By fitsnews – February 2, 2009
His political career may be over – at least for the foreseeable future – but former State Treasurer Thomas Ravenel still rolls right.
Specifically, to the right – which is real estate fewer and fewer Republicans seem willing to occupy with each passing year.
And while he’ll perhaps always be best remembered (ridiculed) for the cocaine bust that cost him his job in 2007, Ravenel’s personal mistakes never interfered with his consistent advocacy on behalf of the taxpayers.
He’s also been a consistent supporter of choice in the education marketplace, as evidenced by what we hope will be the first of several “Thomas’ history lessons” that he’s offering over on his Facebook page:
History is clear on this issue. Our college system (although in no small part paid for by gov’t but not run by gov’t) is the envy of the world. America is home to 17 of the top 20 institutions on the planet. On the other hand our gov’t run k-12 system is the laughing stock of the world.
From the beginning of civilization we have learned this lesson. Take two of the earliest rival nations. The ancient Greeks and Sparta. The Greeks had a free market educational system and Sparta had a state run system. The Greeks gave us mathematics, astronomy, tragedy, poetry, comedy and philosophy. Of course we all know what the Spartans gave us: the name of a lot of high school football programs!
True that.
Say what you want about T-Rav, but he handled his drug problem, his public trial and his prison sentence with tremendous class – acknowledging his addiction, getting the help he needed and accepting both responsibility for his actions as well as the punishment accompanying those actions.
He may not be filling a public office anytime soon (or ever), but you don’t have to be an elected official to make a difference in the political process.
Personally, we hope to see more of T-Rav in the arena in the months and years to come.
