Twenty years ago this week, a great triumph in human history occurred. The Berlin Wall fell, marking the end of communist rule in the USSR and Warsaw Pact countries.

At its worst, communism enslaved millions and killed millions more. Regardless of who you credit with tearing the wall down, the fact that totalitarianism was defeated was a great moment in human history.

On the other hand

If you haven't read Pat Lowry's editorial about Schools for Fair Funding from Sunday's paper, read it. If you have, read it again. I can't say any of it better than he did. The inaptly named Schools for Fair Funding want to waste state money defending a lawsuit that will cripple the state even further. It's a bad sign that people think the move is a good one.

Funny money

Apparently we've become so comfortable with the government using phony money to pay for things that we think there's an endless supply. If the lawsuit goes through, the defense costs will drain the state revenues that much more. So then schools will get even less money.

Who wants to cut off their noses to spite their faces? If you do, join this lawsuit.

The answer

You might be shocked to hear my answer to the school funding mess, considering my libertarian bent: Raise taxes. No matter who you are, there is one thing that government needs to provide and ought to fund it well: education. I don't want my tax dollars going to wasteful things, but I'll gladly pay to fund a solid educational system. We have local schools operating on shoestrings and colleges that are forcing ever higher tuitions on students because the state Legislature won't fund them at reasonable levels.

So if the state refuses to move money into education from the existing budget, they've got to bring more money in. The core problem is a lack of political will in Topeka, and no lawsuit will change that. Regardless, if we do nothing else, we ought to pay for our kids' educations.

Chapman Rackaway is an associate professor of political science at Fort Hays State University.