Is a good idea invalid if it comes from someone with whom you disagree ideologically? Regrettably, some people dismiss ideas based simply upon the political ideology of the person proposing them, not their merits. Democrats are doing this with their reaction to Republican House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan’s plan to reduce out-of-control government spending. But this out-of-hand dismissal of ideas is a bipartisan problem.

In New Hampshire, Republicans in state government are moving toward cutting off funding to a few school districts not because the curriculum they’ve adopted is ineffective, but because it was developed by liberals.