Recently in edu-K-shon Category

(hat-tip: Tina Woode)

In his 1890 essay, "Leaders of Men," Woodrow Wilson explained that a "true leader" uses the masses like "tools." He must inflame their passions with little heed for the facts. "Men are as clay in the hands of the consummate leader." "No doubt a lot of nonsense has been talked about the inalienable rights of the individual, and a great deal that was mere sentiment and pleasing speculation has been put forward as fundamental principle," wrote Wilson, attacking the very individual rights that have made America great. He rejected the principles of "separation of powers" and "checks and balances" that are the foundation of American government: "Government does now whatever experience permits or the times demand...."

 

Wilson too re-made Princeton, this time on the model of the German university. At a time in which German scholarship was in fashion, he was a champion of Hegelianism, helping to introduce a strain of thought into the American body politic that was fundamentally opposed to the natural rights philosophy of the Founders. Hegel's historicism--the belief that all thought is historically conditioned--was the intellectual foundation of Progressivism and of Wilson's belief that the Constitution was an antique absurdity. Wilson championed the idea of "the living Constitution" which enables activist judges to re-write the Constitution according to the Progressive notions of the day.

 

American Protective League: Formed by A.M. Briggs, a wealthy Chicago businessman, at its zenith the APL had 250,000 dues-paying members in 600 cities of the United States. Authorized to operate by the U.S. Attorney General, Thomas Gregory, the APL assisted the Bureau of Investigation (BOI), the precursor to the FBI. A private organization, the APL nevertheless had a semi-official status; it was officially approved by the Attorney General, who authorized the APL to state on its letterhead, "Organized with the Approval and operating under the direction of the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Investigation.".... pursued suspects of disloyalty on their own initiative and in their own manner.  APL members were accused of acting as vigilantes, allegedly violating the civil liberties of American citizens,... A few months after the Armistice was signed, ending World War I, the League disbanded, in part as a result of opposition by the President's incoming Attorney General, A. Mitchell Palmer.

 

Wilson, like the bulk of progressive intellectuals in fin-de-siècle America, was deeply influenced by three strands of thought: philosophical Pragmatism, Hegelianism, and Darwinism. This heady intellectual cocktail produced a drunken arrogance and the conviction that the old rules no longer applied.....Hence Wilson argued that the old "Newtonian" vision - fixed rules enshrined in the Constitution and laws - had to give way to the "Darwinian" view of "living constitutions" and the like. With the intellectuals on their side, Wilson recruited journalist George Creel to become a propaganda minister as head of the newly formed Committee on Public Information (CPI). (about a million strong,, went around giving speeches on street corners, making posters, handing out pamphlets,, a very intimidating group all of it's own,. Under the Espionage Act of 1917 and the Sedition Act of 1918,  Wilson's administration shut down newspapers and magazines at an astounding pace. Indeed, any criticism of the government, even in your own home, could earn you a prison sentence. One man was brought to trial for explaining in his own home why he didn't want to buy Liberty Bonds. The APL - a quarter million strong at its height, with offices in 600 cities - carried government-issued badges while beating up dissidents and protesters and conducting warrantless searches and interrogations. Even after the war, Wilson refused to release the last of America's political prisoners.

 

Citizens could not "utter, print, write or publish any disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language" about the government or the military. The Postmaster General was given the authority to revoke the mailing privileges of those who disobeyed. ...All in all it is estimated that about 175,000 Americans were arrested for failing to demonstrate their patriotism in one way or another.

Wilson and racism: It was Inauguration Day, and in the judgment of one later historian,  the atmosphere in the nation's capital bore ominous signs for Negroes.  Washington rang with happy Rebel Yells, while bands all over town played Dixie.  Indeed, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, who swore in the newly elected Southern president, was himself a former member of the Ku Klux Klan. Meanwhile,  an unidentified associate of the new Chief Executive warned that since the South ran the nation, Negroes should expect to be treated as a servile race.  Somebody had even sent the new president a possum, an act supposedly  consonant with Southern tradition.  This is not an alternate world scenario imagining the results of a Strom Thurmond victory in the 1948 election; it is the real March 4, 1913, the day Woodrow Wilson of Virginia moved into the White House. The details, above and below, are drawn from the work of historian Lawrence J. Friedman, The White Savage: Racial Fantasies in the Postbellum South &. 

Wilson allowed various officials to segregate the toilets, cafeterias, and work areas of their departments.  One justification involved health: White government workers had to be protected from contagious diseases, especially venereal diseases, that racists imagined were being spread by blacks. In extreme cases, federal officials built separate structures to house black workers. Most black diplomats were replaced by whites; numerous black federal officials in the South were removed from their posts; the local Washington police force and fire department stopped hiring blacks. Wilson's own view, as he expressed it to intimates, was that federal segregation was an act of kindness. In historian Friedman's paraphrase,  "Off by themselves with only a white supervisor, blacks would not be forced out of their jobs by energetic white employees."*

 

Woodrow Wilson, elitist, racist, Progressive Democrat. 

I'll bet you never learned that in American history class.

*Source:   Woodrow Wilson's Constitution by Robert Curry

The Center for American Progress, a far-left, progressive organization funded by George Soros, a far-left, progressive ideologue who has spent tens of millions of dollars to expedite the destruction of America, has come out with a report on education.

We all know our public education system is broken and in dire need of repair, so it seems we have another "crisis we can't let go to waste" waiting in the wings for our government saviors to swoop in and fix what they have spent decades destroying in their indoctrination camps we call public schools.

The Soros-supported report, with backing from the NEA (the teachers union that is more concerned with retaining incompetent teachers than educating our children) has come out with a proposal to control the costs of public education.  They call for the elimination of what they determine to be  "niche programs."

Just exactly what are these niche programs you might ask.  Well, I'll be happy to tell you. 

One of these non-essential "niche" programs is called "Academies for American History and Civics."  This is a program which provides workshops for teachers of American history.  Why should we teach American history?  Aren't we all citizens of the world now?

Then "We the People" should be cut.  This is a program for the Center for Civic Education to instruct students about the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights.  No, we don't want our children learning about those evil documents.  They might actually start to question the motives of our elected officials and we can't have that.

Lastly, there is "Excellence in Economic Education.  This is a program designed to promote economic and financial literacy among K to 12 students.  God forbid our children learn how not to spend our nation into bankruptcy! 

So they want to cut programs that teach American history; yet some states such as Arizona  push a Mexican-American studies program.  Arizona's superintendent of public instruction, Tom Horne says the basic theme of the Mexican-American studies program in Arizona is that Latino students were and continue to be victims of a racist American society driven by the interests of the middle and upper class whites. Among the goals listed for the Mexican- American studies are... social justice, Latino critical race pedagogy, and they have pictures in the classroom showing the walls decorated with heroes like Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. I guess Fidel and Che are the real heroes of our Revolution.  Of course, that would be the "new" Revolution.

They want to cut programs that teach the founding documents of our republic; yet our president, who supposedly taught constitutional law believes our constitution is an out-dated document and doesn't go far enough to insure a benevolent federal government can at last make everyone equal.

And the last thing we want our children to learn is economics.  That would not bode well for the elitists in Washington.  Finally, someone would understand what they were up to.

I'm all for saving money, especially when so much is wasted.  But it seems to me there is a myriad of programs that could disappear without anyone suffering. 

Except, of course, progressives.

The preceding disclaimer was taken from Wilder's copy of "The Constitution, The Declaration of Independence, and The Articles of Confederation."

Now, we're not talking about Penthouse magazine, or violent video games such as Grand Theft Auto.  We're talking about the founding documents of our republic.  Why would you need a disclaimer?  Should we now put a disclaimer in front of the works of Shakespeare; or Homer; or  Matthew, Mark, Luke and John?

What is it about the Constitution that doesn't reflect the same values that we have today?  We believe in personal liberty, equality and opportunity.  Do we all not desire to pursue happiness?  Or is that only limited to the rich and powerful apparatchiks; as in the former Soviet Union?

Those elites in academia would have us believe that our Founding Father's ideas and ideals are out-of-date.  They were really for another time.  So we shouldn't have freedom OF religion, we should have freedom FROM religion.  We should only have freedom of speech if it's politically correct speech and authorized by someone who's smarter than us.  We should only allow freedom of the press for those who agree with an administration and congress who seek ever more power.

You see, those above mentioned freedoms are rights guaranteed to us by our Bill of Rights; the first ten amendments to our Constitution.  There is a reason that they are in the 1st Amendment.  It's because they are the most important of our rights.  Without them, we would not have lasted 234 years.  These rights are not to be viewed in the context of ever-changing societal norms.  They are supposed to SET the norms. 

Our Constitution is the framework of our republic.  It spells out exactly how our government is meant to work.  Unfortunately, for the last one hundred years, we've strayed farther and farther from this MOST important document and we now have a government that is not of the people, by the people and for the people anymore.  With its continuing disregard for the wishes of the vast majority of Americans, it has proved that it no longer wants to govern.  It wants to rule.

I seem to remember that the last king who ruled over America didn't do very well. 

We've thrown out despots before.  We will throw them out again.

Collectivism, Socialism, Communism: "Women and children hardest hit.".

Stealing a play from the lib playbook, I'll use a headline that is one of their favorites - you know the one they always use to grab your attention - the headline that declares whatever impending doom is coming - typically caused by mean hearted republicans - will impact women and children first  -

"Budget cuts coming - women and children hardest hit" or  Asteroid collides with earth  wipes out entire population, "women and children hardest hit"

In a recent Rasmussen poll 30% of Democrats say they prefer Socialism! The figures for the under 30 crowd are even more staggering: while 37% prefer capitalism, 33% prefer socialism and a staggering 30% are undecided. Source

Can someone please explain to me that in a world where collectivism in all of its forms have been demonstrated a failure, we have 33% of those under 30 embracing it and another 30% undecided about its efficacy? Can there really be that many tenured professors romanticizing about the good old days of Stalin and  Mao or lifting up Castro's Cuba as a current modern economic model? I'm just saying would you rather have Cuba's economy than our own?

Well, if you would rather Cuba's economy, hang on it's coming - many in the 'Dear Reader's" administration have an affinity for socialism. These folks are working diligently to bring that home to us  - with all that it entails:  including high unemployment or massive underemployment,  inflation, slow or regressive growth. Not to mention all that comes with state managed; education, health, economy and faith.

If you prefer socialism to capitalism then, the light you see at the end of the tunnel is not the end, instead it is a "flashlight on a ration card"!

Taxes verses Services - Guns verses Butter, similar argument differing context.

 

In our local paper the Orlando Sentinel - one of the bankrupt properties of the Tribune Company [earlier Harangue] - who never met a 'socialist cause' it didn't embrace, is now reporting "Florida faces stark choice: Taxes vs. services".  Source 

 

Of course the real problem is that the state has promised too many goodies to those who aren't paying for them and is telling the rest of us, the taxpayers - which is an ever shrinking number - mind you, that we "'gotta' pay more"!!!

 

As an example:

That fact that they payer-vote is already paying double and sometimes triple for some services - already should be enough to stop the "Jeopardy Clock"; but, regrettably it's not. For example: your public school system delivers a defective product  - in that 50% of those graduating can't read and at least 30% of the students drop out before graduation - so you send your kinds to private school to offset the dumb-mass gap. You are force to pay twice: once on your tax bill, then on your children's tuition. Then the school board in it's infinity wisdom decides it needs more administrators and a new building to house them in so they impose an impact fee on new construction essentially taxing new home buyers a third time for the same defective services.

 

Florida is more than just 'Blue hairs' and Mickey Mouse. It's made up of real people trying to get things done. But; when the Apostles of Ignorance try to confiscate money from "Blue Hairs", Mickey or the rest of us, vis-à-vis taxes they disincentive 'getting things done'.  

 

Another example of what Frederic Bastiat wrote;  "the state is that great fiction by which everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else"  [so who owns you?]