Larry H. Miller sponsored and attended a recent voucher debate at his Jordan Commons Megaplex theaters. I was there as well, just a few seats down from him. He seemed very attentive, though he did not participate other than by smiling and occasionally nodding. After listening to the debate, Mr. Miller, in a textbook display of the CEO effect, took out a full page in a local newspaper wherein he declared his support for the voucher system. In his “open letter” to the community, Larry accuses the anti-voucher side of using FUD tactics (which he wrote as “F.U.D.”) to cloud the issues. FUD, as you might know, stands for “fear, uncertainty and doubt,” and refers relying on appeals to negative emotions when a logical attack is failing.

bees.jpgThat made me think of bees. A few years back, we were told that Africanized bees were gradually making their way north of Mexico into the United States.* It’s hard to argue that the advance of killer bees is a bad thing without mentioning that bees sting people, that stings hurt and that some people could die from bee stings. FUD, maybe, if you’re afraid of pain or death.

Likewise, it’s hard to argue that vouchers take money away from public schools without mentioning that, well, vouchers take money away from public schools. The point is, some bad things are scary. And many well-intended yet misguided programs produce deleterious results. The Utah school voucher program, besides having no economic legs, would sap money from an already anemic system. I’m glad it was was squashed. For one, I don’t want to be subsidizing the private school tuition of a multi-millionaire’s grandchildren.

* Thankfully global warming exterminated those pesky intruders.