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In Washington, D.C., chaos is not a byproduct. It’s the plan. Institutions that took generations to build are being dismantled with reckless glee. To some, it’s a revolution long overdue. To others, it’s a terrifying assault on political norms. But to anyone who studies history, it’s something far more dangerous: regime change, dressed up in patriotic language.
In certain corners, this chaos has been the dream — conservative wish lists scribbled on cocktail napkins for decades. But dreams, when untethered from wisdom, become nightmares. No one — and I do mean no one — knows the full consequences of tearing down what was built to outlast political seasons and protect future generations.
The talking points sound tidy: shrink government, hand power to the states, block grant this, privatize that. But behind those rehearsed soundbites is something far more dangerous — uncertainty. The kind the Rumsfeld matrix warns about: “There are known knowns… known unknowns… and unknown unknowns — the ones we don’t know we don’t know.” And if history teaches us anything, it’s those unknown unknowns that come back to bite.
The latest target is the U.S. Department of Education — a favorite scapegoat for decades. But calls to dismantle it and send money to states in block grants are not harmless policy tweaks. They’re a roll of the dice. And when government gambles, it’s always the folks on the lowest rung who get booed, screwed and tattooed.
Let’s be clear: the Department of Education has flaws. It’s been mired in bureaucracy. It’s chased testing fads. It’s frustrated teachers and parents alike.
But its purpose — to promote achievement and ensure equal access — has made a lasting difference. Title I funding helps schools serving the poorest children. IDEA funding ensures children with disabilities are not forgotten. Pell Grants have opened doors to college for students who once believed that door was locked. And federal civil rights protections in education are only enforced because the Department exists.
Here in Alabama, those dollars aren’t extras. They are lifelines. We rank near the bottom in education. Too many schools lack teachers. Too many classrooms go without resources. Too many children are left behind before they have even begun.
Take a walk through Wilcox or Lowndes counties, and you’ll see it. The school with a roof that leaks when it rains. The outdated textbooks. The high school senior with the grades and the drive but no means to pay an ACT fee, let alone tuition. These are the lives balanced on the edge of political theater.
And if we hand that money to the state with no real oversight? We all know where it will go: private school vouchers, ideological pet projects and political payoffs. The poorest children — the ones who need help the most — will once again be shoved to the back of the line.
Block grants sound empowering until you read the fine print: no guardrails, no standards, no accountability. Just a blank check and a political free-for-all. For Alabama families, that’s not empowerment — that’s surrender.
This is bigger than education. It’s about what happens when institutions — flawed but foundational — are torn down in service of ideology. Institutions are not infallible, but they are built for stability, for checks and balances, and for protecting those with the least power.
“Chaos breeds opportunity — but also destruction.” History is full of revolutions that began with cries of liberty and ended in ruin. After the fall of the Soviet Union, millions were promised freedom — but what came first was corruption, lawlessness and poverty. The lesson? Tearing down is easy. Building something better takes vision, discipline and care.
As John Stuart Mill said, “The worth of a state, in the long run, is the worth of the individuals composing it.” Tear down the institutions that protect those individuals, and you aren’t liberating them — you are abandoning them.
Real leadership isn’t measured by how many institutions you can bulldoze. It’s measured by the care taken to preserve what works, reform what doesn’t and protect those who cannot protect themselves. That’s not bureaucracy. That’s responsibility.
We need to stop confusing boldness with wisdom. The Department of Education doesn’t need to vanish. It needs thoughtful reform, consistency and leadership that puts results over soundbites.
Because chaos does not build. It burns. And when the fire comes, it will not be the loud voices on talk radio or the grandstanders in Montgomery who suffer. It will be our children, our schools and the generations after them — standing in the ashes, wondering why no one had the courage to protect what mattered.
This is all much bigger than the Department of Education. It is about what kind of country we will be. History will judge whether we protected what mattered — or stood by as others tore it apart.
