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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{ 21 comments }

1 iamse7en October 27, 2009 at 8:23 pm: It's an obamanation.
2 Chris Meisenzahl October 27, 2009 at 8:58 pm: Chilling.
3 vidyohs October 27, 2009 at 9:40 pm: 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 road stops they prepare for us? Is there no one left besides me that can anticipate?
4 udctrox October 27, 2009 at 11:15 pm: 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.
5 Mark October 27, 2009 at 11:55 pm: 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!
6 danielkuehn October 28, 2009 at 6:37 am: 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.
7 Ike Pigott October 28, 2009 at 9:20 am: 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.
8 brianwhipple October 28, 2009 at 10:23 am: 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).
9 Methinks October 28, 2009 at 10:50 am: Are you still labouring under the delusion that you live in a free society?

We live in a hopey changey society.
10 russnelson October 28, 2009 at 11:31 am: 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.
11 markmichaellewis October 28, 2009 at 12:55 pm: 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…
12 yetanotherdave October 28, 2009 at 12:58 pm: 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.
13 Mommsen1625 October 28, 2009 at 1:00 pm: 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.
14 yetanotherdave October 28, 2009 at 1:13 pm: 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)
15 danielkuehn October 28, 2009 at 2:03 pm: 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.
16 danielkuehn October 28, 2009 at 2:04 pm: 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.
17 Mommsen1625 October 28, 2009 at 2:21 pm: The worm will and is turning regarding Obama's press coverage.
18 vidyohs October 28, 2009 at 4:59 pm: 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.
19 Ecommunist October 28, 2009 at 7:55 pm: We don't live in a free society.
20 vidyohs October 28, 2009 at 8:59 pm: 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.
21 Ecommunist October 28, 2009 at 11:55 pm: We don't live in a free society.