Knowing Something in Nashville

Congratulations to voters in Nashville, Tennessee, who soundly defeated a referendum yesterday that would have required all business of city government to be conducted in English.

Of course, as all city business is conducted in English, the expensive ballot measure represented a solution to a problem that does not exist.

That the measure lost is also a victory for Tennessee Republicans, though many would not recognize it as such. Since its founding before the Civil War, the Republican Party has always been home to a number of "Know Nothings," but that contingent has never been allowed to dominate. For the sake of the Party in Tennessee, it is good that they did not do so at this point.

Nashville attorney Nathan Moore deserves enormous credit for his effort at showing that passage of the measure was NOT a conservative cause. Mr. Moore took a lot of abuse for his work, especially from people who found insults to be their only recourse after they were unable to answer his arguments. It would have been easier for him to stay on the sidelines. That he did not represented an important service to the community and to local Republicans.