No Choice
A poll on school choice gives too few choices.

By John J. Miller & Ramesh Ponnuru
August 23, 2001 5:30 p.m.

he political obstacles to school choice are not to be underestimated, and we’ve given them attention. But the obstacles can be overestimated too. They will be overestimated by anyone who takes seriously a new poll from Phi Delta Kappa. The poll’s major finding: People like the existing public-school system just fine, thank you, and would rather reform it (72 percent) than seek alternatives to it by (24 percent).

The poll question doesn’t let school-choice supporters give the answer that most of them would be happiest giving: that creating alternatives to the public schools is a way of improving them. Support for choice would rise substantially if choice were presented as a prerequisite for public-school reform, or at least as a component of it, rather than as an alternative to it. And even PDK’s poll finds that 52 percent of public-school parents favor “allow[ing] parents to send their school-age children to any public, private, or church-related school they choose,” with the government paying for all or part of the tuition in the latter two cases.

Panning Pot
The conservative columnist Don Feder has figured out why National Review opposes the war on marijuana. It’s not the traditional libertarian fear of federal power. It’s not the traditional conservative skepticism about utopian projects, not concern about the unintended consequences of seemingly benign policies, not the belief that the state tries to do too many things that are better handled by families and communities. It’s because NR’s editors want to “look cool.”

He writes, “Why are some conservatives, like the National Review crowd, taking the magical mystery tour? Beating the drums for legalization makes them look cool-or so they think. It’s a way of gaining acceptance in a culture whose institutions are controlled by the ’60s generation. In its first issue, the editors of National Review said they intended to stand athwart the course of history, shouting, ‘Halt.’ Now, they’re standing there with a joint in one hand, a copy of High Times in the other and a Beavis and Butt-head grin, asking, ‘Heh, heh, what’s happenin’, man?’”

Some critics demand detailed refutation. Some demand witty put-downs. And sometimes, the only thing to say is: What an idiot.