Rave This, if you think conservatism is a mental problem?

Education represents around 15% of our federal budget. Last I heard, that was around $400 billion dollars, give or take, and spends about $25,000/yr. per public school student, and even more in some areas. That's a lot of money, and every year, we throw ever more money at it, and yet our scores against other industrialized nations keep falling.
Part of it is the fact that it was taken out of the hands of the state and local governments---where our students flourished for over 200 years---and in 1979, was usurped by the Feds. It's been all downhill, from there.
"If it ain't broke, fix it, anyway"; that's the government's motto.

Remember a couple years back, when Mark Zuckerberg donated $100 million to that school district in NJ, the worst in the country? They were already paying $50,000/student, with those results.
It's not the money, it's the mindset; the teacher's unions gave up truly caring about the kids years ago. Now it's about political power and keeping as many teachers as possible employed in as small a classroom as possible. Somehow, we went from having 40 or 50 kids to one teacher in one-room schoolhouses 100 years ago, to 20-25 kids, or less, today, and we've gotten dumber.
And that's the other part; classroms used to be education centers, where students used to be taught history and the 3-R's, along with personal responsibilty and self-motivation, individualism, civic-mindedness, and patriotism,
Nowadays, classroms have gone from that, to being to indoctrination and re-education centers, where students are subtly taught the virtues of Socialism, big government and its largesse, diversity--where all are equal, no matter their contributions to society--and to implicitly trust the infallibility of science and Big Brother, to the exclusion of all else, including God.
That's our problem.

Nonsense....Kool-Aid, anyone?
Bush had a 4.7% unemployment rate until the (Democrat-supported--I'll be happy to explain that to you, if necessray) housing market collapsed in 2007, and the stock market rose almost steadliy, from 2001-02 to about the same time.
One reason wages are dropping, is because unions have forced industry to go overseas, in order to make a profit. Companies exist to make money, not to simply employ as many people as possible, at the most exhorbitant rate of pay and perks as possible. union have shot themselves in the foot, and are suffering lower membership rates, because people are wising up. That's why they're so supportive of Obama; he wants "card check", and to give the illegals amnesty, which would allow the unions to admit them and get their roles back up.
Years ago, they, unions, did not support amnesty for illegals, because they said the Mexicans were taking American jobs. It's all about money and political power, now, though, not protetcing the workers, and the workers who use their eyes, ears and brains know it.
Republicans often don't vote for Obama's "jobs programs" because they're not supposed to.
"Poison pills"--laws or regulations which Republicans would not support--are often inserted into, and buried in, bills as "riders"--giving the Democrats propaganda; cause, to point to them and say "see how they are?! We're trying, and they won't go along! Evil Republicans!" The stimulus and Obamacare bills, for example were stuffed with these.
It's a petty tactic, in a 3-ring circus called "politics", and both sides do use it as a tactic, but the Democrats have turned it into an art form, and maoinly do use it simply as a propaganda tool. That's why the TEA Party supports "One law, one bill". This would remove that as a tactic, be a solution to the problem.
The tactic works more often for the Democrats but not Republicans, simply because the "objective" media isn't on the Repubs side.