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The Election, Historic Preservation, and School Choice

By Theresa Fritz Camoriano

The Election – The 10,000 lawyers who are not needed to fight over the election now have a golden opportunity.  Apparently, there are lots of people who live together in non-traditional arrangements, other than as husband and wife, who are concerned about being able to pass on their property on to loved ones, visit loved ones in the hospital, and so forth.  The 10,000 lawyers, who now have some time on their hands, should go home and put together a “next of kin” package, including wills, powers of attorney, and so forth, that can be used by people in non-traditional living arrangements to solve this problem.  In addition, people who live in non-traditional types of arrangements should support the privatization of Social Security, so they can control the money they earn and can pass it on to their loved ones in the event of their death.  Liberals should take note that, when those in power respect individual liberty, freedom of association, and private property, people who are not in the majority, including those who live in non-traditional arrangements, do not get “bashed”.  In fact, the only way to avoid bashing someone is to respect individual liberty, freedom of association, and private property.  Is it possible that we could all unite behind such a “non-bashing” agenda?

The Election in Kentucky – Dana Seum Stephenson has received the majority of votes in her contest with Virginia Woodward, but will she be allowed to be seated in the next Kentucky legislature?  Woodward filed a last minute lawsuit, arguing that Stephenson does not meet the residency requirements for the office.  If Woodward had made the challenge earlier, before the primary election, there would have been a reasonable way to remedy the situation.  However, finding Stephenson to be ineligible at this late date, after the voters elected her, would trample on the will of the people.  It is mind-boggling that  neither candidate bothered to read the eligibility requirements before running for office.  Since these folks plan to be passing laws that control our lives, it would be nice if they would get into the habit of reading those laws!  

Historic Preservation – Louisville’s Mayor Abramson has begun an audit of buildings that are of historic significance to see which buildings ought to be protected.  That sounds fine, depending upon what he plans to do once the audit is completed.  If the audit serves as a way for people interested in historic preservation to establish priorities and get together money to buy the properties, that will be great.  However, if Mayor Abramson plans to use government regulations to steal those properties by preventing the owners from using them, that would be a terrible abuse of power.  Let’s hope the Mayor and Metro Council will proceed on the basis of respecting the right of owners to control their property.

School Choice – It is now being reported that very few students are taking advantage of their new opportunity to escape failing schools and transfer to a school with a better rate of success under the “No child left behind” law.  The schools have made it very difficult for students to transfer – requiring the transfer to be in the middle of the school year, giving families no choice in the school to which they will be transferring, providing no bus transportation to the new school, and providing no space in other schools.  With all these and additional obstacles being put in the paths of parents, it is no surprise that few students are transferring.  It is a shame that the monopoly school system is much more concerned about taking care of itself than in educating students.  As teachers make more and more demands, and as schools continue to fail to educate students, pressure will continue to build for a change in the system that will put the concerns of students and families above those of bureaucrats.

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