Apparently, the editors of the News & Observer will start identifying “the enemy.”  In an editorial published today, they write,

Darrell Allison, head of Parents for Educational Freedom in North Carolina, is a nice fellow and a true believer in his cause. Unfortunately, his cause is giving taxpayer money to parents to apply toward private schools.

The truth is that the school choice movement consists of many individuals and groups in North Carolina and beyond.  They have been working to make school choice a reality in North Carolina for decades.  So why mention Darrell at all?  Here are a few theories:

  • The Rules for Radicals theory: “Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.”
  • The Ben Carson theory: A black male who espouses a view shared by conservatives is a traitor to his race.
  • The Blueprint NC theory: “Eviscerate, Mitigate, Litigate, Cogitate and Agitate (“Lose Forward”)”
  • The News & Observer’s editorial page is an embarrassment theory.  Ok, this is not a theory anymore.
I invite the editors of the News & Observer to identify me and my colleagues in their editorials.  I guarantee that some of us are not “nice fellows” and will not tolerate personal attacks by folks who hide comfortably in their anonymity.