Allright, first policy post. Time is pretty tight this week, but I wanted to comment on William McGurn's WSJ article yesterday on school choice.

One of the prime beliefs of this blog is more liberty and more choice. When people control their own destinies instead of the government, good things tend to happen. Governments are good at: protecting the common defence, settling contract disputes and (possibly) taking care of those who honestly cannot take care of themselves. The closer the level of government, the more likely they can take on item #3.

School choice is a huge issue today. Choice and the free market rule almost everywhere EXCEPT the most important institution we have in the US. The education market is controlled by teachers unions, textbook companies and complicit local school boards. Generally speaking, if a product is inferior or doesn't work for its customers, another product enters the market and assumes market leadership.

Local, public schools today educate our kids for a industrial society that no longer exists. They teach rote repetitiveness, memorization and linear thinking. Unfortunately, in an information (or post-info) economy, linear thinking puts you at the end of a linear unemployment line. Those who are well compensated today are thinking three steps ahead (strategically), creating new businesses (creative) or killing existing models (destructive). Our schools inhibit all of these tendencies.

So, the solution is to open things up and shake up the education market, right? Especially in poor school districts (like the one I went to) where education is the only way out for anyone who can't dunk or throw a football, right? Not if the unions have anything to do with it.

They convinced Obama and Team to sit by idly while they dismantled the most successful voucher progam in the country, despite POTUS' kind words about shaking up the education system (who owns the White House? U-N-I-O-N-S).

These kids need a chance more than anyone else in the country. The DC schools are an absolute shambles. Money certainly isn't the answer; DC spends more per kid than anyone else (even NYC and Dallas!). Yet unions want $$$, all the time. No accountability, no responsibility...just cash.

Give the kids a chance! Most teachers want kids to succeed; it's a shame their union actively works against them every day.

More freedom. More choice. More opportunity. Better USA.

I never knew Jack Kemp personally, but he had a huge impact on my life. He was the first guy I saw (even prior to Bradley, for me) that was a jock made policy wonk. He made me realize that I could blaze both paths; that I didn't have to be a jock OR a nerd...I could be both!

He was a big influence in my thinking. I grew up in the shadow of my (then) fairly liberal father, working for NGO's and churches, assuming that The Great Society would solve a lot of problems. My father and I both grew disillusioned as we grew older, finally understanding that self-empowerment, self-determination and the ability to keep your cash in your pocket (along with education) were the answer to prosperity...all ideas championed by Jack Kemp.

I learned about Jack from a distance; Ilya Somin of George Mason University School of Law (and the Volokh Conspiracy) met him up close at Empower America. Ilya wrote a great post about him on Sunday; I'll let him speak to the great guy that was Jack Kemp.

God bless Jack Kemp and his family. Like Ilya, I didn't always agree with him, but he influenced and inspired me and many others.

The corner of Right and Brown is a strange place. Without a doubt, the empirical evidence shows that Latinos tend to vote Democrat. Why?

There's a few reasons, most having to do with the numbers of early generation Latino immigrants vs. 3rd+ generation. First, early generation Latinos tend to live in poorer neighborhoods (often crowding out African Americans in their traditional neighborhoods), which are often canvassed by left-leaning organizers. Thus, they're approached and indoctrinated early by the left. Certainly not the right. When's the last time you saw a right wing advocate rolling through South Dallas, North Houston, South Central LA or New Orleans (which, far from a Chocolate City, is becoming increasingly Latino)? Never.

Also, there's huge campaigns by NGO's going on to indoctrinate Latino's into the usefulness, needfulness and utility of government sponsored and funded non-profit organizations. While they're visiting these organizations, who do you think they're advocating?

Finally, Latinos are poor...as a group. It's true. We are. We don't have a whole lot of coin. As a composite, we trend to manual and menial positions, though we're making serious retail and call center inroads. As we go to college in larger numbers, we're beginning to make some meaningful white collar inroads. But on the whole, we work with our hands. In the grand scheme of things, that's okay. Electricians, plumbers and contractors do all right, especially when they own their own businesses. We're just now getting to that point. In a generation, someone (maybe us) will be working for us in those fields. We may be the future of the SBA.

Two last notes on economics that often get overlooked. One, we're generally collectivist in a way that The West has given up. We take care of our own generationally and from a standpoint of extended family. You'd think this would make us more socialist (and I've heard this used as a 'why Latinos vote Dem), but it really should make us more self-sufficient. My father will (Barry Obama willing) get Social Security, but the reality is that he knows he has a room at our house when the time comes. Mexican and Central American governments don't have a good record of taking care of their people, so we generally assume we'll take care of our parents ourselves. Governments cheat, so we hedge.

Also, we self-replace. Until the Mexican peninsula is drained of males, we'll keep coming here. I love Mexico: Monterrey, Vera Cruz, Cabo, Pedras Negras...but the opportunities are simply better here. And we'll keep coming. For the forseeable future, we'll have a Latino underclass that is just getting started. Hopefully, we'll find ways to keep kids in school or (sometimes better yet) get them involved in a vocation that provides well for their family, gives their kids a chance and gives families a better chance of staying intact (let's all admit that, the more food on the table, the better the chance a family can build a sustainable home).

So, why Right and Brown? Because it's where our values lie. They lie in taking care of ourselves and one another, not waiting for the government to do it. They lie in building our own business, whether restaurants, construction, computers or real estate (yep, the last two exist; stop being so naive). We're entrepeneurs. Think about it; we got here on our own, right? We also understand that governments cannot be trusted to take care of everyone, play fair in all situations or make decisions that work for everyone. We've SEEN Pemex, Carlos Slim and the PAN.

At Right and Brown, we understand the allure of Obama. He's a great speaker. He connects with all of us. Heck, CRB contributed to his campaign (to beat HRC, who we now miss sometimes in weak moments). But we stand for a few things here: 1) the sanctity of life (no, that's not abortion codeword; that's stem cells, science and the right to self-protection even though we are adamantly prolife); 2) less government intrusion in our lives; 3) that non-constitutionally policy should be made at the state level (if CA wants to wage war on dubious greenhouse gases, more power to them); 4) that lower taxes stimulate people working hard; and last, 5) that families make for strong infrastructure for society.

We'll be posting on politics, business, government and life in these United States....just with a tint of Brown and a shade Right of Center. We hope you'll engage us, and we welcome you to our world. I hope you won't always agree, and that you'll let us know when you don't.