Welcome to the Busing Election!

What the backward-looking Democratic debate tells us about contemporary education policy and woke politics

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Welcome to the Busing Election!

Who had school busing in the betting pool for poll-moving Democratic presidential debate controversies? And yet here we are.

Well, if it's racial discord and school choice that you want to talk about, then that's exactly what you'll get on today's Editors' Roundtable edition of the Reason Podcast. Katherine Mangu-Ward, Nick Gillespie, Peter Suderman, and Matt Welch talk about their own personal histories with school integration, preferred remedies for helping disadvantaged students receive a better education, and what these debates mean for the modern Democratic Party.

Also under discussion today are shake-ups to the Beltway foreign policy consensus, the beating of Quillette writer Andy Ngo, whether it's healthy for restaurants to deny service to Trumpites, and why Yoko Ono was the most underrated Beatle.

Audio production by Ian Keyser.

'Forgiven not Forgotten' by Jahzzar is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

Relevant links from the show:

"Some Democrats Ditch Biden After First Round of 2020 Debates," by Elizabeth Nolan Brown

"Harris-Biden Busing Spat Shows Democrats Can't Have an Honest Conversation About Racial Issues," by Jacob Sullum

"Joe Biden Is Probably Running for President. He's Got a Lot of Baggage," by Christian Britschgi

"Booker Expresses Tepid Support for Charter Schools While Sanders Seeks To Stifle Them," by Billy Binion

"Teachers Union President Thinks You're a Racist if You Yank Your Kids from Their Crappy Schools," by Scott Shackford

"How to Fix 'One of the Most Segregated Public School Systems In the Nation,'" by Jim Epstein

"Charles Koch, George Soros Help Fund Think Tank Opposed To 'Endless War,'" by Nick Gillespie

"Antifa Mob Viciously Assaults Journalist Andy Ngo at Portland Rally," by Robby Soave

"A Social Media Platform Has Banned Support of Trump," by Katrina Gulliver

What are we consuming this week?

Matt Welch

• "The Day the Dinosaurs Died"
• Holy Land Museum in Silver Lake, CA

Katherine Mangu-Ward

• Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting by Robert McKee

Nick Gillespie

• John and Yoko: Above Us Only Sky

Peter Suderman

• God of War

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Comments

[OpenBordersLiberal-tarian]

I'm thrilled Kamala Harris refuses to be silenced when it comes to the need for busing. Scientific studies show a racially diverse environment is always better than a homogeneous one. Therefore the same logic that compels us Koch / Reason libertarians to support open borders must compel us to support busing. And affirmative action.

Equally exciting from a racial justice perspective is the Democrats' embrace of reparations for slavery. I'm confident the next Democratic President will pay at least the first few trillion dollars owed to POC by the end of 2022.

[Mongo]

While strolling down the parkway on a nice summer day I saw you wearing a pretty sun dress, OBL. You looked cute, though when a breeze came up and caught your skirt I quickly averted my gaze so I didn't catch a glimpse of some of some bio-atrocity.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

The male gaze is a microagression.

[SQRLSY One]

Y'all need to start wearing THESE things here, blinders for horny men who can NOT otherwise restrain themselves when they see a "little pretty thing"...

https://jezebel.com/ultra-orthodox-men-now-wearing-special-blinders-to-avoi-5933020
Ultra-Orthodox Men Now Wearing Special Blinders to Avoid Seeing Sexy Things

[Tu­lpa AKA "feeling smug"]

Fuck off Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf

[SQRLSY One]

Thread-shitter shits on threads! More news at 11:00!

[Ryan (formally HFTO)]

I feel like this is the same person

[Tu­lpa AKA "feeling smug"]

It is. Look at this thread for all the proof you need.

https://reason.com/2019/06/17/robby-soaves-new-book-panic-attack-young-radicals-in-the-age-of-trump-hits-stores-tomorrow/#comment-7821494

[Tu­lpa AKA "feeling smug"]

At least you finally admit what we all have seen you do.

[Agammamon]

Ahh, Jezebel. Make an assertion in an article but can't even be bothered to take a picture of what you're asserting - just using stock footage.

Even Kotaku's Brian Ashcraft can get pictures of whatever atrocity he's claiming is popular in Japan this hour.

[getviasat]

ha haa.... simply crazy

[Tu­lpa AKA "feeling smug"]

God you're nearly as lazy and boring as crusty/OBL.

[IceTrey]

Reparations
the making of amends for a wrong one has done, by paying money to or otherwise helping those who have been wronged.

No on alive has owned a slave and no one alive has been a slave so why should anyone pay or receive reparations?

[OG]

Well actually people can inherit a cause of action so if a person could establish a direct paternal/maternal line to an enslaved ancestor then there is precedent for allowing them to recover in place of the decedent.

[CE]

nope, but some corporations are still alive from 1865

[OG]

First off the law can be whatever we decide we want it to be. There are laws across this country that allow people to inherit a cause of action to sue for damages from a family member. The idea I've proposed is an extension of that principle. The US govt is the tortfeasor in this incident and it's still around. If people could establish a familiar relationship to a person who was enslaved then they could stand in place of that person and recover the damages in the name of the enslaved ancestor. Reparations under this theory is different than paying people living today for the residual harms caused by slavery. These would be claims based on the act of enslavement itself. I don't think we should do it because I think its divisive and I'd rather help people no matter their race.

[OG]

I changed my mind. We should make the Confederate states pay and the ones still flying the Confederate flag pay twice.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Nothing you're writing here is accurate. You're consistent, at least.

[Chipper Jones]

Why so many hurdles, like the need to establish a "familiar" relationship to a slave? I thought law could be whatever we want it to be.

[Agammamon]

Recover from who though?

Let's say you identify the slave owner and you can trace his descendents down through the last 160 years - none of those descendants are at fault. Only the original perpetrator.

I could see a claim on the slave-owner's estate - but its been diluted over 5 generations. Where is the estate now?

How do you estimate how that estate was divided among the inheritors - and then divided and divided and divided again over the years. How much of that estate has each living descendant received? What if the money inherited has been blown over the last century and a half and there is no more?

[Tu­lpa AKA "feeling smug"]

OMFG crusty, this OBL sock of yours is so fucking boring.

[Don't look at me!]

No grasshopper, it is not.

[Tu­lpa AKA "feeling smug"]

Yes douchesock, it is. Your sock is fucking boring.

[BigT]

OBL’s contributions run the gamut from inspired to insipid; I appreciate the efforts. Would that you had as good a record.

[Dillinger]

>>what these debates mean for the modern Democratic Party.

stark look in the mirror likely required ... certainly ignored.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

and why Yoko Ono was the most underrated Beatle.

you know Nick Gillespie is on the panel when this gets discussed. Did you touch on the controversy over Dylan going electric? Let's keep it topical, people!

[CE]

George Harrison, obviously

[Eddy]

"most underrated" doesn't mean best. It could mean she provoked such a backlash that people think her work is worse than it is (though that would certainly be quite a backlash).

[MasterThief]

I don't know her stuff from then, but she released this garbage recently
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAsV7Udjl4A

[Brandybuck]

She had literally no musical or lyrical talent. She was a performance art person. And not very good performance art at that. The best thing that ever happened to her was meeting John.

[NashTiger]

This is worse than his excuse making for Stalinism

[Fats of Fury]

The moment Sanders realizes he's stuck between an old goy and an angry negress. He sharts! Feel the Bern.

[Brandybuck]

Who's an angry negress? I suppose you're talking about the picture up above. That woman is 50% Indian, with a mother from India and descended from slave owners on her father's side. She definitely counts as "colored" in the political playbook, but she's not a negress.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

Of course Trump knows what busing is, and that Western-style liberalism doesn't refer to California. The fake news media is falling for another n-th dimensional chess move!

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

The teacher's union is a more powerful constituency than your children-- who don't vote.

[Rat on a train]

Shouldn't they be HSRing the kids to school?

[chemjeff radical individualist]

Good heavens. What a stupid discussion - school busing again. Among adults, that argument has been over for some time now. And it's not like Senator Demagogue Harris was actually serious about wanting to bring back busing or anything - she just wanted to use it as a zinger against Biden.

She really is the Trump of the Left. Not afraid to go into the gutter in order to score points among her race-obsessed base. With our luck though she will probably be elected. Heaven save us from the demagogues of both the left and the right.

[Ryan (formally HFTO)]

Join me, and accept Marriane as your spirit guide in chief

[Tu­lpa AKA "feeling smug"]

"What a stupid discussion"

You should warn us that you're about to speak like this every time you post.

[Tu­lpa AKA "feeling smug"]

"Among adults"

Ahahahahaha

Guy who unironcally says "Among adults" while being a known, petulant, childish loser

Jackass, or irredeemable jackass?

[Ryan (formally HFTO)]

Interesting to hear the old heads talk about going to elementary school and being honest about what it was like.

I'd consider this two good podcasts in a row. Can't even hate on Suderman if he's going to start a Batman Think Tank.

Spit it out Walsh!

[pollardholmes11]

Really a very nice one.................................Kudos.............

[Brandybuck]

My busing memories. I got bused across town in a town of only 8000. It was during the middle of the busing thing, and as a fourth grader in a town of 8000 that had a single Black person in it, I didn't understand the issue. I thought it was my fault. That I was being punished and lot allowed to attend the school that was literally only 150 feet away.

The fact of the matter is that the government did NOT force my parents to bus me across town. It was my parent's choice. And in Kamala Harris' case, I'm pretty damned sure it wasn't the government forcing her elite professor parents to send her across the city. Respected professor parents (even those of color) have options.

[Uncle Jay]

Don't worry folks.
Busing will only affect the little people.
The ruling elites of both parties will still send their kids to segregated and very expensive private schools so their offspring won't have to mingle with "those people."
Now you can sleep better tonight knowing that.

[activate pbs]

Good one buddy...really impressed with the way that the writer has conveyed the message......Impressive....