Monday, December 04, 2006
Big News Day
A trio of interesting articles in today's Washington Post so let's link them all together.
First, Sabastian Mallaby writes about Brink Lindsey's column in The New Republic questioning whether libertarians should abandon the Republican Party for the Democrats. Brink Lindsey is head of research for the Cato Institute.
Of course, it is easy for libertarians to be mad at Republicans because the party seems to have abandoned its efforts to make government smaller and to reduce taxes and regulations. And libertarians share with Democrats an opposition to the Iraq war. But libertarians will never be able to side with a party that wants to use the government to intervene in all aspects of everyday life, such as . . .
education. Today the Supreme Court will hear a case in which a couple of school districts have been using race, not for affirmative action, but to decide who can attend various schools with goal of improving integration. Consistent with its liberal leanings the editors of the Washington Post come out in favor of these plans. Libertarians understand that if we want to really end discrimination in this country we need to stop all decision making that calls attention to the color of one's skin.
Finally, Jacqueline Salmon profiles the Cesar Chavez Public Charter High School for Public Policy in terms of a recent grant the school received from the Gates Foundation. Here is one school, just like the William E. Doar, Jr. Public Charter School for the Performing Arts, that struggles to bring academically disadvantaged kids up to grade level and beyond. These schools, as I pointed out in my recent letter in the Washington Times, came about due to the libertarian idea of school choice, a concept which liberals have ferociously fought as many send their children to private schools to avoid people of color.
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First, Sabastian Mallaby writes about Brink Lindsey's column in The New Republic questioning whether libertarians should abandon the Republican Party for the Democrats. Brink Lindsey is head of research for the Cato Institute.
Of course, it is easy for libertarians to be mad at Republicans because the party seems to have abandoned its efforts to make government smaller and to reduce taxes and regulations. And libertarians share with Democrats an opposition to the Iraq war. But libertarians will never be able to side with a party that wants to use the government to intervene in all aspects of everyday life, such as . . .
education. Today the Supreme Court will hear a case in which a couple of school districts have been using race, not for affirmative action, but to decide who can attend various schools with goal of improving integration. Consistent with its liberal leanings the editors of the Washington Post come out in favor of these plans. Libertarians understand that if we want to really end discrimination in this country we need to stop all decision making that calls attention to the color of one's skin.
Finally, Jacqueline Salmon profiles the Cesar Chavez Public Charter High School for Public Policy in terms of a recent grant the school received from the Gates Foundation. Here is one school, just like the William E. Doar, Jr. Public Charter School for the Performing Arts, that struggles to bring academically disadvantaged kids up to grade level and beyond. These schools, as I pointed out in my recent letter in the Washington Times, came about due to the libertarian idea of school choice, a concept which liberals have ferociously fought as many send their children to private schools to avoid people of color.
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