Is anyone in Washington smarter than a 12th-grader?

I'm very proud of my daughter Dakota. She is a 17-year-old high school senior who has been home-schooled since birth -- literally. She has never seen the inside of a classroom. The results? She has attained perfect SAT test scores, has become a world-class athlete (representing her country at World Cup fencing events) and puts every politician in America to shame with levels of intelligence and common sense rarely seen within the city limits of Washington, D.C.

But it is her political views that I believe America desperately needs to hear. Dakota and I watched the evening news together the last few nights -- now there's something you'd hear only from a home-school family. Her observations led me to realize that no one in Washington has either the intelligence or commonsense of a 12th grader.

Dakota's first thought was so simple it was brilliant. We watched a news story on the failing U.S. Postal Service and its projected $200 billion shortfall over the next decade. Their brilliant solution: ending Saturday mail delivery. Dakota remarked, "But dad, they did not even mention cutting jobs, or cutting salaries, or reducing pensions, or making retirees pay something for their own health care? This is nothing but a Band-Aid. It will never work."

A 12th grader figured it all out. I propose putting Dakota Root in charge of the U.S. Postal Service. Trust me, it could only produce a dramatic improvement.

Next up: Health care reform. Dakota and I together watched the news that Congress had just passed the historic ObamaCare bill. Dakota had a few crucial questions that no one in Washington bothered to answer. "Dad, why would we hand health care to the same people (government) that have managed the Postal Service into bankruptcy? How is it possible that the same people who are projecting more than $200 billion in losses for the Postal Service will now run health care without losing billions ... or trillions?

"If free health care for retirees of the Postal Service is busting the budget, how can we afford free health care for everyone? How can we add more than 30 million new people to the health care rolls without adding trillions of dollars in cost? Also, where has universal health care been a successful program? If our medical system is so terrible now, why do Canadian citizens come here for treatment? This whole bill defies reason. Someone is obviously lying to us."

Dakota was just getting warmed up: "Dad, if government-run health care really lowers costs, how come Massachusetts is experiencing gigantic health care increases after the government took over? If government knows how to keep costs down, why do New York and New Jersey have the strictest government regulation over health care in the nation, and also the highest health insurance rates in the country -- double the national average? Wouldn't that suggest that our national rates will also double after the government takes over? Did they just say that the new health care bill gives more power to the IRS? Why would anyone want the IRS to have more control over our lives?"

Why, indeed.

Then Dakota cut to the heart of the welfare ... oops, I mean health care ... issue. She asked, "Dad, I heard Obama himself say that Medicare and Medicaid are in fact threatening to eat up our entire federal budget and bankrupt our country. Since Medicare and Medicaid are already run by the government, why would President Obama want the government to take over the entire health care industry? Wouldn't that bankrupt our country even faster? Also why would anyone believe the same politicians who have mismanaged the budget? If government were a private sector business, wouldn't we fire these politicians?"

Fire them? Dakota's dad thinks we should put them all in prison for fraud, mismanagement and theft of taxpayer money.

But wait, Dakota wasn't through just yet. She had a few more observations for the spineless, brainless politicians in Washington, D. C. "Our government is running a deficit approaching $2 trillion ... we have a $12 trillion national debt ... we obviously don't have any more money to spend. So why is President Obama pushing for one of the most expensive government programs in history, during the middle of the worst economic recession since the Great Depression? My generation, and every following generation, is responsible for paying this bill, but we haven't even been asked if we accept this crushing burden of debt."

Dakota headed for the finish line with the gold medal question: "Dad, is any of this constitutional? Where in the Constitution does it mention health care? Where does the Constitution state that government can force Americans to buy health insurance, thereby handing billions of dollars in profits to private companies? Are any of these companies that will benefit, by gaining 30 million new customers, perhaps campaign contributors to President Obama? Why is that legal?"

Why, indeed.

Dakota Root for president.

Wayne Allyn Root, the 2008 vice presidential candidate on the Libertarian ticket, is a Fox News regular guest and the author of, "The Conscience of a Libertarian: Empowering the Citizen Revolution with God, Guns, Gambling & Tax Cuts." He writes from Henderson.