Charter schools, Vouchers, and religious schools now getting public funds contribute no small measure of the road to autocracy, away from democracy which needs a public school system teaching certain shared values with which we all approach the solution of problems of state.

The privatization of public schools by Gates, Koch Bros, Waltons, Voss's and any number of lesser privateers seeking to increase their fortunes by accumulating the profits gleaned from public taxes is an ugly, getting uglier, force wielded by individuals not interested in the welfare of the community as defined by our constitution.

And all to often we read there are downright crooks among them. Their schools fail.  their students are uprooted shamelessly.

The march away from a bona fide democracy continues.  I worry about the world my grandchildren and great grandchildren will inherit.  It won't be the one I and others defended in the service of our country, many represented by headstones at Arlington.

Autocracy here will prove to be no different here than that in Venezuela, Russia, and others whose citizens are nothing more than a dependable bank of labor, and not well paid to boot.