Is Anyone in Washington D.C. Smarter Than a 12th Grader?

A Home-schooled Scholar/Athlete Has Tough Questions for Obama and Congress. By Wayne Allyn Root and Dakota Root I’m very proud of my daughter Dakota. She is a 17-year old high school senior who has been home-schooled since birth- literally. She has n...


By Wayne Allyn Root and Dakota Root

I’m very proud of my daughter Dakota. She is a 17-year old high school senior who has been home-schooled since birth- literally. She has never seen the inside of a classroom. The results? She has attained perfect SAT test scores; has become a world-class athlete (representing her country at World Cup fencing events); she gave her dad’s nomination speech for President of the United States live on C-Span at the age of 16; and she puts her dad- and every politician in America- to shame with levels of intelligence and common sense rarely seen within the city limits of Washington D.C. Her college choices? She has applied to the best Ivy League colleges in America- including 7 of the Top 10 highest rated (as ranked by U.S. News & World Report)- including Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Chicago, Columbia, Penn, Brown, and Duke.

But it is her political views that I believe America desperately needs to hear. Dakota and I watched the evening news together the last few nights- now there’s something you’d only hear from a home-school family. Her observations led me to realize that no one in Washington D.C. has either the intelligence or commonsense of a 12th grader. Now there’s a great new TV game show concept- pitting teenagers against Congressmen! The winners should get to run the country. I’m betting on the teens.

Dakota’s first thought was so simple it was brilliant. We watched a news story on the failing U.S. Postal Service and its projected $200 billion shortfall over the next decade. Their brilliant solution: ending Saturday mail delivery. Dakota remarked, “But dad, they did not even mention cutting jobs, or cutting salaries, or reducing pensions, or making retirees pay something for their own health care? This is nothing but a band-aid. It will never work.” A 12th grader figured it all out. I propose putting Dakota Root in charge of the U.S. Postal Service. Trust me, it could only produce a dramatic improvement.

Next up: Healthcare reform. Dakota and I together watched the news that Congress had just passed the historic Obamacare bill. Dakota had a few crucial questions that no one in Washington bothered to answer. “Dad, why would we hand healthcare to the same people (government) that have managed the Postal Service into bankruptcy? How is it possible that the same people that are projecting over $200 billion in losses for the postal service will now run healthcare without losing billions…or trillions? If free healthcare for retirees of the postal service is busting the budget, how can we afford free healthcare for everyone? How can we add over 30 million new people to the healthcare rolls without adding trillions of dollars in cost? Also, where has universal healthcare been a successful program? If our medical system is so terrible now, why do Canadian citizens come here for treatment? This whole bill defies reason. Someone is obviously lying to us.”

Dakota was just getting warmed up: “Dad, if government-run healthcare really lowers costs, how come Massachusetts is experiencing gigantic healthcare increases after the government took over? If government knows how to keep costs down, why do New York and New Jersey have the strictest government regulation over healthcare in the nation, and also the highest health insurance rates in the country- DOUBLE the national average? Wouldn’t that suggest that our national rates will also double after the government takes over? Did they just say that the new healthcare bill gives more power to the I.R.S.? Why would anyone want the I.R.S. to have more control over our lives?” Why indeed.

Then Dakota cut to the heart of the welfare…oops I mean healthcare issue…she asked, “Dad, I heard Obama himself say that Medicare and Medicaid are in fact threatening to eat up our entire federal budget and bankrupt our country. Since Medicare and Medicaid are already run by the government, why would President Obama want the government to take over the entire healthcare industry? Wouldn’t that bankrupt our country even faster? Also why would anyone believe the same politicians who have mismanaged the budget? If government were a private sector business, wouldn’t we fire these politicians?”

Fire them? Dakota’s dad thinks we should put them all in prison for fraud, mismanagement, and theft of taxpayer money.

But wait, Dakota wasn’t through just yet. She had a few more observations for the spineless, brainless politicians in Washington DC. “Our government is running a deficit approaching $2 Trillion…we have a $12 Trillion national debt…we obviously don’t have any more money to spend. So why is President Obama pushing for one of the most expensive government programs in history, during the middle of the worst economic recession since the Great Depression? My generation, and every following generation, is responsible for paying this bill, but we haven’t even been asked if we accept this crushing burden of debt.”

Dakota headed for the finish line with the gold medal question: “Dad, is any of this constitutional? Where in the Constitution does it mention healthcare? Where does the Constitution state that government can force Americans to buy health insurance, thereby handing billions of dollars in profits to private companies? Are any of these companies that will benefit, by gaining 30 million new customers, perhaps campaign contributors to President Obama? Why is that legal?”

Why indeed. Dakota Root for President.

Wayne Allyn Root was the 2008 Libertarian Vice Presidential candidate. His new book is entitled, “The Conscience of a Libertarian: Empowering the Citizen Revolution with God, Guns, Gambling & Tax Cuts.” For more information on Wayne or Dakota Root, please visit Wayne’s web site at: ROOTforAmerica.com.