"I was shocked to discover a few years ago that half the income of the state of Missouri came from the Federal Government."

Why were you shocked? More than a few states have massive net inflows of Federal tax dollars, while others have massive net outflows.

Alaska has consistently been at the top of the net-inflow-of-Federal-tax-dollars lists. That's in addition to the state tax revenues on oil and other mining. Remember the former Alaska governor who talked so much about independence? I guess financial independence wasn't on her list...

"if people think that the public schools are failing their kids, yes they should be able to send their kids to private school"

Nobody is stopping them.

"and, yes, they should get the tax money they're paying for public schools back....."

Why? They're not the only ones paying school taxes.

If I don't have a fire, can I get back the taxes I paid to support the local fire department? If I never use the local parks, can I get those taxes back? If I don't watch baseball or football, can I get back the tax dollars spent to build the new stadiums?

The problem is that Adam Smith's view was based on the idea that individuals would think about long-term self interest. But thinking long-term isn't in fashion any more.

"During World War II, every able-bodied man stepped up to the plate to wear the uniform."

Not really. There was still a draft; it was needed to meet manpower requirements.

"Even though both men and women are eligible to serve today, our volunteer military must beat the bushes and offer material benefits to meet its recruiting targets."

That changed because of Vietnam.

In WW2, Americans knew we'd been directly attacked, knew who the bad guys were, and knew what had to be done to stop them. The goal was simple: Unconditional surrender.

As occupied territory was liberated, Allied soldiers were cheered as liberators, not ambushed. There was abundant evidence of the necessity for the war from liberated death camps and records of what the enemy had done, and would do.

When the Axis powers surrendered, their people accepted the occupation and got on with the job of rebuilding. They did not attack their former enemy.

They interviewed the owner, and he said the stores would reopen as burger joints again. Only this time, they'd use domestic beef from Iceland.

The problem is that McD has exacting corporate requirements. Local beef couldn't meet them, imported cost too much.

"Pennsylvania law requires school districts to provide the same transportation regardless of whether a student attends private or public school. This has been a boon to Philadelphia's private schools."

Yes, it has. But not all states are like The Commonwealth. And there's probably a distance limit.

"There's a Catholic private school near where my parents live which, based on the rows of buses lined up waiting to whisk the kids home at the end of the day, draws students from outlying areas because the parents don't have to arrange transportation."

"Outlying areas" varies with location. In the city, or inner-ring 'burbs like Upper Darby, you can find a lot of kids in a 2 or 3 mile radius. In rural areas, you might find a couple.

"They've got nuns out their with bull horns directing traffic! It's much better organized that schools where kids are picked up individually by their parents."

Well of course; IHM nuns make freight trains take dirt roads. As Big Daddy Graham said: 'they're what the dinosaurs feared'.

Personal favorite (thanks Robert Klein) is how, during Cold War air-raid drills, the nuns would line the kids up in descending-height order, girls first, two lines, NO TALKING. If there was to be a nuclear holocaust, it would be an ORDERLY nuclear holocaust.

Sister would be taking names.

"As for vouchers, it opens the door to fly by night operations interested in the $$$ but not accountable for the education they provide....Vouchers also consign kids whose parents are unwilling, or unable, to find other opportunities to failure through neglect."

All good points.

"Who's gonna want to teach them?"

They will wind up in the public schools, same as now.

I don't know if it's still common, but the parochial schools used to put up billboards saying how they did a better job than the public schools, for less money, based on the spending-per-student. But what they DIDN'T say was:

- They get to pick and choose who they admitted, so the kids who need special ed, are discipline problems, have physical, emotional or learning disabilities are excluded. Meanwhile, the public school's cost-per-student is driven up by those same excluded students and their needs. If an IEP team, or the courts, decide that a child needs a special-ed placement that costs the district $30,000 a year, the district simply has to come up with the money. The private schools can just say "Sorry".

- Once they reach full enrollment, they can simply close the door. Public schools have to add classroom capacity, hire more teachers, etc.

- They pay less and accept less qualified teachers

- They get freebies like transportation from the state

What vouchers would really do is to make it easier for SOME parents to send SOME kids to private schools - at the expense of ALL taxpayers.