Conservation. Conservative. Hmm, interesting that they have the same root. I'm all for being conservative, and practicing sensible conservation. But if I don't want to ride around in a super light car made of recycled soda cans, then that's up to mee.
It's really difficult for me to be a republican, even though I'm conservative. Because I think the republicans have forgotten what conservatism is as well. Again, I go back to, did government pay for Edison's education, Belle's? And poor Obama, bless his heart, but the government did not invent the computer. We don't need more federal money in education. We need less. The colleges will just raise prices even more if they know that the infinite empty pockets of government is paying for it. Then, eventually, nobody will pay for their own college, the government will just pay for all of it. Great.

I have to use some assistive technology on my computer. I use a program called Jaws which turns the text on the screen into synthetic speech. A copy of jaws now costs more than a copy of Windows. Granted, it's pretty advanced technology and it has a small market compared to windows. But, what makes it so expensive is also the fact that it is government agencies that pay for the software for most blind people. All the various vocational rehab agencies and other state aid agencies are paying for this software for these people. And most blind people, who are not working, consider it a right. The irony is,
the word Jaws, stands for "Job Access with Speech".
"job" access. But most people using it don't have jobs. But it's too expensive for them to buy, so either they get the government to pay for it, or they hack it and download it from torrents.
I personally don't believe this program would cost as much if the developers knew the government wasn't writing the check. Lately, they've been spending all their time suing their competition for alleged patent violations.

I'm not against government programs like this entirely, I got quite a bit of aid from my Vocational Rehav agency. But for every person like me that it helped, it has also enabled a few others to accomplish nothing. My uncle was also given a lot of aid through VR and he's the biggest drunk in my home town, who accomplishes absolutely nothing.

My point is kind of meandering, but I guess it boils down to this. Whether or not I got VR aid, I'd have figured out a way to accomplish my goals. And whether or not my uncle gets VR aid, he isn't going to accomplish anything. So I don't think government investing more billions into the education system or any other system for that matter is going to make a huge difference. It has to do with the character of the people more than anything else.