School Coice Expanded

Yesterday Governor Doyle signed legislation to increase the cap on school choice enrollment. Only four Milwaukee Democrats in the legislature supported the bill. This strikes me as odd, because the major beneficiaries of the expansion are Milwaukee children. Apparently most feel comfortable voting against their constituents on the assumption that poor people do not vote.

The present political weakness of the Democrats is bad for Wisconsin and the U.S. in my view. But rather than presenting a broader vision, Democrats seem to believe they can ride to power by pandering to various groups, particularly the public employee unions and ideologues whose thinking has been petrified for the past forty years.

Despite the present unpopularity of the Bush administration and the Republicans in Congress, it is striking that current polls show two Republicans--McCain and Giuliani--defeating the Democratic front-runners for president. I suspect a lot of this is due to the perception that these men have convictions (in part because they have crossed swords with their own party) and the Democrats do not.

While poor people may not vote, the Democratic party has always obtained much of its moral authority by representing underdogs, those without much power. People want to support a candidate who agrees with their position on most issues, but also one with convictions.