your grandchildren, "You can grow up and be whatever you want to be. The choice is entirely up to you."? I know I sure do, but I also know that my children will have the choice. If they choose to be a fireman, that shouldn't mean that my grandchildren can't become lawyers if they want to. I don't want future generations to be stuck wherever I put them. I want them to have the choice just as I did.

I guess I'm just surprised that you think having uneducated people voting is a good idea. And actually, you do need to spend some time in public schools. Without that, you are out of touch with A. what is really going on in our schools and therefore our country and B.  the attitudes and mental state of the American people. Education should not be part of the business world because it is not a profitable business. In order to get enough education to get through college a person would have to spend more money than most people will ever be able to make back or re-pay. If we want all of our voters educated, we all need to pay for it.

I am a capitalist through and through. Education IS NOT a part of the business world and it never should be. IF education WERE a BUSINESS then you would be correct. It is exactly because I DO have faith in people that I believe in public education. I have faith that people will always do a little better than their parents did. I have faith that people will continue to immigrate to this country because they love freedom and they will have to build their lives here from the ground up. I have faith that Americans will take their educations and use them for their benefit and the benefit of their children. You need to study the philosophies behind public education. Then you need to spend A LOT of time in several different public schools. This is about making sure that children do not pay for their parents unwillingness to succeed. Since children are not able to make decisions for themselves and parents will never be perfect in being responsible for their children, public education is a must. I do agree that through the schools we give way too many handouts. Free meals, giving them ALL of their supplies and never asking them for a fee or donation. Yes, public schools could be much more economical and still be successful, but you just CANNOT remove them from public funding all together. Again, it's about giving HELPLESS CHILDREN, who cannot make decisions for themselves, the opportunities that their parents will not or cannot give them. Programs for children should always be publicly funded.

You are correct, we do not have a pure democracy, we have a democratic
republic, which is a form of democracy. Regardless of the specific
type of democracy we have, the principle that public education is
necessary holds true. It is evident that you have not spent time in
many public schools, you don't know much about the laws surrpunding
public education, or both. What you are saying may be true in some
schools, but schools are required BY LAW to not only serve students
who have specific learning disabilities, but to serve students whose
performance is exceptionally high. As somebody who has spent a lot of
time in many public schools, I can assure you that what you described
is not the norm. Even if it was the norm, nobody is forced to choose
public school - private school is always an option and many states
have charter schools and vouchers. The only thing eliminating public
schools would do is eliminate opportunities for the poor and middle
class to improve their circumstances. Last time I checked this country
was founded on the idea that ALL MEN have the right to life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness. Those rights are taken away from all but
the upper class when there is no free public education. The percent
of your tax dollars that goes to public eductaion is miniscule in
comparison to the amount that goes to far less worthy causes.

There has been much debate up to this point about whether these principles are sound because of principle number 2, which states, "I believe in God and He is the Center of my Life." Many people have misconstrued this to mean that the country was founded on Christianity. While our founding fathers were Christians, and they included many Christian ideals in the constitution, you would be hard-pressed to find a religion that does not agree with these ideals. There is nothing in the constitution about Jesus. Almost all people believe in a god of some kind or another. Some people believe it's an all-powerful being who rules the universe, while to some God is nature, or mankind, or some other force. Principle 2 isn't about Christianity. It is about the fact that Americans have a moral compass - which compass they choose is entirely up to them - but without a "god" or moral compass of some kind, democracy is impossible and the United States will crumble.

This country was not founded specifically upon Christianity, but on the idea that there is a god and whoever or whatever that being may be has given us rights and has the expectation that we act decently toward one another. Running around calling people idiots shows ignorance and hate - the opposites of the values this country was founded on.

No public education = no democracy. Pure and simple. That is a great way to ensure the country is ruled by the rich and the poor have no opportunity to move up.

Put a page-number limit on bills. If they want all this pork passed, they need to vote on it separately.

Limits need to be put on the number of terms congressmen can serve in both the house and the senate to eliminate professional politicians.