History and Education
Last night once again I watched the movie “The Patriot” starring Mel Gibson. It’s one of my favorites. I’m not a movie critic so I will not debate the historical accuracies or inaccuracies of the film. The character Gibson plays Benjamin Martin is loosely based upon the lives of some very real Americans like Francis Marion known as the Swamp Fox who fought a guerrilla war against the British in South Carolina and is regarded as one of the heroes of the American Revolution.
Say what you want about Mel Gibson the actor, he might have issues with alcohol and bigotry but the characters he plays in his movies are emotionally visceral, and stir the passions of most audiences. That’s something a good movie should do in my opinion. When I first watched this movie back in 2000, when it came out, it provoked an interest for me in a period of our country’s history I was not really familiar with, specifically the Revolutionary War and its battles in South Carolina.
The danger of course is that a movie’s portrayal of historical characters can and often does mislead the audience, into thinking they understand what really happened. Oliver Stone’s movie JFK comes to mind. I bet there were thousands of Americans after watching the movie, who were fully convinced once they left the theater that a conspiracy to kill Kennedy had existed and that Oswald had not acted alone. However, I would argue that a good movie like a good book opens doors to the minds of its audience stimulating interest in topics that would not otherwise never be explored. How many of you knew who William Wallace was before the movie Braveheart came out? Maybe you still don’t really know after watching the movie but I’m sure there was more than one person who actually took the time to look up who the real William Wallace was and through their own research actually learned something about him. That interest in the topic would not have been there but for the movie.
Similarly I came across a television mini-series years back on BBC television set during Britain’s war with France in the early 19th century. Subsequently I wanted to learn more about the source of the movies and its central character Richard Sharpe and discovered the gems written by Bernard Cornwell who is a master at writing historical fiction. Through this author’s work an entire period of world history came alive for me. I became interested in the Napoleonic period something that never would have happened had I not stumbled across the television mini-series.
History doesn’t have to be boring and should not be to those paying attention. Americans today need to understand their world history and their own history. As British author G.K. Chesteron once said “The disadvantage of men not knowing the past is that they do not know the present. History is a hill or high point of vantage, from which alone men see the town in which they live or the age in which they are living. We are already seeing the price of ignorance today as more and more Americans are embracing a carefully fabricated image of government looking out for the little guy. They forget that not that long ago Americans rejected the fiction that a single enlightened ruler and his ministers could somehow govern their lives better than they could themselves.
In today’s world where businesses are demanding schools provide them more graduates with science and technology skills, the danger becomes focusing only on these areas and skimping on history. While having more skilled scientists and technicians may provide for more competitiveness and more profitable economies, reading just the Cliff Notes of history makes for altogether a too malleable citizen. A population must be able to think for itself if it is to remain free. Americans need to understand the sacrifices made by men like Marion and others who pledged their lives, their fortunes and sacred honor in order to be free. This is something that should not be taken for granted or willingly surrendered for a false sense of security. Ignorance and apathy is being used against Americans today by those seeking to replace American exceptionalism and self-determination with a highly structured state controlled apparatus.
Schools provide one venue for education and news outlets another but there are dangers in getting information from only one or two sources. Americans need to read more preferably from the classics and original source documents. Many of these materials since the advent of the internet are only a click away.
Historical fiction can be a great gateway to getting started learning about past events and people and with that understanding ourselves.
“Not to know what has been transacted in former times is to be always a child. If no use is made of the labors of past ages, the world must remain always in the infancy of knowledge.” -Marcus T. Cicero c. 106-43 BC, Great Roman Orator, Politician
Progress
About the Declaration there is a finality that is exceedingly restful. It is often asserted that the world has made a great deal of progress since 1776, that we have had new thoughts and new experiences which have given us a great advance over the people of that day, and that we may therefore very well discard their conclusions for something more modern. But that reasoning cannot be applied to this great charter.
If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, that is final.
No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions. If anyone wishes to deny their truth or their soundness, the only direction in which he can proceed historically is not forward, but backward toward the time when there was no equality, no rights of the individual, no rule of the people. Those who wish to proceed in that direction cannot lay claim to progress, they are reactionary. Their ideas are not more modern, but more ancient, than those of the Revolutionary fathers…
-President Calvin Coolidge
We the People
Harm
Most of the harm in the world is done by good people, and not by accident, lapse, or omission. It is the result of their deliberate actions, long persevered in, which they hold to be motivated by high ideals toward virtuous ends.
― Isabel Paterson, God of the Machine
The jig is up
“The jig is up the news is out they’ve finally found me. The renegade who had it made retrieved for a bounty. Never more to go astray, this will be the end today of the wanted man…” . from “Renegade” by Styx
Does anybody have doubts anymore that the IRS and by extension the President was not singling out Tea Party and conservative groups to outrageous levels of scrutiny for political purposes?According to the “official lie” largely debunked local IRS officials in Cincinnati, OH acting on their own initiative targeted conservative groups for added scrutiny. Something by itself was very outside the IRS scope and illegal.
The truth however was Tea Party groups from all across the country have been targeted and have complained of the unfair and illegal actions by the IRS for some time. It was not just the Ohio office and the size and scope of the IRS’s targeting has increasingly become apparent despite the denials from the White House.
Congress has started demanding answers. Just days after issuing her apology, Lerner was called to testify before Congress. In an amazing piece of court room style theater Lerner made an opening statement proclaiming her innocence then pleaded the 5th amendment something that technically cannot be done as once a statement was made she waived her right to plead the 5th. This technicality however was apparently, intentionally overlooked.
Since these revelations have come to light Lerner has fallen on her sword and resigned from the IRS (and now receiving taxpayer pension). She’s also recently been called back to testify again before Representative Darrell Issa and committee to answer no doubt some very awkward questions. Unfortunately, all we, the American taxpayers, heard from Lerner was “On the advice of my counsel I respectfully exercise my fifth amendment right and decline to answer that question”.
So we may never know the truth unless Congress decides to hold Lerner in contempt of Congress or promises her some immunity deal. For someone who is so “innocent” of any wrongdoing why does she look and act so guilty? If there is nothing to hide why plead the 5th? The Obama Administration has denied any wrongdoing going so far as to say there is not a smidgen of corruption at the IRS. What a load of rubbish.
Democrats and the White House would have us believe he is not responsible for the IRS scandal just like he’s not responsible for people losing the insurance coverage as a result of Obamacare, or responsible for high unemployment. He’s not responsible for the abject failures of Fast and Furious or Benghazi where our Ambassador and his security detail was left to die at the hands of Muslim hordes. Obama appears to be the Teflon President not guilty or responsible for anything.
Like John Gotti, the dapper Don, who was once also known for his non-sticking qualities, maybe this President will experience just one too many scandals and his minions won’t be willing to take the fall for him. Maybe one day soon Barrack Hussein Obama will be held accountable.
“…The jig is up, the news is out they finally found me. The renegade who had it made retrieved for a bounty. Never more to go astray. The judge’ll have revenge today on the wanted man..”
One can only hope.
Life, liberty, …
Life, liberty, and property do not exist because men have made laws. On the contrary, it was the fact that life, liberty, and property existed beforehand that caused men to make laws in the first place. ― Frédéric Bastiat, The Law
King Obama?
Article 1. Section 1. All legislative Powers, herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives.
Simply translated it means all law making Powers are granted to the Congress. Note that nowhere in the Constitution does it say an Executive is granted powers of law making. It is conspicuously absent. It is important to note that an executive who can arbitrarily make and break laws has put himself by default above the law to the position of monarch or dictator. King George comes to mind. Josef Stalin comes to mind. Kim Jong-Un of North Korea comes to mind. We don’t allow that in this country, or do we?
The President’s actions in ordering changes and delays in implementation for the largely unpopular Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) are good illustrations of how the power of executive orders is being abused for political purposes. Some observers have suggested that the timing of these delays coincidentally fall after the mid-term elections of 2014. The President has side-stepped the only real chance the citizens have of voicing their discontent. When people start getting their insurance cancellation notices, employment terminations, and start experiencing the real negative effects of Obamacare kicking in, their chance to hold their elected representatives responsible will have come and gone. Convenient huh?
Since February 7, 2013 the President has altered, changed or delayed the implementation of the Affordable Care Act by executive fiat thirteen times according to the New York Times. The White House points to the Internal Revenue Code as its justification for the Obamacare delays. They argue that the Internal Revenue Service has the authority to “prescribe all needful rules and regulations” for enforcing the tax code. In July, before the Ways and Means House Subcommittee on Health, J. Mark Iwry, the deputy assistant Treasury secretary for health policy, said this administrative authority has been used to provide transition relief for taxpayers seeking to comply with new legislation, and to provide a wide range of other guidance. In particular, on a number of prior occasions across Administrations, this authority has been used to postpone the application of new legislation when immediate application would have subjected taxpayers to unreasonable administrative burdens or costs.”
Legal experts however state this power to delay is not unlimited. Nicolas Bagley a University of Michigan law professor who studies administrative and health law stated in a recent interview “The administration’s position is an aggressive one, and the legal basis for the delay isn’t altogether secure,” said Mr. Bagley. The same argument the White House is making could be used by future administrations to justify putting off just about any change in the tax code that Congress makes, he said, calling it a potential concern. “
This president has set records for the number of executive orders issued since he occupied the White House. The count is well over 13,000 and growing and is more than any other US president in history. This President has clearly demonstrated a blatant disregard for the US Constitution and the separation of powers, its underlying framework. In his most recent State of the Union address President Obama promised to act if Congress will not. There it was for all to see, his contempt for the process. He will legislate from the White House if Congress will not. He is willing to ignore the Constitution and unilaterally taken it upon himself to legislate by executive order and even more disgusting he received rousing applause in support from his Democrat cohorts for this very un-American idea.
If you haven’t already noticed this country is in trouble. We have a sitting President willing to circumvent the Constitution. We have a sizable percent of the Congress going along with that idea. We have a sycophant press corps and media apparatus willing to go along. Perhaps most disturbing is we have a big percentage of the US population more than willing to surrender their hard fought independence to self-proclaimed government experts in all matters of their life to include healthcare. Does America want a King again? Are we not capable of making decisions for ourselves and so must have a strong leader to look out for us? It sure looks like it doesn’t it?
The Evil empire is re-emerging and cold war is brewing
Since our founding, and even more so after the turn of the 20th century, America has proven exceptional in many ways compared to the other nations on Earth. She stands in stark contrast to say Russia whose people who do not have a history of freedom and independence. The Russian people it seems have always been ruled by various tribal war lords, czars, brutal dictators, petro billionaire mobsters, or variations of the same theme. With Putin in command they seem to be reverting back to the Cold War days of Stalin. Russians have always known great suffering under oppressive regimes when they were’t too busy inflicting suffering upon others around them. There paranoia is legendary some of which may be justified given their past experiences in WWII but make no mistake Stalin’s regime was every bit as evil and repressive as Hitler’s.
America by contrast has proven resourceful and resilient. Her people by and large are happy and even the most poor among us do not suffer the same hardships like say people from Bangladesh or India suffer. She is blessed with abundance in most everything. She has for the most part been a nation of religious people, at least more so than other nations and as a result her willingness to share from that great abundance is more than most nations. Frequently she displays generosity in times of crisis or need throughout the world. Lastly the promise of freedom and hope that her political institutions and laws has offered provide hope to people from all over the planet who come here (some illegally) seeking asylum and opportunities they cannot find elsewhere. This has been the America I grew up to be proud of and love.
Indeed many of America’s past leaders like John Kennedy and Ronald Reagan invoked the image from the bible parable of a shining city on a hill when describing America. President Ronald Reagan in his January 11, 1989, farewell speech to the nation said ”I’ve spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don’t know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace, a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity, and if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. That’s how I saw it and see it still..”. This is a strong vision for America and one in which our people need to still recognize. I have hope that we can still be that country.
Like it or not, America was, when the smoke and the bodies were cleared away after WWII, one of only two great superpowers left standing. In the end a confrontation of ideas had to take place as they could not co-exist and we won defeating Soviet communism. We were left with the role of world policeman and a growing appetite for debt.
Since then America has made colossal mistakes, not the least of which was arrogantly and unilaterally invading Iraq without declaration of war or real concrete evidence to justify it. That war I believe did irreparable harm. Our trust in our leaders was once again shaken and America’s role as leader of the free world and a reputation as a country that stands for what is right and just was compromised. The world after Iraq could easily say look at America, they are not much different than any of history’s other imperial empires. With the recent revelations of our spying on our allies made by Edward Snowden we continue to lose more credibility with those we call friends. In a nut shell we have lost the moral high ground and our reputation on the world stage is tarnished.
Economically we are broke and having a closet socialist as a President does not help give confidence to the financial engines that drive our free market economy and stimulate recovery. Do you know any business right now that is hiring in large numbers, or banks investing large amounts of capital on new ideas and inventions? I don’t and I bet you don’t either. They’re few and far between. Obama gets a vote of no confidence from most small businesses in America too despite what you might hear on television.
So this brings me to the latest headlines and the Ukraine. The old America would never let stand Putin’s country grabbing. The old America having signed treaties like the one with the Ukraine and promising to prevent Russia from forcing the Ukraine back into their political hemisphere in exchange for giving up nukes, would fight back against Putin. The America of old would stand by its word. Can you see John Kennedy backing down now or Reagan? How about Obama? Well? The truth is the old America would not even be in this political foreign policy predicament. Russia would have respected the USA’s ability to crush them economically with sanctions and militarily if need be, and so would never dream of invading Ukraine a free and sovereign country with whom we have ties and a treaty.
A clear and present danger today exists in American foreign policy and that is respect. Having lost the moral high ground after Iraq, and financially teetering on disaster after the last few years of Obama in the White House we appear weak. The Russians think so and I bet the Chinese think so and the Islamic fascists in the Middle East think so too.
My libertarian side wants us to stay out of this mess. How can we afford to do anything over there when we can’t take care of business at home. It might seem like George Washington’s advice regarding alliances might be a good idea. However as someone once said power abhors a vacuum. Step down from the world stage like Ron Paul or other libertarians advocate and you can be sure that Russia and China will fill in the void. What about those other countries we promised we would protect? You know our allies. Can you see other former Soviet states who fought for their independence fall back under Moscow’s control? Is Poland next? How about Taiwan?
It has been our country’s policy right or wrong to make the world safe for Democracy since WWII. Other smaller nations expect this and look to us for leadership. We fought hot and cold wars against totalitarian aggression on multiple continents and our old foes Russia and China are the same now as they were then regardless of what new image they like to spin or how many cheap manufactured things they sell to us at Wal-Mart. They are bullies in the world’s school yard always have been and always will be.
Perhaps in a perfect world we never would have taken on the role as leader of the free world or world cop but that is the role that was thrust upon us. We cannot sit idly yet the question becomes what can we do now. I think not very much. No matter how you look at it this, it does not end well for the people of Ukraine or our image. There is still much work to do but I’m afraid there is not enough time, money, allies, or fortitude left.
Common Core-another idea from the we know what’s best for you crowd
Common Core is but one of many fronts in the ongoing battle of ideas for control of America. Common Core or Common Core State Standards Initiative originated in 2009 was created by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers with input from teachers, researchers and “leading experts”. According to the Corestandards.org’s web site the standards are a “clear set of shared goals and expectations for the knowledge and skills students need in English language arts and mathematics at each grade level to ultimately be prepared to graduate college and career ready.”
The idea in principle sounds like a good one. Everyone can agree our schools and teachers should be accountable and are children need to be competent in core areas to be competitive in the world market place. Deciding how best to accomplish this task is the challenge.
On one side you have the old fashioned idea that parents and teachers should have a say in what the student’s education should look like based upon that student’s abilities and individual needs. On the other side you have this common held belief among most Progressives that it take a village to raise a child . Like Paul Reville, an education professor at Harvard and former Massachusetts secretary of Education said recently “the children belong to us all” or as MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry more ominously revealed “We have to break through our kind of private idea that kids belong to their parents or kids belong to their families and recognize that kids belong to whole communities.” Did you know that? Our children are not our own but belong to the community collective. Maybe I should have just sent my kid’s grocery tab to Uncle Sam. Who knew? It’s funny but I don’t recall my kids ever being assimilated by the Borg or the US Department of Education but perhaps that’s where Common Core is heading.
For the elites like Paul Reville one size does fit all. Just like Obamacare, the individual’s need to keep his healthcare is sidelined in favor of society’s overall need. Common Core is but one example of a fundamental and philosophical difference of opinion. Just who knows what’s best for you and your children? You, or some bureaucrat in Washington?
As Heritage Foundation fellow Lindsey M. Burke recently said “Children belong to their parents – their first educators and the people who have the most at stake in their educational well-being. Accountability is critically important in education, but accountability isn’t achieved by removing parents from the process out of a belief that bureaucrats will make better decisions.” In addition there has been no meaningful empirical evidence to suggest national standards produce better outcomes. It remains to be seen if all of the states adopt Common Core or something similar. The federal government has offered a pretty big carrot with over 4 billion dollars in Race to the Top grant money for states willing to adopt the initiative. According to conservative political analyst Phylis Schlafy “the common core promoters, whose goal is a national curriculum for all U.S. children despite laws prohibiting the government from requiring it, used the clever device of copyrighting the standards by a non government organization, The National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officers. This enables Common Core advocates to force uniform national standards while claiming that the laws prohibiting federal control of curriculum are not violated.”
The folly is failing to recognize that children like adults have different needs and wants, talents and abilities. We may be similar but we are not all the same and one standard does not fit all. Some Common Core’s critics have gone so far as to suggest that Common Core in its quest to standard tests and curricula also seeks to standardize minds, something that’s far from a traditional American value but very much in vogue with Progressives these days. Perhaps they seek to control the classroom as they do most newsrooms.
“Orthodoxy means not thinking–not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness.” George Orwell, 1984
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