THE FOUR Rs :

Retrograde on School Choice (Nathan J. Diament, August 22, 2002, Washington Post)

Organizations such as the ACLU, the American Jewish Congress and the NAACP properly pride themselves on fighting religious, racial and ethnic bigotry wherever it is found. Thus it is deeply troubling that in their determination to thwart school choice programs, these champions of equality would resort to invoking state constitutional provisions whose lineage lies in the sullied era of 19th-century bigotry against Catholics.

I am referring to the "Blaine Amendments" adopted in many states in the late 1800s. One of these -- in Florida -- was the basis on which a trial judge recently struck down the state's school choice program at the behest of "civil liberties" organizations.

The Democrats remain the party of rum and rebellion and now they're retrograde on vouchers. But the GOP is now the party of Romanism. Posted by Orrin Judd at August 29, 2002 9:01 AM