Courts may allow vouchers, but will voters approve it?

While Republicans are still celebrating the recent Supreme Court decision which, they believe, has inaugurated the Age of School Vouchers, let us remember that vouchers have been repeatedly rejected when brought before the electorate. Just last year Bret Schundler made vouchers the centerpiece of his New Jersey gubernatorial campaign, and went down to flaming defeat. Though Schundler is considered to be very bright, the fact is that vouchers have always been a typical mark of the Stupid Party. Even the New York Times pointed out after the election that suburban New Jersey Republicans did not want poor blacks flooding their schools. Schundler’s low-brow Democratic opponent Jim McGreevey apparently understood this. High-minded Schundler did not. The problem with Republican party “thinkers” is that they actually take the liberal goal of racial equality seriously. The Democrats, at least at the level of retail politics, know it’s all about payoffs and managing symbolism and resentment.
Posted by Lawrence Auster at July 07, 2002 01:45 PM | Send