• Juan Williams Likens Parents’ Rights to Control Their Children’s Education to “White Supremacy.”

• Dennis Prager Asks Is Stealing Wrong? Not on the Left.

These seemingly unrelated news items are in fact closely connected. A leading liberal commentator declares that parents have no right to control their children’s education, and if they claim such a right, they are White supremacists. Meanwhile, a leading conservative commentator feels the need to point out that the current epidemic of massive shoplifting is stealing, and stealing is wrong.

Only a few years ago, both of these articles would not have appeared because there was no need for them. Everyone knew that parents had the ultimate responsibility for their children’s upbringing, including education and much else. To imply otherwise would be to claim children were the property of the government, and the parents’ job was merely to provide the state with good little subjects.

As far as shoplifting was concerned, especially in huge amounts leading to store closures, there was no need to say much. Almost everyone had been taught, “Thou shalt not steal.” People didn’t want their property stolen, so it was easy to extend this to other people’s property. Little kids were told, “How would you like someone doing that to you?” Kids were taught to empathize with everyone, not just with those sharing their political opinions.

Perhaps that’s the key word: opinions. We learned that we had our opinions, and other people had different opinions. Now people have been encouraged to believe that they have not opinions but the Truth (note capital T), while others have mistaken beliefs at best and diabolical lies at worst. Rational dialogue becomes impossible. Who wants to talk to agents of the devil? Who even wants them to be free to walk the streets? And so a great and free nation degenerates into a bunch of squalling brats.

Here are three quotations that sum up my reaction to these events:

We have now sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men. – George Orwell

I wish I were stupid enough to be an optimist. – Anon.

The optimist believes this is the best of all possible worlds; the pessimist fears that this is true. – J. Robert Oppenheimer