Education Secretary Butchers Famous Ronald Reagan Quote
Miguel Cardona is from the government, and he’s ‘here to help.’
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona is in hot water after misquoting one of the late President Ronald Reagan’s most well-known statements regarding government interference in the lives of Americans.
While speaking at the 2023 Winter Meeting for the Western Governors’ Association in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Secretary Cardona addressed the importance of providing schools with technical assistance and resources. While trying to emphasize that his department was willing and waiting to help governors tackle educational hurdles in their states, Cordona paraphrased the former President, unknowingly creating an ironic mistake.
“I think it was President Reagan who said, ‘We’re from the government. We’re here to help,'” Cordona said. The late President Reagan’s actual statement was a bit more nuanced:
“The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”
President Ronald Reagan
Social media users gave the Education Secretary, who has earned bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees, as well as two “advanced leadership certifications,” a “failing grade.”
“I actually find it chef’s kiss perfect that the Education Secretary is this ignorant of history,” Mollie Hemingway wrote on X. “They’re not sending their best,” Konstantin Kisin also joked.
Corey DeAngelis, an outspoken proponent of school choice, added, “he went to public school.”
“The Lack of Education Secretary,” another X user quipped.
Neither Secretary Cardona nor the Department of Education have commented on the mistake as of yet.
“I’ve never seen it where it is now,” Cardona explained. “I don’t have too much respect for people that are misbehaving in public and acting like they know what’s right for kids,” he said in reference to the movement of parents who have begun attending their local school district board meetings. His statement outraged parents around the country.
