If Kant had had a nose for public policy

By Jim Stergios
January 4th, 2009

Passed on by a friend with a mathematical appreciation for symmetry, and for that balance of responsibility and opportunity, in public affairs is a recent letter to the Wall Street Journal:

I read with interest the president-elect’s appointment of Arne Duncan as Secretary of Education. Mr. Duncan may in fact be the right man for the job, but if the president-elect and his new secretary really wish to fix public education, they need only push through one change: It is hereby illegal for any member of Congress to send his or her children to any nonpublic elementary, junior or senior high school. What do you think? My guess is the whole system would be fixed over the weekend.

Our friendly Kantian “symmetrician” follows with the comment:

What a great suggestion! And it’s consistent with my own modest proposal for fixing the tax code: require everyone who works in the White House, Congress, and Supreme Court to prepare their own tax forms annually, with no help from any other human being or software.