Deny school choice, feed government dependency

Syndicated columnist George Will takes on statists' strategy of implementing policies that make Americans more dependent on government in critical matters such as health care, bank bailouts and education.

In his column today, Will says -- as only he can -- that opposing school choice is part of this agenda:

Only two things are infinite -- the expanding universe and Democrats' hostility to the District of Columbia's school choice program. Killing this small program, which benefits 1,300 mostly poor and minority children, is odious and indicative. It is a small piece of something large -- the Democrats' dependency agenda, which aims to multiply the ways Americans are dependent on government.

(While there are many fiscally conservative Democrats in Kentucky, translate Will's comment to talk about those out-of-touch, big-government types in D.C. whose agenda it is to increase, not decrease, Americans' dependency on big government.)

Will excoriates opponents of choice, calling them "poodles" of teachers unions. They "oppose empowering poor children to escape dependency on even terrible government schools."

This isn't just going on in Washington. See a debate between school-choice supporters versus "unions and their poodles."