The evidence of declining standards is everywhere.

The announcement that UT-Austin will relocate a statue of Jefferson Davis has National Review's David French in a twist.

Much of modern life provokes Mr. French. He makes his living filing anti-equality lawsuits. His wife ghostwrites tracts on religion and morals for members of the Palin family. When he writes, "The proper way to deal with difficult history is with education, not with demolition," he's demonstrating a couple of things. One is some gaps in his own education. Relocation is not demolition.

Another is the legal notion of community standards: what works in one place may not in another. The alternative is the North Carolina legislature's appointment of itself as the determiner of what is history when it comes to the relevance of historical markers for every city and village in the state.

French writes, "Will someone just go ahead and publish the definitive, social justice warrior-approved guide to historical displays? Because until they do, university presidents, liberal city councils, senate majority leaders, and other PC-influenced people will keep tying themselves in knots trying to properly place symbols of our national past. As it is, they’re left with justifying keeping some Confederates in place while moving another by referencing their identity-politics street cred. "

Seems like the Art Popers in Raleigh have had fine opportunities to do just that, and not only with their kiss Phil Berger's ring historical monuments removal bill. Before that, they created a state-funded commission to petition Congress to remove an early 20th century NC governor whose aura has become dimmed by the reality of his racist politics, and to replace it with one of Billy Graham (whose son, Bully, Franklin, is a member of the commission). Were they just chasing street cred? Who needs it when you can have your seat bought for you, and all you have to do to keep it is vote as told?

French must also believe that the thousands of mass-produced Lenin and Stalin statues need to be unmelted and re-erected across Russia, along with the Dick Cheney-celebrated they-will-greet-us-as-liberators statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad.

A little education is a good thing; David French would benefit from some a great deal. But some issues don't require a Ph.D. They are more like "Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?" On that grading scale, French flunks.