Message to Mike Moon: "I pay taxes" is not ringing endorsement of public education

Reading through the Joplin Globe article on the debate between Republican Michael Moon and Democrat Charles Dake in the 157th District brings back memories of Moon's unsuccessful candidacies for the Seventh District Congressional seat.

Moon always talked glowingly of his wife and his "five homeschooled children." The wording never varied in the times I saw him in person, at the Farm Bureau event at Memorial Hall in Carthage, the watermelon feed at Big Spring Park in Neosho, or at the candidate debate at Missouri Southern State University.

It was never "my wife and children," or "my wife and my five children," it was always "my wife and my five homeschooled children."

The same phrasing was used in all of Moon's news releases, including this one, which I printed in the July 29, 2010, Turner Report.

In the July 20, 2010, Turner Report, I commented on Moon's continued emphasis on homeschooling:

Perhaps it is just because I am a public schoolteacher, but Moon's comments about how well he had done homeschooling his children didn't sit well with me. There is absolutely nothing wrong with homeschooling and many children have thrived in such situations, but to talk about how cheap, but to talk about how cost effective it is really seemed out of place in this forum.

Moon certainly had every legal right to teach his children at home.

But when he is asked about his support of public education and he says he supports it because "I pay taxes," it is an indication that those who support public education may have yet another problem on their hands if Mike Moon joins the House of Representatives.

Those looking for more information on how Mike Moon stands on education and other issues will not find any help on Moon's website. He devotes one sentence to each issue.

On education, he says, he "opposes federal takeover of local schools."

That does not tell us anything about Moon other than that he, like many of the people with whom he wants to serve in Jefferson City, plans to serve with the same 10th Amendment mindset that has kept the last few legislatures from accomplishing anything.

Moon and Dake are the candidates in a special election next month to succeed Rep. Don Ruzicka, R-Mt. Vernon, who resigned after being appointed to a state government position.