A Boomer entrepreneur looks at how fraud, unions, and ideology have turned public education into America’s most expensive failure—and why only capitalism can fix it.
As a tail-end Boomer hustling through retirement myths, I’ve watched politicians on both coasts try to fix problems by dumping trillions into bureaucratic black holes. The worst part? They keep losing the money—and the kids.
The problems we see in California—like the $20–30 billion lost through Employment Development Department (EDD) unemployment fraud and the $100 billion overrun on a useless high-speed rail project—aren’t just Golden State screw-ups. They are national warnings that we are letting fraud, waste, and abuse (FWA) define our government’s competence.
But the biggest failure isn’t the budget; it’s the students.
The national education system is trapped by union graft and ideological rot, which churns out kids who can’t compete intellectually on the global stage and end up voting for the next uncalculable, bankrupting policy. The connection between education, critical thinking, and government bureaucracy is thick.
It’s time to demand common sense. We need a national system overhaul based on capitalism, competition, and core skills.
The Crisis of Common Sense: Exhibit A is the Budget Drain
You want proof the government can’t handle massive programs cleanly?
Look no further than the state agency that lost $20–30 billion to fraudulent claims. The EDD debacle proved “how fast billions can vanish with weak oversight”. This kind of incompetence fuels public skepticism regarding any massive proposal, especially when the costs are “not even calculable”.
As I wrote in Boomers Aren’t Fanatics—They’re The Backbone, the real crisis isn’t generational—it’s structural, and our institutions are proving it daily.
If government can’t manage unemployment checks or railways, why do we trust it to manage every child’s future?
Nationally, the problem persists because we prioritize ideology over practicality:
- The FWA Warning: The scale of the EDD fraud is replicated through mismanaged programs across the country. Complex government initiatives invite loopholes, and limited accountability ensures agencies face few consequences for failure. This is why taxpayers fear footing the bill for “uncalculable” programs like reparations—some national estimates hit $14 trillion.
- The High Cost of Waste: We’re funding failures. The $100 billion rail boondoggle is just one example of runaway inefficiency that bloats costs.
- The Education Failure: We spend staggering amounts per pupil, yet our outcomes lag due to administrative bloat. Nationally, U.S. students rank 38th in math among developed nations, and only 22% of high school seniors are proficient in math. Only 35% are proficient in reading.
The Root Rot: Unions and Ideological Curricula
How did we get here?
Simple: The system is rigged by entrenched interests and ideological education that produces compliant voters.
- The Union Stranglehold: National teachers’ unions, like the NEA, wield immense political influence, donating millions to political campaigns (the CTA in California donated over $20 million in 2020 alone). This buys loyalty, ensures policies prioritize union interests (like job security over student outcomes), and blocks market-driven teacher compensation.
- The Shift to Culturalism: History and civics curricula nationwide have shifted to emphasize “systemic issues—like racism, colonialism, and inequality—over a chronological recounting of events”. This “culturalism” frames history as a series of oppressions, leading younger voters to see massive, uncalculable policies (like reparations) as a “moral necessity”, sidelining fiscal common sense.
- The Civics Deficit: Only 48% of 8th graders are proficient in civics. Instead of learning the “mechanics of governance” and “what worked or failed”, students are steeped in today’s opinions, which quickly become obsolete. This system produces voters who back “policies without scrutinizing their feasibility”.
When schools replace cause-and-effect history with moral theater, they train activists—not analysts.
The Boomer Blogger
The National Common-Sense Blueprint: Tearing Down the System
We can fix this, but only by implementing a capitalist model that rewards outcomes, punishes waste, and empowers parents, leveraging the momentum of the 2025 federal voucher program.
This plan is built on Federal floors, state blueprints, and local builds, guaranteeing accountability without micromanagement:
1. Universal Vouchers — Freedom Through Funding
We must expand the new federal scholarship tax-credit program into direct vouchers.
- The Action: Give parents a $15,000 grant per student (based on national K-12 spending) to redeem at any public, private, charter, or homeschool option.
- The Benefit: This creates competition, breaking the union monopoly, forcing schools to focus on results. Studies show charters boost low-income student achievement by 0.1–0.2 standard deviations in math/reading.
2. AI in the Classroom — Eliminate Waste, Personalize Learning
AI is the future, and we must integrate it now to future-proof education.
AI isn’t a threat to teachers—it’s a tool to free them.
By automating repetitive administrative tasks, schools can redirect billions of dollars and thousands of staff hours back to the classroom. Studies show that AI can handle up to 40% of non-teaching workloads, from attendance tracking to grading and scheduling, without compromising quality or oversight.
At the same time, AI-powered learning platforms deliver personalized instruction that adapts to each student’s strengths and weaknesses, driving 20–30% improvements in math and reading performance. That’s critical when only 22% of U.S. seniors are proficient in math.
As I wrote in AI & You Replaces How-To, on Setting Points, the future of learning and work depends on mastering AI instead of fearing it.
AI is the common-sense upgrade education needs —a system that costs less, teaches better, and finally rewards results over bureaucracy.
3. Curriculum Reset — Facts First, Opinions Optional
Federal guidelines must mandate baseline minima in core subjects like math, reading, science, civics, and basic AI literacy. Beyond that, curriculum flexibility is the school’s selling point.
- Teach Real Civics: Civics must be steeped in history—focusing on “what happened, what was the outcome, and why”. Students should analyze historical events like the Civil Rights Act (Black voting rose 23% to 61%) or California’s Proposition 13 (tax cap led to budget volatility), teaching them to question fiscal trade-offs and avoid obsolete opinions.
- Competition Works: Schools will compete by offering specialized curricula—STEM, trades, or history-based civics—attracting families who want results, not ideological mandates.
4. Access Matters — Transit for Choice
Choice is useless if poor and rural families can’t get their kids to the better schools.
- The Action: Use Federal Transit Administration (FTA) grants to fund mass transit hubs. These centralized pick-up points connect students to their chosen schools.
- The Model: We can model this on systems like New Orleans’ post-Katrina reforms, which mandated busing for charters, leading to 90%+ on-time arrivals. This ensures “equity through access”.
5. Safe Streets, Smart Kids — Partnering Education & Crime Reduction
You can’t learn if you’re not safe. Education and crime reduction go hand in hand
- The Data: Studies show a 1-year increase in schooling cuts youth arrest rates by 6–14.5%. Better-funded schools reduce adult arrests by 15%.
- The Action: Department of Justice (DOJ) grants must target high-poverty areas (where homicides are 3–4x the national average) with hot-spot policing and community programs like Ceasefire (which saw a 77% homicide drop in Richmond, CA).
The Groundswell — From Bureaucracy to Blueprint
This blueprint requires tearing down the national education bureaucracy, and that takes a grassroots movement.
We need to build on existing momentum in reform-friendly states (like Florida and Utah) and leverage groups fighting the good fight.
- The Allies: Turning Point USA (TPUSA) is a crucial ally. Their mission to promote “fiscal responsibility, free markets, and limited government” and champion “Freedom of High School Choice” aligns perfectly with this plan. They have a network of over 1,000 high school chapters nationwide and are partnered with the Department of Education on the America 250 Civics Coalition. While I share TPUSA’s belief in free markets and educational freedom, this blueprint is an independent proposal and is not affiliated with or sponsored by any organization.
- The Strategy: We must take this blueprint directly to TPUSA leadership and propose collaboration on the Civics Coalition, embedding our history-based civics and amplifying the push for 100% vouchers through their massive grassroots network. This is how we bypass the entrenched power of the NEA and start seeing results.
We can keep funding a corrupt, ideological system that graduates 22% math proficiency—or ignite a capitalist reboot that rewards mastery, punishes waste, and rebuilds common sense.
I choose common sense. Who’s with me?
