This Week in Cognitive Dissonance

If I weren’t on hiatus, I’d write a blog post about this generally sensible column and its incoherent tenth paragraph:

What makes these voters potential Republicans is that, lifestyle choices aside, they view big government with great suspicion. There’s no law that someone who enjoys organic food, rides his bike to work, or wants a diverse school for his kids must also believe that the federal government should take over the health-care system or waste money on thousands of social programs with no evidence of effectiveness. Nor do highly educated people have to agree that a strong national defense is harmful to the cause of peace and international cooperation.

Question for discussion: When the US military builds a children’s hospital in Basra, is that a “social program?” And if so, is there “evidence of effectiveness?”