and more than he deserved.

Personally, I don’t understand why folks always zero in on the military when the time comes for budget cuts. We have far more bloated programs coming out of D.C. that could stand to be excised.

I love this line:

“Personally, I’m growing tired of having to take seriously the narrow-mindedness of the Political Class.”

I think I may be rubbing off on *you* a little now.

Let’s just get rid of them all. America is amazing, Americans are amazing…I’ve taken road trips all across the country, from Santa Cruz, CA to New Bryum Mississippi, and I’m proud to call pretty much everyone my countryperson.

Why can’t we find people to lead us?

Followed by eliminating ROTC from public colleges and universities.
And then pressuring private colleges to limit / eliminate ROTC as well.

There used to be chatter discussing these goals on the Chronicle of Higher Education forums. Don’t know if that type of discussion goes on anymore since I’m not doing much work in that field any longer and haven’t logged on in years.

Lately Rasmussen has been polling issues and getting about the citizenry as a whole vs. the Political Class. The contrast has been very striking; just look at the following results:

On the bank and auto bailouts:

Looking back, 59% of voters nationwide believe the federal bailouts for banks and other financial institutions were a bad idea. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that just 26% think they were a good idea.

The numbers are similar for the bailout loans given to General Motors and Chrysler: 60% say they were a bad idea, and just 26% hold the opposite view.

But, in the end, the opinions of the Political Class mattered more than the opinions of voters. Today, by a 61% to 23% margin, the Political Class still believes the bailouts for the financial industry were a good idea. By a 64% to 23%, they say the same about the auto bailouts.

On the tea parties:

Fifty-one percent (51%) of Americans have a favorable view of the “tea parties” held nationwide last week, including 32% who say their view of the events is Very favorable.

Thirty-three percent (33%) hold an unfavorable opinion of the tea parties according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Fifteen percent (15%) are not sure.

While half the nation has a favorable opinion of last Wednesday’s events, the nation’s Political Class has a much dimmer view—just 13% of the political elite offered even a somewhat favorable assessment while 81% said the opposite. Among the Political Class, not a single survey respondent said they had a Very Favorable opinion of the events while 60% shared a Very Unfavorable assessment.

One-in-four adults (25%) say they personally know someone who attended a tea party protest. That figure includes just one percent (1%) of those in the Political Class.

On taxes:

With the annual ritual of filing federal income taxes just behind them, 52% of U.S. voters now believe they pay more than their fair share of taxes, up seven points from earlier this month.

But 54% of the Political Class don’t think they pay too much, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.

Sixty percent (60%) of voters nationwide believe tax cuts help the economy, while 15% say they hurt and 14% say they have no impact.

Similarly, most Americans (58%) say tax increases hurt the economy, but 21% believe they help and 12% say they have no impact.

Again, there is a startling divide between Mainstream America and the Political Class. While 69% of Mainstream Americans say tax cuts are economically beneficial, the Political Class is evenly divided—33% say the tax cuts help while 36% say tax cuts are bad for the economy.

Seventy-four percent (74%) of Mainstream Americans say tax increases hurt the economy. Among the Political Class, only 19% share that view. In fact, 30% of the Political Class say tax hikes are actually good for the economy and 31% say they have no economic impact at all.

With these kinds of numbers, is there any doubt that the Political Class is our enemy? We should treat them as the hostile entity they are and take every opportunity to bring them down. Only then will we get reform in Washington.

If so, that would explain why we are in the mess we are…..

As a graduate of both the Coast Guard Academy and Harvard, I can tell you that my education at the Coast Guard Academy was much more fulfilling and valuable.

Mr. Ricks comes to the conclusion that academy graduates get a “community college” level of education because many instructors at the service academies don’t have PhD’s. While this may be true (although I would estimate 50-75% of my professors at the Coast Guard Academy had PhD’s), what he fails to recognize is that these professors are there primarily to teach students. Not to conduct research and submit new grants and to build and run their labs and oh, by the way, teach a class or two, like at larger universities. So, yes, their CV’s may be less impressive, but I would argue their commitment to teaching is usually much greater. And when you’re at the undergraduate level, you don’t need the expert in their field teaching you, instead you need someone who can teach you the basics well and stays committed to your understanding. I spent many hours after class one-on-one with the professors at the Coast Guard Academy…not with a graduate student TA as would usually happen at larger universities.

(And all of this is not to take anything away from community colleges where many students get a great education.)

And as we all know (and Cadet Xin makes clear), the education received at the service academies goes far beyond that learned in the classroom.