Poster from the Blind Side

Last week, I saw the Blind Side, the new movie about Michael Oher, and loved it. As a sports tearjerker about SEC football*, it’s one of my favorite movies this year.  My favorite line was when Sean Tuohy comments, “Who’d have thought we would adopt a black son before we’d meet a Democrat.”

Last  night, 20/20 did a special on Michael Oher and the Tuohy family, who adopted him. The special is inspiring and makes you want to cry. As I watched it, I couldn’t help but think that if Christians lived our faith the way we should, these stories would be the norm and not the unusual. Hollywood wouldn’t make inspiring movies like this because they would be common, everyday experiences.

Oher’s story is a testament that education and parental involvement are the keys to success compared to government programs. While Oher succeeded, it’s sad to know that the first African-American president eliminated this opportunity for hundreds of low-income students when the DC Opportunity Scholars program was axed. The Wall Street Journal doesn’t mince words when discussing Obama’s involvement, or rather uninvolvement (his version of voting “present” in helping kids with worst backgrounds than him):

Let’s call them Sidwell Liberals, after the famous Washington, D.C., school where President and Mrs. Obama send their daughters. Despite this personal experience, Mr. Obama signed into law a provision passed by Congress that shuts down Washington D.C.’s voucher program, depriving 1,700 disadvantaged kids of the chance to escape failing public schools through the use of scholarships that let them attend private schools. Two of them attend Sidwell Friends School with the Obama girls.

Our public school system has failed nationally. If it was working, there wouldn’t be Michael Oher stories. There would be no demand for private school scholarships in DC. Government programs have failed. If these programs were successful, American school children wouldn’t be falling futher and futher behind. DC spends more money per student than any other state, yet dumping money into programs doesn’t work. Having volunteered with organizations working with DC youth, I’ve seen how horrible these schools are. I used to live near one of the better public schools in DC. That school would have been the “bad school” in nearly any other school district in America.

What does work? Individuals taking responsibility to help kids. Public-private partnerships like the DC Opportunity Scholars. Parents working with their kids and not dumping them into the lap of Uncle Sam for childcare. The system is broken. It won’t be fixed by expanding it but dramatically changing it.

Because Christians aren’t helping our communities, the government has stepped in. Bureaucracies will never be able to fix social issues, but individuals can. If we stopped growing government and started living out our faith, success stories would become the norm.

*Since I bleed orange, I loved the cameos with Coach Fulmer. I was upset by the way that my alma mater treated him, and it was nice to see him on screen. If I ever get a chance to meet the Tuhoys, I may have words with the way Lee Anne treats the Vols. As a Christian and a conservative, I respect her, but she’s sadly misguided with her football loyalties. Of course I am biased here. My entire family went to LSU, and I was raised to despise Ole Miss. One of the last things my grandfather said before he died was that the Devil lived in Oxford, Mississippi.