Lording It Over Us

by Don Boudreaux on October 27, 2009

in Education, Unprecedented intervention

There is no place in a free society for such actions.  None.  Ever.

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  • iamse7en
    It's an obamanation.
  • Chilling.
  • vidyohs
    Ahhhhhh, and vidyohs said, "The light breaketh in Sir Don's eyes".

    T'ain't exactly what they told us it was, eh, Sir Don?

    When we march unquestioningly down the road, why are we surprised at the mile markers and the road stops they prepare for us? Is there no one left besides me that can anticipate?
  • udctrox
    If this is true, you're right. There is no place for this in a free society...although I would like some interviews with both parties to confirm this.
  • Mark
    Keep in mind that the wise, eloquent Bob "There's nothing we can do about it (so sit on your hands and complain)" Higgs is Holder's enabler. Bravo!
  • danielkuehn
    And that much more repulsive because they're covering their ass not on some embarassing scandal - but on their position against a program that is helping children.
  • The part that scares me the most is that online searches for this incident yield only sources with strong ideological ties.

    Cato.
    Weekly Standard.

    It's way too easy for most to brush these off, because the "mainstream" press never considered it a story.

    Nothing you can dream up for Halloween, nor anything in the Saw I-VI series frightens me more than a fourth estate either too partisan or too stupid to realize this is a major abuse of power.
  • vidyohs
    And that is indeed an excellent point, Ike.

    I'd like to add that it is part of this "new normal" thing people talk about these days in relation to just about everything; but I'd be lying, because I think we can agree the state of affairs you describe has existed since the Nixon years at a minimum.
  • brianwhipple
    The repeated attempts by the Obama administration to silence critics are both not complementary to Obama and undereported by the media.

    On this particular issue, however, I happen to agree with him... Kind of. I'm a fan of school vouchers, but not at the federal level (even for DC).
  • danielkuehn
    And there are real questions that people raise about whether it's even possible to scale up the DC program or whether the DC program specifically is cost effective - but none of that (1.) invalidates vouchers as a strategy in general, or (2.) justifies Holder silencing this guy.
  • Are you still labouring under the delusion that you live in a free society?

    We live in a hopey changey society.
  • russnelson
    The problem here, Don, is that President Obama is right, and everyone who disagrees with him is wrong. Thus, why tolerate criticism? It only confuses people, consumes attention and wastes time.

    The Fatal Conceit. Every politician's downfall.
  • And... I'm not sure how much research this guy did. In the first source article I found in 2 minutes... "In a separate interview Chavous said he did not believe Holder’s comment was an official request. "It wasn’t like the administration was leaning on me to pull the ad–this wasn’t an intimidation play," said Chavous, adding that he knows Holder and his wife. "This is someone who is a friend, who saw me, and let me know his thinking."
    http://bit.ly/1lY7dA
    Also - the underlying issues of vouchers and the NEA in this article are telling. "We need to fix it all at once, not piecemeal (vouchers)" seems to be the NEA position. Sowell's solutions vs. tradeoffs at work with our billions...
  • danielkuehn
    Interesting - I hope Don comments on this point of yours.

    Too often we grab one side of a he-said-she-said as authoritative if it fits our preconceived notions.

    We can all agree on this at least: IF it happened the way Cato claims it happened, THEN that's a very bad thing.
  • yetanotherdave
    Does this surprise anybody? I remember during the campaign hearing reports of attempts to get law enforcement to stop criticisms of Obama. (I think it was in Missouri). Obama clearly has little tolerance for dissent - one of many factors making him unfit to be POTUS.
  • Mommsen1625
    Very few politicians do.

    While this is rather lame, I doubt that it is unique to this administration. The First Amendment exists not because politicians will honor it, but because they won't.
  • yetanotherdave
    I'm sure it's not unique to this administration, but the scary part is the pass He gets from most big media. If W's administration had done this it would be all over the headlines for days. (Please don't mistake me for a W supporter, it's just an example)
  • Mommsen1625
    The worm will and is turning regarding Obama's press coverage.
  • Ecommunist
    We don't live in a free society.
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