School choice: the red herring of Conservative education platforms

Every conservative government I'm familiar with in North America occasionally brings up the issue of school choice - that is, the right of students and parents to choose the school that best fits their values and will give their kids the best education. The mantra usually includes several elements of a moral conservative and economic conservative standpoint: the problem of religious education; the idea that competition provides a motivation to improve; and that engagement increases with the level of choice.

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Dancing

I put on my Celtic Woman CD (or rather, opened iTunes and played it from there.)

And my daughters danced.

Claire dances by spinning in circles, and occasionally jumping or stumbling around dizzy. She stops long enough to regain her balance, and then starts again. She dances with total abandon and no thought - emotion to motion, no steps in between. It's one of the most joyous sights I've ever had the privilege to witness.

Elizabeth is older now. She used to dance with abandon. Now she dances thoughtfully, changing her movements to match the rhythm and feel of the music. I remember the exact moment she made that switch, when she was a bit past two. I remember feeling that something had changed forever about my daughter, that she wasn't a baby anymore in that moment. Today she was dancing in a form I can only call proto-Irish - lots of legs in fast movements to match the beat, very little with her arms. She was concentrating so hard. Her cheeks were flushed and her hair was flying, and she was so, so beautiful. What she lacked in abandon she made up for in enthusiasm.

More than any other single thing, watching my daughters dance brings me joy as a parent.

She has got to be kidding.

Since when has the media treated political candidates with deference?" Is she living on the same planet as everyone else?

I have very deliberately not posted anything about Palin here up until this point. I wasn't crazy about the nasty speculation or the internet feeding frenzy that followed it. But this is a legitimate campaign issue, so it's different. It's fair game.

Lady, you've entered a two-month-long job interview with the American people. (Note: the other candidates have been in this job interview for about a year already; you're the latecomer to this game.) At job interviews, people look at your credentials and judge them against the job requirements. They ask hard questions and judge you on your answers. They're polite, usually, but they do not show deference. That's reserved for people who get the job and rock it. You're not there yet.

Get over yourself and put yourself out there where the people can interview you and decide if they want you as their second-in-command. Anything less isn't just bad politics - it's proving that you don't have what it takes to do the job. A little word to the wise: it isn't likely to win you any votes, and it definitely won't win you any favours with the press. They're going to paint you as a fainting flower for this, with a lot of justification.