First there was kindergarten. Then came a raft of pre-k programs for four-year olds, including one in Oklahoma. Now the governor of that state (plus a couple others) would like to bring the political society (that is, government) into the business of supervising the daily activity of three-year olds.

The Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs is not impressed, and takes some heart from the fact that a proposal to advance that goal has stalled in the state legislature. But, as Brandon Dutcher notes, the game is far from over, adding that the governor has talked about creating a program by executive order.

Whatever the merits of the proposal (some children benefit from such programs, but the effects tend to be short-lived), Dutcher suspects some rent-seeking going on: "mothers who stay at home with their children do not create new opportunities for educators or bureaucrats or lobbyists. Those opportunities open up only by persuading parents to turn their children over to surrogates while opening up their tax checkbooks to pay other people’s salaries."