leftfielder.org

The state of Massachusetts recently did a tremendous favor to the entire country. It comes down to this – in order for the government to make effective policy, multiple perspectives need to be considered. The fact that the democrats now need to listen to concerns of the conservatives in order to pass legislation is an immensely positive thing. I didn’t like it when the GOP tried to run roughshod over the liberals, and I don’t like it any more when it happens in the other direction. Already, we’re seeing the fruits of this and its only been one day. The AP reports:

“No decisions have been made, lawmakers said, but they laid out a new approach that could still include these provisions: limiting the ability of insurance companies to deny coverage to people with medical problems, allowing young adults to stay on their parents’ policies, helping small businesses and low-income people pay premiums and changing Medicare to encourage payment for quality care instead of sheer volume of services.”

In other words, all the things that everybody likes about the plan, and none of the things that made the health care debate so anger inducing. The new plan will be sleeker, less expensive, and probably more effective. All because the democrats can’t bully their political agenda through. So, thanks to Massachusetts, for looking past your liberal leaning ways, and voting for the good of the country.

I read an interesting article today about a fight over what goes in history standards for the state of Texas. Should students be taught about the personalities and religious beliefs of historical figures, or only the accomplishments of historical figures? Should the curriculum include specific modules on the contributions of various minority groups, or should history be taught in as race blind a manner as possible? What about history of environmentalism, should that be included at all?

I found the issues fascinating. Both what should be in the core curriculum, and also who should get to decide. My “totally unbiased” conclusion is that college faculty should be the ones who set the standards… after all, we’re the ones who know what knowledge is necessary to be ready for college level courses, and (at least historians) are experts on the area in a way that general bureaucrats aren’t. But my mind is still open to persuasion as to how these issues should be handled…

I found it humorous that while many the founding fathers were deist, and how several people instrumental to the development of our country wrote treatises specifically against Christianity, there are folks who want to add a “U.S. was founded as a Christian nation” to the curriculum. Goes to show how what information goes into a history class can have a big influence on what people know and the way they think about issues in this country…