I'm not sure where you got that I don't like our partially socialized economy.
Anybody with an ounce of common sense or a semester of Econ 101 understands that a completely and toatally free market economy will fail from corruption.
HOWEVER, your utopia where everyone sings koombayah, passes the pipe, and lives in socialist squalor will also fail, also from corruption.
Common sense tells us that a mix of the systems is best. History teaches this lesson too.
Pinko commies like to conveniently forget the massive FAIL that was the USSR, Cuba, AND China UNTIL she experienced some free market reform.
So I guess my point is.....the arguement once we establish that a mix of the sytems is indeed best then centers around WHAT mix.
You favor the mix leaning more heavily towards socialism. I favor it leaning more towards capitalism.
Fine.
It really is a matter of whether you'd like to be gouged by the government or gouged by corporations.
My experience has been you can fight corporations. You can't fight government.
Nor has government proved to me that it can run ANYTHING efficiently. See DMV, post office, VA hospital, etc etc.
Now we arrive back at the schooling issue.
It's a sticky wicket.
You simply can't afford to fund EVERYONE'S pet project. Even one as important as education. That is why I favor limiting the freebies up to a point.
With a 9 trillion dollar deficit (thanks to our friends on BOTH sides of the aisle), a rapidly declining dollar, an entitlement society, and a policy of empire making/hegemony (thank you GWB, the dumbest prez in a long time).....we have A LOT to pay for in the upcoming years.
I don't know when, but SOMEDAY we have to say "enough is enough".
Sadly, tough choices on curbing spending and allowing people to invest/spend rather than get taxed eternally MUST be made.
I WISH education would be the last thing on the chopping block.
We simply must make hard choices, and I believe one of the choices needs to be making people pay for their own higher education. Whether that is NOW in the case of the rich, or later in the case of the poor.