Education key to growth

Thomas P. Hanley (May 22) has voiced a very strange view of the Constitution. Hanley complains that the Constitution does not support the use of taxpayer funds to support citizens’ educational pursuits.

True, but so what? The Constitution does not forbid it. Does Hanley suppose that public policy cannot be undertaken unless the Constitution specifically enables it? That’s backward. Only if the Constitution prohibits it can a proposed policy not be undertaken. The U.S. Supreme Court has never held otherwise.

How many times does it need to be said that education is the key to America’s future growth and competitiveness in the modern world? The government is stupid not to promote it with taxpayer funds.

This the government did in 1945, when it passed the GI Bill of Rights (opposed by Republicans). The direct result of this investment was the greatest spurt of economic growth and increased standards of living in American history. Decades later, government studies showed that for every dollar invested, three dollars was returned to the economy.

Money spent by government on education is an economic investment, not a handout.

Lee Freese

Pullman