I’m struck by a theme running through the stories I’m reading and hearing about today. It boils down to this: choose your battles carefully because too many people simply reject facts and common sense when they get in the way of their emotional and/or bureaucratic arguments.
For example:
Orange County health officials, backed by the state, are thwarting cooking schools who are providing a service people want. Orange officials say the schools are really restaurants, and that means a special permit and expensive equipment. Silly.
The NC NAACP wants the federal Department of Justice and Department of Education to stop the Wake County school board from jettisoning an economic diversity policy that has delivered abysmal graduation results for the economically disadvantaged kids it was designed to help. Sad.
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) is proposing reforms that would, among other things, move the Social Security system toward solvency. Watch what happens when he tries to discuss the facts and his plan. Predictable.
