By William Pressgrove
“The core unit which determines the strength of any society is the family; therefore, the government should foster and protect its integrity” (The 5000 Year Leap, W. Cleon Skousen p. 281)
If there has been one thing that has been under fire in our country for—well ever since I was in high school—it has been the family. History will bear out the truth that up until that time (around 1967) religious moorings had been the stabilizing force that kept the family ergo the country together. It was around that time that the court system determined that prayer in schools was a violation of the Constitution. “The family that prays together, stays together” wasn’t just a hollow euphemism but a statement of fact. It is hard to have a violent domestic disturbance and then turn around and say, “Okay, let’s have family prayer now” or vice versa, have family prayer and then beat the wife and kids before they go to bed.
When I think of this, two things come to mind. First, as long as the Christian religion has played a significant role in our country, the country has continued to prosper, and second, every time there has been a crisis, there is a resurgence of prayer in the country. Seems to me that even with the lack of prayer is schools people innately turn to God in prayer when there is a crisis like they know that the only reason we don’t have prayer in schools is because the Supreme Court has ruled it unconstitutional.
The entire chapter on the twenty-sixth principle refers to unity of the family. It sets up the nature of relationships within the family, the biblical promises made concerning members of the family as they honor those relationships, and the responsibilities of family members toward each other.
To ignore the power that comes from a family unit that has a quadrilateral, (the book says trilateral, but I would interject quadrilateral, meaning not only the father, mother and children, but adding God into the equation as well), relationship is to ignore the fundamental building block that makes society a more cohesive body.
The decline in the power and influence of the family in society started with a decline in the belief in God. I guess you might say that the only reason humanity has families is because of their belief in God. If we had descended from the primates, wouldn’t we have a social order that more closely resembles that of the primates? Where would we have come up with a social order with an ordinance such a marriage as being part of it if we weren’t created by God? That in and of itself makes one wonder how evolutionists sustain their belief in that part of the theory, but that’s a topic for another essay.
In regard to the moral and religious decline in this country, it seems to be a downward spiraling event. The less moral and religious families are, the more government steps in and intervenes and the more government intervenes the less moral and religious families become. It has gotten to the point where it seems that bureaucrats in government feel that our offspring are really the property of the state and that the parents are only allowed to care for the state’s property until it are old enough for the state to exploit it. However, if you are suspected of mistreating the states property, the state comes in and takes it away from you and pays someone else to raise it until the government can properly exploit it. But we still have our freedom, right?
As long as this country continues down the road to socialism, the family unit becomes less stable and unified. I don’t know whether it would be more correct to say that; the only way to regain the Constitutional freedom this country once had is to bolster the family or the reciprocal where the only way to bolster the family is to regain the Constitutional freedom we once had. It might be more correct to say they go hand in hand and both have to be achieved together. Government has no need to step in when families are close knit and functional and the more functional and close knit the families are, the more involved they are in preserving or restoring the principles of liberty to their rightful status and stature. We need to do both or we will lose all the freedom we now have.
Personally, I feel more like a slave now than I have ever felt in my life. I also feel that my posterity will, if this trend is allowed to continue, be more enslaved and less like families than I and my children have been. It’s time to step up to the plate and do our part to restore our country’s greatness. This can only be done by replacing those who are making the laws that are enslaving us. We need to reverse Henry David Thoreau’s statement and have thousands “striking at the root” and let the leaves fall where they may, we can clean the leaves up later after the infested tree is cut down and made into something useful like firewood.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Saturday, May 23, 2009
The Principles of Liberty (Twenty-five)
By William Pressgrove
“‘Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations—entangling alliances with none.’” (The 5000 Year Leap, W. Cleon Skousen p. 267)
One of the things I’m most sure of is that Washington and Jefferson were right when they warned America about “entangling alliances.” The warning was not just for government; however, it was for our businesses and entrepreneurs as well. World War I wasn’t a “world” war until the major powers came to the aid of their smaller “allies” and then the super powers jumped in to assist their allies the major powers.
The producers in our country helped it along by assisting our allies with weapons that weren’t being supplied to the opposition. The opposition, in order to protect themselves, attacked the supply ships that were bringing those weapons to the allies and so on until American Troops ended up in the middle of the fray in Europe.
World War II essentially began because of economics in Europe. Germany was in bad shape trying to pay back the war debt from WWI. That gave Hitler the opportunity that he needed to “talk” Germany into the expansion that eventually fueled WWII. However, this time the provocation that caused America to enter the war was that of an expanding Japanese empire (again another entangling alliance this time with Hitler and Mussolini). If you take a close look at it Japan was looking for raw materials they needed to boost their economy. The U.S. stood in the way of that expansion so they attacked us.
Today however, we have more entangling alliances than we have ever had. Government has directly opposed this sage advice by establishing “most favored trade” status with countries like China. Doing so means that other countries are slighted and their economies affected. Washington put it this way:
“In the execution of such a plan [of how to treat other nations] nothing is more essential than that permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular nations and passionate attachments for others should be excluded, and that in place of them just and amicable feelings toward all should be cultivated. The nation which indulges toward another an habitual hatred or an habitual fondness is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and interest.” (Fitzpatrick, Writings of George Washington, 35:231 as quoted in The 5000 Year Leap, W. Cleon Skousen, p.269)
As we can see, when we walk through the aisles of almost any department store, most of the items for sale are made in some other country (at Walmart it is difficult to find items made in the USA, most are made in China). This kind of “alliance” has led us to a dependency on foreign goods because our manufacturing has moved overseas.
Some may say we need to get out of the world market and go back to making everything right hear which would equate to the isolationism that Skousen talks about. That would only serve as an incubator for animosity against the U.S. by other countries. We can see how that has been detrimental to balance by looking at North Korea today. They have maintained their isolationism and because of it, and the communistic philosophy of its leaders, it has proven to be an economy killer.
The idea the Founding Fathers had was to keep our noses out of the political affairs of other countries at the same time maintain an open economic intercourse with all nations. That is what they termed separatism.
As it is, we have become so entangled in world affairs that those in power feel that, just like our; auto, insurance, and banking industries, there are countries that are just too big and too “important to fail.” So we buy their friendship with our “liberal” handout programs called “foreign aid” so that they can continue their “pursuit of happiness” at the peril of our own.
I feel as Washington did that this country was founded with the aid of Divine Providence and that He sustains all those who worship Him. Washington summed it up well when he said:
“Observe good faith and justice toward all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all. Religion and morality enjoin this conduct; and can it be that good policy does not equally enjoin it? It will be worthy of a free, enlightened, and, at no distant period, a great nation to give to mankind the magnanimous and too novel example of a people always guided by an exalted justice and benevolence.” (Ibid.)
One of the things I perceive more and more from our society, in its search for “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” is that it tends to try to force people to have it. Our country as well has engaged in forcing other countries into “democracy” when we should be leaving well enough alone and providing the best example of a democratic republic. In our own country, we have courts ordering 13 year-olds to undergo chemotherapy for cancer when they have chosen not to receive it. Does the state own that individual? Will the state be eternally damaged if the young man chooses an alternative treatment and passes away from it? This same philosophy is what causes us to enter into “entangling alliances” with other countries whether those allinaces are political or economic (NAFTA for example).
“‘Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations—entangling alliances with none.’” (The 5000 Year Leap, W. Cleon Skousen p. 267)
One of the things I’m most sure of is that Washington and Jefferson were right when they warned America about “entangling alliances.” The warning was not just for government; however, it was for our businesses and entrepreneurs as well. World War I wasn’t a “world” war until the major powers came to the aid of their smaller “allies” and then the super powers jumped in to assist their allies the major powers.
The producers in our country helped it along by assisting our allies with weapons that weren’t being supplied to the opposition. The opposition, in order to protect themselves, attacked the supply ships that were bringing those weapons to the allies and so on until American Troops ended up in the middle of the fray in Europe.
World War II essentially began because of economics in Europe. Germany was in bad shape trying to pay back the war debt from WWI. That gave Hitler the opportunity that he needed to “talk” Germany into the expansion that eventually fueled WWII. However, this time the provocation that caused America to enter the war was that of an expanding Japanese empire (again another entangling alliance this time with Hitler and Mussolini). If you take a close look at it Japan was looking for raw materials they needed to boost their economy. The U.S. stood in the way of that expansion so they attacked us.
Today however, we have more entangling alliances than we have ever had. Government has directly opposed this sage advice by establishing “most favored trade” status with countries like China. Doing so means that other countries are slighted and their economies affected. Washington put it this way:
“In the execution of such a plan [of how to treat other nations] nothing is more essential than that permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular nations and passionate attachments for others should be excluded, and that in place of them just and amicable feelings toward all should be cultivated. The nation which indulges toward another an habitual hatred or an habitual fondness is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and interest.” (Fitzpatrick, Writings of George Washington, 35:231 as quoted in The 5000 Year Leap, W. Cleon Skousen, p.269)
As we can see, when we walk through the aisles of almost any department store, most of the items for sale are made in some other country (at Walmart it is difficult to find items made in the USA, most are made in China). This kind of “alliance” has led us to a dependency on foreign goods because our manufacturing has moved overseas.
Some may say we need to get out of the world market and go back to making everything right hear which would equate to the isolationism that Skousen talks about. That would only serve as an incubator for animosity against the U.S. by other countries. We can see how that has been detrimental to balance by looking at North Korea today. They have maintained their isolationism and because of it, and the communistic philosophy of its leaders, it has proven to be an economy killer.
The idea the Founding Fathers had was to keep our noses out of the political affairs of other countries at the same time maintain an open economic intercourse with all nations. That is what they termed separatism.
As it is, we have become so entangled in world affairs that those in power feel that, just like our; auto, insurance, and banking industries, there are countries that are just too big and too “important to fail.” So we buy their friendship with our “liberal” handout programs called “foreign aid” so that they can continue their “pursuit of happiness” at the peril of our own.
I feel as Washington did that this country was founded with the aid of Divine Providence and that He sustains all those who worship Him. Washington summed it up well when he said:
“Observe good faith and justice toward all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all. Religion and morality enjoin this conduct; and can it be that good policy does not equally enjoin it? It will be worthy of a free, enlightened, and, at no distant period, a great nation to give to mankind the magnanimous and too novel example of a people always guided by an exalted justice and benevolence.” (Ibid.)
One of the things I perceive more and more from our society, in its search for “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” is that it tends to try to force people to have it. Our country as well has engaged in forcing other countries into “democracy” when we should be leaving well enough alone and providing the best example of a democratic republic. In our own country, we have courts ordering 13 year-olds to undergo chemotherapy for cancer when they have chosen not to receive it. Does the state own that individual? Will the state be eternally damaged if the young man chooses an alternative treatment and passes away from it? This same philosophy is what causes us to enter into “entangling alliances” with other countries whether those allinaces are political or economic (NAFTA for example).
Saturday, May 16, 2009
The Principles of Liberty (Twenty-four)
Principles of Liberty (Twenty-four)
By William Pressgrove
“A free people will not survive unless they stay strong.” (The 5000 Year Leap, W. Cleon Skousen p. 260)
When I first read this principle, I wasn’t as involved in political activism as I now am. I thought I was a good citizen because I would research the candidates I could, finding whatever material I could about them, and then going to the poll and voting my conscience. Which means when I first read this principle I just viewed it very superficially. I only thought of the information in the context of protecting our country from those who would destroy it from without.
Upon reading it this time, it hit me right between the eyes. All the references used can also be applied to those elements that are seeking to destroy it from within. (Note: All the references in this essay will be to the writings found in The 5000 Year Leap by W. Cleon Skousen, pp.260-265—including the embedded references he makes to writings of the Founding Fathers.)
Does this first paragraph strike a chord with you like it did with me?
A free people in a civilized society always tend toward prosperity. In the case of the United States, the trend has been toward a super-abundant prosperity. Only as the federal government has usurped authority and intermeddled with the free-market economy has this surge of prosperity and high production of goods and services been inhibited.
He goes on to say that this prosperity also draws the attention of “the greedy aspirations of predatory nations.” “Before the nation’s inhabitants are aware, their apocalypse of destruction is upon them.” The first copy write on this book was in 1981. How prophetic were these words? It seems that we are in that very situation right now.
The theme throughout the chapter about this principle is that after all we can do to prepare for our own defense we have to rely on “Divine Providence” as our Founders did in their war for independence. The Founding Fathers were not threatened as much from within as we are today, so most of their writings reflected being prepared for enemies from without. Even with that, many of the statements they made apply to our situation today. Ben Franklin said, “Make yourselves sheep, and the wolves will eat you.” I fear that this is just what has happened.
We have trusted in those who we have, either by vote or neglecting to vote, placed in positions of responsibility in our government. I’d just like to ask how much you feel our Senators and Representatives are representing us when they only have a 9% approval rating according to the polls? At the same time 94% of them are being re-elected to office. (Statistics from the Independent Caucus organization) I asked myself how could that be? How could they have such a poor approval rating and yet be re-elected in such great numbers.
The answer came to me as I was teaching my students at school. They are masters of the strategy “divide and conquer.” You see, there are 535 members of Congress counting both the House and the Senate. Each Representative provides earmarks for his District and Senators do the same for big projects in their State. When it comes time to be re-elected, they all begin pointing fingers at all the other districts and saying that the problems in Congress are because of all the other Representatives and Senators. At the same time they play on the greed of those in their districts by reminding them just how much money they have brought into their district from the federal coffers. So we “make ourselves sheep, and the wolves” are eating us.
None of these “career politicians” ever mentions that the money to pay for the earmarks and pork barrel projects is part of a deficit budget that will be added to the National Debt. They don’t bother saying that our grandchildren and great-grandchildren to the fourth and fifth generation will be paying for the amenities that we enjoy today. They don’t tell you of the troubled times we have ahead that will mean a standard of living for our posterity that will be much lower than ours because their inheritance has already been spent.
Our Founding Fathers were no dummies. They were very well versed in the flaws of human nature because they had been first hand witnesses of those flaws in the form of the government they fought to liberate themselves from.
However, our biggest enemy has four heads. First, we have the sleeping giant of apathy that we need to awaken to a sense of duty. Second, we have ignorance that keeps people from knowing about what is truly happening. Third, we have a narcissistic greed that prevails in the poorer sector that allows them to think that it is okay to take the hard earned money from a working person and give it to those who don’t work. And fourth we have an enormous sense of individuality that keeps us from unifying and focusing on one ultimate goal. It is too easy to focus on the immediate bills and injustices that are coming from Washington. We can solve a majority of those problems by replacing the incumbents with statesmen willing to do the bidding of the people. If we devote our energy to the individual causes of bills we see need to be opposed or passed, we sap the strength from striking at the root causes of those bills—special interest paid incumbents.
In conclusion, there is an old adage that says, “Work like everything depends on you and then pray like everything depends on the Lord.” You won’t find it in many modern history books but this is just what the Founding Fathers did. They worked like their future depended on them and then they prayed like it all depended on “Divine Providence.” They knew that our future depended on our moral strength and virtue. Samuel Adams wrote, “It is the business of America to take care of herself; her situation, as you justly observe, depends upon her won virtue.” May we find the moral strength and virtue among us to unify to rectify the government and return it to the correct principles it was founded on. This is my prayer. May you all be working and praying toward the same end.
By William Pressgrove
“A free people will not survive unless they stay strong.” (The 5000 Year Leap, W. Cleon Skousen p. 260)
When I first read this principle, I wasn’t as involved in political activism as I now am. I thought I was a good citizen because I would research the candidates I could, finding whatever material I could about them, and then going to the poll and voting my conscience. Which means when I first read this principle I just viewed it very superficially. I only thought of the information in the context of protecting our country from those who would destroy it from without.
Upon reading it this time, it hit me right between the eyes. All the references used can also be applied to those elements that are seeking to destroy it from within. (Note: All the references in this essay will be to the writings found in The 5000 Year Leap by W. Cleon Skousen, pp.260-265—including the embedded references he makes to writings of the Founding Fathers.)
Does this first paragraph strike a chord with you like it did with me?
A free people in a civilized society always tend toward prosperity. In the case of the United States, the trend has been toward a super-abundant prosperity. Only as the federal government has usurped authority and intermeddled with the free-market economy has this surge of prosperity and high production of goods and services been inhibited.
He goes on to say that this prosperity also draws the attention of “the greedy aspirations of predatory nations.” “Before the nation’s inhabitants are aware, their apocalypse of destruction is upon them.” The first copy write on this book was in 1981. How prophetic were these words? It seems that we are in that very situation right now.
The theme throughout the chapter about this principle is that after all we can do to prepare for our own defense we have to rely on “Divine Providence” as our Founders did in their war for independence. The Founding Fathers were not threatened as much from within as we are today, so most of their writings reflected being prepared for enemies from without. Even with that, many of the statements they made apply to our situation today. Ben Franklin said, “Make yourselves sheep, and the wolves will eat you.” I fear that this is just what has happened.
We have trusted in those who we have, either by vote or neglecting to vote, placed in positions of responsibility in our government. I’d just like to ask how much you feel our Senators and Representatives are representing us when they only have a 9% approval rating according to the polls? At the same time 94% of them are being re-elected to office. (Statistics from the Independent Caucus organization) I asked myself how could that be? How could they have such a poor approval rating and yet be re-elected in such great numbers.
The answer came to me as I was teaching my students at school. They are masters of the strategy “divide and conquer.” You see, there are 535 members of Congress counting both the House and the Senate. Each Representative provides earmarks for his District and Senators do the same for big projects in their State. When it comes time to be re-elected, they all begin pointing fingers at all the other districts and saying that the problems in Congress are because of all the other Representatives and Senators. At the same time they play on the greed of those in their districts by reminding them just how much money they have brought into their district from the federal coffers. So we “make ourselves sheep, and the wolves” are eating us.
None of these “career politicians” ever mentions that the money to pay for the earmarks and pork barrel projects is part of a deficit budget that will be added to the National Debt. They don’t bother saying that our grandchildren and great-grandchildren to the fourth and fifth generation will be paying for the amenities that we enjoy today. They don’t tell you of the troubled times we have ahead that will mean a standard of living for our posterity that will be much lower than ours because their inheritance has already been spent.
Our Founding Fathers were no dummies. They were very well versed in the flaws of human nature because they had been first hand witnesses of those flaws in the form of the government they fought to liberate themselves from.
However, our biggest enemy has four heads. First, we have the sleeping giant of apathy that we need to awaken to a sense of duty. Second, we have ignorance that keeps people from knowing about what is truly happening. Third, we have a narcissistic greed that prevails in the poorer sector that allows them to think that it is okay to take the hard earned money from a working person and give it to those who don’t work. And fourth we have an enormous sense of individuality that keeps us from unifying and focusing on one ultimate goal. It is too easy to focus on the immediate bills and injustices that are coming from Washington. We can solve a majority of those problems by replacing the incumbents with statesmen willing to do the bidding of the people. If we devote our energy to the individual causes of bills we see need to be opposed or passed, we sap the strength from striking at the root causes of those bills—special interest paid incumbents.
In conclusion, there is an old adage that says, “Work like everything depends on you and then pray like everything depends on the Lord.” You won’t find it in many modern history books but this is just what the Founding Fathers did. They worked like their future depended on them and then they prayed like it all depended on “Divine Providence.” They knew that our future depended on our moral strength and virtue. Samuel Adams wrote, “It is the business of America to take care of herself; her situation, as you justly observe, depends upon her won virtue.” May we find the moral strength and virtue among us to unify to rectify the government and return it to the correct principles it was founded on. This is my prayer. May you all be working and praying toward the same end.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
The Principles of Liberty (Twenty-three)
Principles of Liberty (Twenty-three)
By William Pressgrove
“A free society cannot survive as a republic without a broad program of general education.” (The 5000 Year Leap, W. Cleon Skousen p. 249)
Although this seems like a somewhat benign principle, it turns out that it is the foundation of all the others. Without it, the Founding Fathers would not have been able to gather the information from scholars like Moses, Locke, Blackstone, and English Common Law to formulate the principles that appear to be much more significant to the founding of this country.
From the annals of history as far back as 1647, as chronicled by Cleon Skousen, there are accounts of legislatures passing laws like in Massachusetts where it was established that wherever there was a body of 50 families it was required for them to set up a “free public grammar school to teach the fundamentals of reading, writing, ciphering, history, geography, and Bible study.” Skousen quotes John Adams considerably on this subject, but ends with this quote, “Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people...They have a right, an indisputable, unalienable, indefeasible, divine right to that most dreaded in envied kind of knowledge—I mean, of the characters and conduct of their rulers.” (Koch, The American Enlightenment, p. 239, as quoted by W. Cleon Skousen, The 5000 Year Leap, p.250.)
“In the American colonies the intention was to have all children taught the fundamentals of reading, writing, and arithmetic, so that they could go on to become well-informed citizens through their own diligent self-study. No doubt this explains why all of the American Founders were so well read, and usually from the same books, even though a number of them had received a very limited formal education. The fundamentals were sufficient to get them started, and thereafter they became remarkably well informed in a variety of areas through self-learning. This was the pattern followed by both Franklin and Washington.” (Skousen, The 5000 Year Leap, p.252)
There are many more points covered, but for the sake of brevity, I’d like to weigh in the balance the educational philosophy of the era of the Constitution and that of our day.
Back then they made it mandatory to have grammar schools, but there were no compulsory attendance laws. Those who went to learn did it to improve themselves and their knowledge and understanding.
Today, it is mandatory to have the schools, and it is mandatory for students to attend. Many go because they want to learn. There are those who go because they have to but don’t want to. When they are forced to attend, more often than not, they disrupt to get attention and monopolize the time of the teacher. They draw so much of the teacher’s attention that the education of those wanting to learn suffers.
Back then the subjects were sufficient to facilitate self-learning so those who attended could continue learning while they weren’t at school. There was a desire for self improvement.
Today, don’t even think of requiring students to do homework (self-learning). I require it but, even when if the student’s grade depends on them doing their homework, they just complete the bare minimum required or don’t even do it at all. Procrastination seems to be the standard of today, “if I don’t pass this course this year, I’ll just take it in summer school. (Many parents today prefer them being in summer school because they have to work and there wouldn’t be anyone to watch the children during summer vacation if they didn’t send them to summer school.)
Back then morality was taught in school in the form of Bible study. The moral character was one of the most important issues.
Today, many students have been denied character building instruction to the point that they feel that if they don’t get caught, they have done nothing wrong. This can be contributed in large part to the fact that schools live by another principle, the principle of see no evil, hear no evil. So the foundation of moral training is basically where there are no consequences, there are no rules. Oh, the rules are all written down, but “It’s too much of a hassle to enforce the dress code.” “If I respect them (even if they don’t follow the rules), they respect me,” seems to be all the moral training they get from some teachers. How detrimental to moral character are these philosophies!
Schools today, because legislatures require some sort of “quantifiable justification” for spending money on them, have become more or less “diploma mills” because the “quantifiable justification” hinges on the percent of graduates the school puts out. It doesn’t matter that 20 percent of those graduates are functionally illiterate when they graduate or not, just as long as they get the diploma, the state is happy.
With that tidbit of information, how easy will it be for politicians to manipulate these “graduates” when it comes time to vote? Who benefits by an illiterate populace? After answering those questions, it should be easier to see why politicians aren’t so interested about what comes out of our high schools but how much money goes into them.
That is why this is one of the most important principles even though it seems to be either a foregone conclusion that people get an education, or a matter of insignificance when compared to the other principles, yet all the other principles hinge upon it.
By William Pressgrove
“A free society cannot survive as a republic without a broad program of general education.” (The 5000 Year Leap, W. Cleon Skousen p. 249)
Although this seems like a somewhat benign principle, it turns out that it is the foundation of all the others. Without it, the Founding Fathers would not have been able to gather the information from scholars like Moses, Locke, Blackstone, and English Common Law to formulate the principles that appear to be much more significant to the founding of this country.
From the annals of history as far back as 1647, as chronicled by Cleon Skousen, there are accounts of legislatures passing laws like in Massachusetts where it was established that wherever there was a body of 50 families it was required for them to set up a “free public grammar school to teach the fundamentals of reading, writing, ciphering, history, geography, and Bible study.” Skousen quotes John Adams considerably on this subject, but ends with this quote, “Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people...They have a right, an indisputable, unalienable, indefeasible, divine right to that most dreaded in envied kind of knowledge—I mean, of the characters and conduct of their rulers.” (Koch, The American Enlightenment, p. 239, as quoted by W. Cleon Skousen, The 5000 Year Leap, p.250.)
“In the American colonies the intention was to have all children taught the fundamentals of reading, writing, and arithmetic, so that they could go on to become well-informed citizens through their own diligent self-study. No doubt this explains why all of the American Founders were so well read, and usually from the same books, even though a number of them had received a very limited formal education. The fundamentals were sufficient to get them started, and thereafter they became remarkably well informed in a variety of areas through self-learning. This was the pattern followed by both Franklin and Washington.” (Skousen, The 5000 Year Leap, p.252)
There are many more points covered, but for the sake of brevity, I’d like to weigh in the balance the educational philosophy of the era of the Constitution and that of our day.
Back then they made it mandatory to have grammar schools, but there were no compulsory attendance laws. Those who went to learn did it to improve themselves and their knowledge and understanding.
Today, it is mandatory to have the schools, and it is mandatory for students to attend. Many go because they want to learn. There are those who go because they have to but don’t want to. When they are forced to attend, more often than not, they disrupt to get attention and monopolize the time of the teacher. They draw so much of the teacher’s attention that the education of those wanting to learn suffers.
Back then the subjects were sufficient to facilitate self-learning so those who attended could continue learning while they weren’t at school. There was a desire for self improvement.
Today, don’t even think of requiring students to do homework (self-learning). I require it but, even when if the student’s grade depends on them doing their homework, they just complete the bare minimum required or don’t even do it at all. Procrastination seems to be the standard of today, “if I don’t pass this course this year, I’ll just take it in summer school. (Many parents today prefer them being in summer school because they have to work and there wouldn’t be anyone to watch the children during summer vacation if they didn’t send them to summer school.)
Back then morality was taught in school in the form of Bible study. The moral character was one of the most important issues.
Today, many students have been denied character building instruction to the point that they feel that if they don’t get caught, they have done nothing wrong. This can be contributed in large part to the fact that schools live by another principle, the principle of see no evil, hear no evil. So the foundation of moral training is basically where there are no consequences, there are no rules. Oh, the rules are all written down, but “It’s too much of a hassle to enforce the dress code.” “If I respect them (even if they don’t follow the rules), they respect me,” seems to be all the moral training they get from some teachers. How detrimental to moral character are these philosophies!
Schools today, because legislatures require some sort of “quantifiable justification” for spending money on them, have become more or less “diploma mills” because the “quantifiable justification” hinges on the percent of graduates the school puts out. It doesn’t matter that 20 percent of those graduates are functionally illiterate when they graduate or not, just as long as they get the diploma, the state is happy.
With that tidbit of information, how easy will it be for politicians to manipulate these “graduates” when it comes time to vote? Who benefits by an illiterate populace? After answering those questions, it should be easier to see why politicians aren’t so interested about what comes out of our high schools but how much money goes into them.
That is why this is one of the most important principles even though it seems to be either a foregone conclusion that people get an education, or a matter of insignificance when compared to the other principles, yet all the other principles hinge upon it.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
The Principles of Liberty (Twenty-two)
Principles of Liberty (Twenty-two)
By William Pressgrove
“A free people should be governed by law and not by the whims of men.” (The 5000 Year Leap, W. Cleon Skousen p. 243)
In introducing this principle Cleon Skousen was very straight forward in stating:
“To be governed by the whims of men is to be subject to the ever-changing capriciousness of those in power. This is ruler’s law at its worst. In such a society nothing is dependable. No rights are secure. Things established in the present are in a constant state of flux. Nothing becomes fixed and predictable for the future.”
The Founders lived under the tyranny of a king and a parliament bent on the exploiting the colonies to support their lifestyles, and witnessed the uncertainty of their lives because the rules that governed the colonies changed at the drop of a hat.
That is why they set up the government so that the rule of law governed. If all had to live by the same laws, then all knew what to expect and could make future plans based on those laws. Today, can we say that we have the same assurance? We have laws governing bankruptcy, yet government says that we have companies that are “too large to be allowed to fail”, so they bail them out to avoid bankruptcy. We have laws that state that government cannot interfere in private business, yet government now owns majority shares in AIG, GM, Chrysler, and at least 23 different banking firms. So what happened to the laws regarding these issues? In essence without saying the words that “the Constitution is suspended” or “martial law is declared”, the government has suspended the laws that govern these issues. Well as Rahm Emanuel, the Whitehouse Chief of Staff said, “Never let a serious crisis go to waste. What I mean by that is it’s an opportunity to do things you couldn’t do before.”
The last time I checked, the Tenth Amendment states that the government has no power except the power delegated to it by the Constitution. I’ve read the Constitution several times and I can’t find anywhere in it that the power to interfere in private industry/business is a power delegated to central government. So why is it being done without a declared “state of emergency” or having declared martial law?
The answer to these questions is simple. The rule of law has been suspended and like Cleon Skousen pointed out. We are being, “governed by the whims of men” and are “subject to the ever-changing capriciousness of those in power.”
The solution? We need to awaken to the awfulness of our situation. We need to realize that we are verifying what Thomas Jefferson was warning us against when he said, “When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.”
We the People are the sovereign. Government has “taken power unto itself” and thinks that those who are elected or appointed have the power to force the people of the country to do as they bid. Without going too far into it, I think that they feel this way because they think the majority of the people in the country should be beholding to them because they have redistributed the wealth of the country so that they are “more equal.” Government is counting on those who have received from the government to side with them on the issues giving them a majority, or as they put it, a mandate to proceed with the socialistic plans and programs they are now trying to force into place using whatever “crisis” they can find or manufacture.
As we awaken to the predicament we are in, we need to take action. This action has to be UNIFIED. Those in power are counting on us to be fragmented and divided so that the courses of action we take will be in so many different directions that we will not be unified and be able to produce a majority when it comes time to vote. Even though there were hundreds of thousands of people who attended a TEA Party on April 15th (to which I was a party) there were many divisions among the attendants as to what the best course of action should be. The body politic is counting on us to remain fractured in deciding on a course of action to unseat them from their comfortable and lucrative positions in Congress and the White House.
The unity we are seeking can be found in the principles and values found in The 5000 Year Leap and the 9-12 Project. The course of action we must take is one that has proven to be effective and will propel our unity into effective action and is found it the Independence Caucus’ course of action. I urge all of you who are in different organizations that participated or believe in the TEA Parties as well as anyone else who believes that we are living one of Thomas Jefferson’s worst nightmares concerning government, to check out the following two websites and learn as much about them as possible. I am very confident that you will see clearly the course of action that we need to take as you learn more about what these two groups stand for. There is no reason to give up affiliation with other organizations, but in order to take the reins of government back we all need to support and work toward the objectives of these two organizations.
http://www.the912project.com
http://www.ourcausus.com
May we all succeed in our endeavors to restore the rule of law in this country.
By William Pressgrove
“A free people should be governed by law and not by the whims of men.” (The 5000 Year Leap, W. Cleon Skousen p. 243)
In introducing this principle Cleon Skousen was very straight forward in stating:
“To be governed by the whims of men is to be subject to the ever-changing capriciousness of those in power. This is ruler’s law at its worst. In such a society nothing is dependable. No rights are secure. Things established in the present are in a constant state of flux. Nothing becomes fixed and predictable for the future.”
The Founders lived under the tyranny of a king and a parliament bent on the exploiting the colonies to support their lifestyles, and witnessed the uncertainty of their lives because the rules that governed the colonies changed at the drop of a hat.
That is why they set up the government so that the rule of law governed. If all had to live by the same laws, then all knew what to expect and could make future plans based on those laws. Today, can we say that we have the same assurance? We have laws governing bankruptcy, yet government says that we have companies that are “too large to be allowed to fail”, so they bail them out to avoid bankruptcy. We have laws that state that government cannot interfere in private business, yet government now owns majority shares in AIG, GM, Chrysler, and at least 23 different banking firms. So what happened to the laws regarding these issues? In essence without saying the words that “the Constitution is suspended” or “martial law is declared”, the government has suspended the laws that govern these issues. Well as Rahm Emanuel, the Whitehouse Chief of Staff said, “Never let a serious crisis go to waste. What I mean by that is it’s an opportunity to do things you couldn’t do before.”
The last time I checked, the Tenth Amendment states that the government has no power except the power delegated to it by the Constitution. I’ve read the Constitution several times and I can’t find anywhere in it that the power to interfere in private industry/business is a power delegated to central government. So why is it being done without a declared “state of emergency” or having declared martial law?
The answer to these questions is simple. The rule of law has been suspended and like Cleon Skousen pointed out. We are being, “governed by the whims of men” and are “subject to the ever-changing capriciousness of those in power.”
The solution? We need to awaken to the awfulness of our situation. We need to realize that we are verifying what Thomas Jefferson was warning us against when he said, “When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.”
We the People are the sovereign. Government has “taken power unto itself” and thinks that those who are elected or appointed have the power to force the people of the country to do as they bid. Without going too far into it, I think that they feel this way because they think the majority of the people in the country should be beholding to them because they have redistributed the wealth of the country so that they are “more equal.” Government is counting on those who have received from the government to side with them on the issues giving them a majority, or as they put it, a mandate to proceed with the socialistic plans and programs they are now trying to force into place using whatever “crisis” they can find or manufacture.
As we awaken to the predicament we are in, we need to take action. This action has to be UNIFIED. Those in power are counting on us to be fragmented and divided so that the courses of action we take will be in so many different directions that we will not be unified and be able to produce a majority when it comes time to vote. Even though there were hundreds of thousands of people who attended a TEA Party on April 15th (to which I was a party) there were many divisions among the attendants as to what the best course of action should be. The body politic is counting on us to remain fractured in deciding on a course of action to unseat them from their comfortable and lucrative positions in Congress and the White House.
The unity we are seeking can be found in the principles and values found in The 5000 Year Leap and the 9-12 Project. The course of action we must take is one that has proven to be effective and will propel our unity into effective action and is found it the Independence Caucus’ course of action. I urge all of you who are in different organizations that participated or believe in the TEA Parties as well as anyone else who believes that we are living one of Thomas Jefferson’s worst nightmares concerning government, to check out the following two websites and learn as much about them as possible. I am very confident that you will see clearly the course of action that we need to take as you learn more about what these two groups stand for. There is no reason to give up affiliation with other organizations, but in order to take the reins of government back we all need to support and work toward the objectives of these two organizations.
http://www.the912project.com
http://www.ourcausus.com
May we all succeed in our endeavors to restore the rule of law in this country.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
