More silliness from the Left. John Edwards proposes that the federal government assure every qualified student a free freshman year in college. He says it will cost only $3 billion. Gee, Senator, why stop with only one year, then? Four years would cost about $12 billion. Throw in $3 billion more to let the students relax a little and take a fifth year. Add another $6 billion and they could get two years of graduate school, enough for a solid Master's degree. That still totals only $21 billion, which is well less than half of the Department of Education's FY2003 budget request. What are we waiting for??

Some on the Left oppose the Administration's proposed air pollution rules. (NY Times, registration required.) It seems that many plants don't upgrade their pollution controls because if they do, they then must meet very stringent standards. So they just keep polluting at heavy rates. The Administration proposes to let such plants upgrade--make at least marginal improvements--without triggering the more stringent requirements. The Left pursues absolutes; conservatives would rather make the world a little better, rather than make it a lot worse through pursuing absolutes. This is the very heart of the conservative/liberal divide.

Comments

[rj]

"John Edwards proposes that the federal government assure every qualified student a free freshman year in college. He says it will cost only $3 billion. Gee, Senator, why stop with only one year, then? Four years would cost about $12 billion. Throw in $3 billion more to let the students relax a little and take a fifth year. Add another $6 billion and they could get two years of graduate school, enough for a solid Master's degree. That still totals only $21 billion, which is well less than half of the Department of Education's FY2003 budget request."

I agree.

[Jenia Tufts]

"The Left pursues absolutes; conservatives would rather make the world a little better, rather than make it a lot worse through pursuing absolutes. This is the very heart of the conservative/liberal divide."

It seems you have "the Left" and "conservatives" confused in the above statement. It has always been my observation that the Left would like to make the world better for everyone (or as many people as possible) while conservatives are more concerned with making the world better for those who already have quite a bit and making it more difficult for those who have nothing to get anywhere at all.