This column by Debra Saunders at Real Clear Politics is outstanding.

Divest UC of USA or Vice Versa?

The University of California Student Association has approved a resolution to direct UC regents to divest financially of the governments of Brazil, Egypt, Indonesia, Israel, Mexico, Russia, Turkey, Sri Lanka and the United States. “UC students did not give consent to invest in governments engaged in violence against others,” proclaimed the Resolution Toward Socially Responsible Investment at the University of California, targeting the above countries for human rights violations.

The motion — which passed with nine yes votes, one no vote and five abstentions — faulted the U.S. government for conducting drone strikes abroad, as well as the nation’s high incarceration rate and deportation policies.

My suggestion to these students would be that if they truly want to cleanse themselves from dirty American tax dollars, then they should not go to a state university or accept any grubby federal student aid. But it seems the whole point of being a UC student activist is to abandon all thought of regulating one’s own behavior in furtherance of telling everyone else how they should live.

Student groups also have been protesting the regents’ vote to raise tuition. This everything-but-the-kitchen-sink rant of a resolution, however, is exactly the sort of protest that makes some California taxpayers think: Why not let these spoiled know-it-alls pay more for an education that they do not appear to appreciate?