More on defeat of vouchers

Here's the AP story on what happened. As I said before, dramatic stuff. It was truly a case of Capt. Smith of the 218th Brigade to the rescue of public schools:

{BC-SOU-XGR-Legislator-Guardsman, 1st Ld-Writethru,0321}
{SC legislator, Guardsman on leave from training casts key vote}
{Eds: Will be updated.}
{AP Photos SCMC101-103}
{By SEANNA ADCOX}=
{Associated Press Writer}=
   COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - A proposal that would help parents pay for private school tuition with public money was defeated Thursday by South Carolina lawmakers, the third consecutive year the idea has failed.
   The effort to defeat the plan was energized by a House legislator who flew home from Army National Guard training to argue against the proposal.
   Army Capt. James Smith, on leave from Fort Riley, Kansas, told colleagues that voters decided in November they didn't want school vouchers when they elected a Democrat to head the Education Department.
   Smith, a Democrat, is set to deploy to Afghanistan in a couple of months.
   "I'm here solely for the voucher vote," he said.
   Smith said he told his battalion commander Lt. Col. John Nagl that it was an important vote and was granted a day's leave.
   "He said he didn't want to stand in the way of Democracy," Smith said at the Statehouse, where he was flanked by his 11-year-old son, Thomas.
   House Minority Leader Harry Ott said he called Smith on Wednesday after Republicans proposed a plan that would allow students to transfer to private schools. The idea came as legislators debated a proposal to let parents enroll their children in any public school regardless of attendance lines.
   "I said, 'Get home. We need your vote,"' Ott, D-St. Matthews, said he told Smith.
   Smith told colleagues that when voters chose Education Superintendent Jim Rex - the only Democrat elected to statewide office - it showed they did not want public money going to private schools. Rex wants to give parents more choice by allowing them to send their student to any public school.
   Advocates of private school choice thought they had the votes Wednesday night, but Smith's presence likely renewed Democrats' efforts, said Denver Merrill, spokesman for South Carolinians for Responsible Government.
   "We're inching along, and we're not going anywhere," Merrill said.

The libertarian impulse doesn't stand up all that well in the face of a man so willing to lay his life on the line for the greater good. That's just a little too much moral force, I guess.