They threw the bums out in Ohio last year. Discontent with Republican performance in office was warranted. Bob Taft earned his distinction as the governor with the lowest popularity in the country. Mike Dewine earned the scorn of conservatives by aligning with John McCain on one too many issues (the gang of 14). So Ohio voters decided democrats were the default answer. As the old saying goes, be careful what you wish for.

            Early in March new Governor Ted Strickland announced he was proposing a moratorium on charter schools and an end to school vouchers. Big surprise. Liberals hate choice in education. It tends to unsettle those teachers unions that are so important when union dues are forwarded to the DNC. One problem with the proposal is that many democrat voters are using those vouchers. It is unclear if the most popular program in Cleveland is on the chopping block. What is clear is that Cleveland is not a Republican stronghold.

            Strickland is moving under the guise of fiscal stress in the Ohio budget, but the school voucher elimination is a dubious strategy for solving funding problems in education. Less dubious is the fact that people like to have that choice and have exercised it to a great extent in Ohio. If we are going to have equal opportunity for citizens, it will only be possible if we start with our youngest citizens, at the grade school level.

            But Strickland did not stop with that to put his mark on Ohio education. He wants to eliminate the abstinence education programs. The governor says he sees no evidence these programs have “made a difference”. I wonder what parents he has consulted. Again, liberals do not like abstinence programs. Why? Because abortion is one of the sacraments of liberal religion, along with the idea of sexual “freedom”. Practicing abstinence certainly cuts into the traffic at those Planned Parenthood facilities. I often am surprised at people who do not know Planned Parenthood performs abortions. Factually, they are the leading abortion provider in America. They also, by the way, contribute to Democrats.

            Succinctly put, Ted Strickland wants less choice in education for Ohio parents, but more choice in sex for their kids. I don’t have a lot of faith in the Republican (still) majority Ohio legislature, but it seems a strong majority of Ohioans are opposed to these policies. Republican leaders should call these proposals dead on arrival because in a world full of choices, these are the wrong ones.