Utah Leads on Federalism

Utah is reported to be considering legislation to reject "Federal funds" and set their own school standards. As today's Federalist also noted (scroll down to "in other news"):

What needs to be appreciated is the principle at work here: The federal
government doesn't have any real constitutional authority when it
comes to the education of children. But as Utah's legislature is on the
verge of proving, a fiscally responsible state can simply say "no" to
federal money and set its own standards. Colorado, Idaho, North Dakota,
and Virginia -- among others -- are all considering challenges to the
Act. Let's hope Utah leads the way in defense of federalism.

I still don't understand why Bush (and the Republicans in congress) don't pull the plug on the unconstitutional Department of Education, especially considering that it was nothing more than the *Nasty Little Man's gift to the NEA. Not only is it constitutionally the right thing to do, but it's politically smart. I used to think that the NEA was a wholly-owned subsidiary of the DNC. It turns out I was wrong.

It's the reverse.

So when you cut the NEA's funding, you take away a giant source of funding to the DNC (the NEA collects over a billion dollars a year in dues), plus a huge army of political workers which is larger than the staff of both major political parties combined.

*New readers: I'm talking about Jimmy Carter