It's a sign of the times that the Ventura County Board of Education is spending over a quarter-million dollars on lobbyists in Sacramento and Washington, D.C.

Lobbyists for public schools, can you imagine that?

Back in the good old days, elected officials acted in the best interests of public schools without intermediaries. It just "came with the territory" that state legislators and congressmen took care of public schools.

Now things are different.

It takes money to make things work at the state and federal levels, and that's absurd. Public education should be a top priority of anyone in politics.

Apparently it isn't.

Maybe it's because private schools have lobbyists, and you have to fight fire with fire.

With so much money being poured into the pockets of lobbyists, you have to wonder: Are politicians running things or are lobbyists?

Capitalism and democracy work well together, as long as one doesn't overpower the other. If money buys too much influence in government, the interests of the people become secondary to big business.

On the other hand, if elected officials ignore Wall Street, the government moves toward socialism.

Like so many things, it's balance that matters.

It isn't good, however, when lobbyists are needed for public education.

Pretty soon, we'll need lobbyists for everything--even lobbyists for lobbyists.