Government Favors Aren't

Correctly noting that, "the political left's avowed concern for minorities [is being] definitively exposed as a fraud", Thomas Sowell details its war on charter schools.

The autonomy of charter schools is also a threat to the powers that be, who want to impose their own vision on the schools, regardless of what the parents want. Attorney General Eric Holder wants to impose his own notion of racial balance in the schools, while many black parents want their children to learn, regardless of whether they are seated next to a white child or a black child. There have been all-black schools whose students met or exceeded national norms in education, whether in Louisiana, California or other places around the country. But Eric Holder, like Bill de Blasio, put his ideology above the education -- and the future life -- of minority students.

Sowell also observes that, "public schools are often run as if their main function is to provide jobs to teachers". Consider this an in-depth example of  how leftists judge any of their initiatives. George Will recently hit the nail on the head with regard to their criteria:

Viewed through the proper prism, most liberal policies succeed because they can hardly fail. Each achieves one or both of two objectives -- making liberals feel good about themselves and being good to liberal candidates.

Perhaps one strategy for stopping the left in its tracks might be to expose more of its accomplishments as being at odds with its stated goals. But for this to work, most voters would have to have a sincere interest in achieving the goals their candidates say they are going to achieve. (I think ths would ultimately involve them electing candidates who would get government out of the way.) This would include not being in on the game, and disdaining the "free" goodies they are being bribed with long enough to see where their true, long-term interests lie. Above all it would entail recognizing that no favor comes without strings attached. If your kid gets educated as a "favor", the Eric Holders of the world will educate them on their terms. If you pay for it yourself, it will be on your terms. Which is the better deal?

Until conservatives see that and appeal to the better nature of voters, rather than competing to pander to them, the various schemes the left has in place are quite likely to keep on "succeeding".

-- CAV