[LRB]

Education should be primarily be the state and local governments concerns, most especially below the secondary education level. If education is so damned important, and I believe it to be so, then we should administer it's funding at a level where the people can participate and have a highly vested interest in it's use. This is not possible doing it through the federal government. Many communities have many different needs in education and a behemouth like the federal government does not have the flexibility to meet those needs the same as our state and especially local governments do. Kiki's article above is a fine example of how the federal system is continually exploited.

Now it we look at our national defense. The federal government is the only reasonable entity to adminster this. So it makes sense. Also without defense to keep terrorist from blowing up schools, we'll need one hell of a lot more funds to keep rebuilding them.

This is not a case of defense versus education. It is a case of adjustion priorities to meet the current needs and assigning them to the entities best qualified to provide for the public good.