Quote of the Week

Comes from Dean at BwD, commenting on the confluence of racialism, radicalism and re-distributionism from the likes of La Raza:

However, the larger backdrop is a set of people who through racial guilt, intimidation and victimization are waging a war of "social justice" against those who hold dear the rule of law, property rights, freedom of speech and a belief that this country is not great because of its diversity but rather this country is diverse because of its greatness.

Thanks Dean, for putting it in perspective. I tend to be a little tone deaf to the political undercurrents of cultural phenomena, so I have mostly ignored controversies like the kids kicked out of school for wearing American flags on Cinco de Mayo (which Dean also skewers.) I prefer to examine issues through the lenses of economics, constitutionality and law. But the cultural phenomena are important, because they are symbols of a broader struggle and capture the public attention and imagination in ways that pure policy discussions do not.

A couple of asides on this controversy. First, I thought kids were supposed to go to school to learn. What the heck kind of dress code allows display of any logos? My youngest son's school has a dress for success code that bans all logos, advertising, of all varieties. That school should prepare students for participation in the work force is a key theory of the school's director. He has a PhD in education, but displays heaps of common sense anyway.

Second, the fuss seems a little overblown. If one school out of hundreds of thousands has a problem on Cinco de Mayo, considering all of the current controversy over illegal immigration, then we're actually doing pretty well. Kudos to the school board, who didn't back the vice principal on this one as well. One guy made a mistake, let's all move along. A statement from the district:

The district does not concur with the Live Oak High School administration's interpretation of either board or district policy related to these actions.

Exactly, if you can wear a Mexican flag, you can wear an American one. Stupid policies have to be content neutral in this great land of ours. Just one more reason to shut down the public school system and fully privatize the provisioning of education.