Comparing Czarist and Bolshevik Takeover of the Vodka Industry to Today’s School Reformers
From the conservative Weekly Standard come this little blurb about the Czar’s – and eventually the Bolshevik’s - efforts to control the Vodka industry. I couldn’t help but see the parallels to today’s school reform movement. The bold print parentheticals are mine.
Fearing a monopoly within the vodka industry(John Stossel’s tiresome assertion about the public school monopoly) Russia’s czarist regime tried to control it (Federal Department of Ed-NCLB-RttT-High-Stakes Testing), with disastrous results. A black market soon emerged with cheaper, “unregulated” vodka that often had the same healthful benefits as turpentine (Endless
