Gilbert Gutknecht: “I think the two fundamental questions, and this comes up in my town meetings as well, and I am sure you hear it, and it…”

“I think the two fundamental questions, and this comes up in my town meetings as well, and I am sure you hear it, and it comes down to two very important questions. The first question is who decides? Is it going to be the Federal Government or is it going to be decided by local units of government and, more importantly, by families? And second, and I think it is almost the same question, but who knows best? And I think an attitude has developed here in Washington, and I agree that is one of the reasons they sent so many of us here in the last election cycle, was that the attitude that had developed here in Washington that Washington knows best, whether you are talking about raising broccoli or raising kids, there is this attitude that somehow Washington knows best. I think it was exemplified a few months ago in a hearing in the Senate when one of the education experts ultimately said to one of the Senators that he really felt that he cared more about children than the average parent. And the Senator finally stopped him and he said, well, if you care more about my kids than I do, then please tell me their names. And when you get right down to it, the truth of the matter is parents care more about kids than bureaucrats and it really is a question of who decides and who knows best. And we have tried to say that we think families know best.”