Our Hands Are Tied ... By Teacher Unions

The loss of citizen control over what our nation’s youth are taught in the behavioral studies hinges on two teachers’ tenure contract paragraphs demanded by union bosses when negotiating with local school boards.  The first devastating paragraph provides teacher tenure guarantees that supersede the authority of school administrators to replace employees.  The second harmful paragraph makes it a crime to disclose bad teacher performance to the public or to other schools that are considering hiring the teacher until costly and lengthy legal proceedings have approved such disclosure.

Professionals like medical doctors, engineers, plumbers, and airline pilots—vital to our society—do not have tenure guarantees.  Yet what is being taught to America’s youth is of even greater importance.

The unionization of teachers and accompanying tenure law have enabled a small cadre of radicals to enforce their attacks against God in education. Newt Gingrich stated:  “Those who want absolute proof you cannot teach American history honestly and accurately without reference to God, go to the Lincoln Memorial and read where in Lincoln’s second inaugural, March 1865, he referred to God fourteen times and used two quotes from the Bible.”

Benjamin Franklin, a delegate from Pennsylvania to the second Continental Congress and signer of the Constitution of the United States, wrote about the First Principle in his Articles of Belief:  “ I believe there is one supreme, most perfect Being …  Also when I stretch my imagination through and beyond our system of planets, beyond the visible fixed stars themselves, into that space that is [in] every way infinite, and conceive it filled with suns like ours, each with a chorus of worlds forever moving around him; then this little ball on which we move, seems, even in my narrow imagination, to be almost nothing, and myself less than noghing, and of no sort of consequence … That I may be preserved from atheism … Help me, O Father!... For all Thy innumerable benefits; for life, and reason … My good God, I thank thee!”

Benjamin Franklin, “Articles of Belief,” in The American Ideal of 1776, ed. Hamilton Albert Long(Philadelphia:  Heritage Books, 1963), p. 5.

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Fascism in American Education

There are three achievements of secular progressives that have enabled leftists to control behavioral instruction in public schools. Their first big achievement was the counterrevolution advanced by secular majorities on the Supreme Court. Leftists’ opposition to American traditions and conventional morality intended by the US Constitution is illustrated by the Everson v. Board of Education decisions. Second was the takeover, beginning in the 1960s, of the then-conservative National Education Association by leftist militants. Also in the 1960s, secular progressives, committed to the elimination of self-government and liberty, reached their third achievement—the unionization of government teachers.

A government-established union monopoly, like an established state church, undermines the people’s right to choose between providers that must compete for a following. Union monopolies have always been power-corrupting institutions. Whatever their agenda by subject or region, accountability to the competition is removed and evil prevails. Union monopolies are antithetical to government of, by, and for the people. It is the collective political power foolishly granted to autoworker unions that brought the American auto industry to its knees. It is the collective political advantage of unionism that makes it possible for radicals to impose their atheistic worldview over the objections of both the majority of parents and the millions of excellent teachers caught in the union web.

There are millions of hardworking teachers, but they have no more control over the lifeview being taught in the soft sciences than do parents. Here’s an idea. An entirely different system for educating American youth is needed that will bypass the leftist teachers’ union monopoly; the education tax must be routed through the parents, similar to the G.I. Bill following World War II. This bill provided that education sought by veterans be paid from taxpayer revenues, and the veterans had the freedom to use the tuition grant in a public or private institution of their choice.

This consistent violation of citizen authority (government by, for, and of the people) is the radical politics of fascism—authoritarian hierarchical government. What is fascism but the politics of authoritarians who by any means prevent the citizens from exercising control over the use of government power through like-minded representatives?

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How Socialism Exploits Mankind

Socialism is a system of social organization that rejects the fact that goods are the fruits of the people’s labor.  The ownership of the means of producing goods provided by the people is claimed by secular authoritarians.  They then use the power of government for laws to control the distribution of goods.  The fact remains that it is the freedom of the people to choose and buy goods made useful by others that gives direction for a healthy economy (supply and demand).  Both the Webster and Random House dictionaries identify socialism as a “Marxist theory.”

The following was written in 1916 by the Rev. William J. H. Boetcker, a Presbyterian clergyman and influential spokesman for American values:

You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.

You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.

You cannot help the poor man by destroying the rich.

You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.

You cannot build character and courage

by taking away man’s initiative and independence.

You cannot help small men by tearing down big men.

You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.

You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income.

You cannot establish security on borrowed money.

You cannot help men permanently

by doing for them what they will not do for themselves.

www.qjotationspage.com/quotes/William_J._H._Boetcker/

 

Winston Churchill stated:  “Socialism is inseparably interwoven with totalitarianism and the object worship of the state.”  He also said, “Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery” (Google, Winston Churchill quotes/w/winstonchurchill).

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Winston Churchill

1874-1965

Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1940-1945 and 1951-1955)

According to Alexis de Tocqueville in 1848:  “democracy [democratic republic] extends the sphere of individual freedom; socialism restricts it.  Democracy [democratic republic] attaches all possible value to each man; socialism makes each man a mere agent, a mere number.  [The two] have nothing in common but one word:  equality.  But notice the difference:  while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude” (Google, Alexis de Tocqueville Quotations/Quotations).

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Alexis de Tocqueville

1805-1859

French political thinker and historian

 

 

As Justice Brandeis said, “Sunlight is the best disinfectant.”

The American states did not become united until the constitutional delegates agreed to amendments that were specific about religious and educational freedom from government and nongovernment dictation.  The first ten amendments included the codification of the principles outlined in the Declaration of Independence (separation from authoritarian rule).  Far from being secular, all aspects of human endeavor, including government, fall under the purview of creation’s God.  The value system for determining the proper role of laws and the use of government power is clear.  We ought to obey God rather than men (Acts 5:29).  Adoption of this morally-specific, nonsectarian, God-honoring predicate has served as a marvelous unifier for our diverse immigrant nation.

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We no longer have public education.  In the behavioral and political sciences it has become government education comparable to the monopoly state doctrine that decimated Medieval Europe.

The secular militants claim to be patriots because, as they say, dissent is American.  What they mean is evident from how they have gutted traditional American values in public education.  They demand freedom for themselves but reject the American concept of academic freedom (the freedom to be honestly informed) and the freedom of others to make their own choices.  The soft underbelly of the secular left is the fact that they cannot withstand the competition of ideas.  For them, it is intolerable to allow students to learn of the God of creation alongside their atheistic lifeview.

An elaboration of “In God We Trust” is found in Proverbs 3:5-6:  “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”

The “In God We Trust” worldview has been the foundation for public education, beginning in the original thirteen colonies and continuing for over 250 years.  Tragically, the Supreme Court ruling in the Everson v. Board of Education decision of 1947 began a dramatic shift away from “In God We Trust.” 

Stay tuned for more discussion about socialism, civic religion and a strategy for restoring competition in education and choice by the people …

 

 

 

 

 

 

Secular? What Does THAT Mean?

It is necessary to reestablish the meaning of some key words in the educational debate.  This is because of the persistent dishonesty of radicals who migrated into the soft sciences* of universities and public schools saddled by tenure guarantees (which crept silently into collective bargaining laws starting in the early 1970s).

“Old European secular philosophy” is a general term that includes the many sects championed by God-rejecting intellectuals in Europe.  The traditional American use of the word “secular” is different ~ it was used to distinguish national, state, and local governments from church governments.  These governments, though not in themselves religious, were foundationally directed within a greater context that respected the values and will of God.

This has become too confusing for modern-day use on two counts.  First, used by radicals, the word “secular” leaves people blindsided to the fact that the science of their agenda is driven by deception and insistence on an atheistic-secular worldview monopoly.  Secondly, their atheistic worldview IS religious, with a deeply held Darwinian view about the origin and meaning of life.  In 1961, the Supreme Court in Torcaso v. Watkins classified secular humanism (the title used by secular militants in academia) as a religion.  To avoid the misleading use of the word “secular,” we suggest there are times that the phrase atheistic-secular be used.  Instead of being secular-authoritarian based, the American predicate for determining public policy is impartial, higher-authority and morality-based.

American conservatism transcends both the good and evil intentions of today’s adherents to the old European secular philosophy—the religious and political left.  Revisionist morality, supported by the Darwinian theory for life’s origin, meaning, and purpose, represents one of the greatest evils of our time.**  A focus upon the danger to American liberty can be narrowed to those who are at the seat of the problem—secular militarists.

*The soft sciences include literature, journalism, education strategies, political science, life-origins biology, life-origins geology, history, law studies, religion, social studies, arts, psychology and ecology.

**Charles Darwin published his theory for a God-rejecting worldview in the book The Origin of Species, published in 1859.  There is some adaptation within species, but the Herculean efforts of science pretenders to find evolution between species fail.  Sir Arthur Keith, a leading evolutionist has written:  “Evolution is unproved and unprovable.  We believe it only because the only alternative is special creation which is unthinkable” (Sir Arthur Keith, as citation in Wallie A. Criswell’s Did Man Just Happen? Grand Rapids MI:  Zondervan, 1972, p. 73).  D. M. S. Watson acknowledged the same in Nature, vol. 124, August 10, 1929, pp. 231-234. 

 

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Proclamation of Thanksgiving

This proclamation set the precedent for America's national day of Thanksgiving.  It sets apart the last Thursday of November "as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise."

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By the President of the United States of America.

A Proclamation.

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the Source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God

In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.

Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consiousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People.

I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth.

By the President: Abraham Lincoln

William H. Seward,
Secretary of State

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Thanksgiving and the First Amendment

On September 25, 1789, Congress requested unanimously that President Washington proclaim a national day of thanksgiving and prayer. This is the same Congress that on the same day approved the final draft of the First Amendment to protect the people’s rights to religious freedom from suppression by government administrators, judges, or legislators.

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President Washington proclaimed on October 3, 1798: “Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor …  Now, therefore, I do recommend … that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country ... for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed  ...

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations.”

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The President’s proclamation included,

 “ ... and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions ... to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue.”

 

(Jared Sparks, ed., The Writings of George Washington, vol. 12, Boston:  Ferdinand Andrews, 1838, p. 119-20, www.forbes.house.gov/uploadedfiles/Footnoted397.pdf) 

 

A Conservative's Tribute to Mikhail Gorbachev

That the God of creation is man’s benefactor is so foundational it cannot be arrived at by any other proposition.  It is the basic principle upon which all other principles follow.  When man chooses to walk according to God’s benevolent law, he learns of the power that is God’s alone and by which God grants him victory over evil.

Those who persist in the fantasy of revisionist morality (moral relativism) and a central government that compromises the people’s right to be fully informed have, in fact, ignored the irreversible laws of creation’s nature.  When liberal majorities on the Supreme Court and secular educators fail to uphold the God-honoring predicate of the US Constitution, they are, in effect, empowering atheistic revisionism that preys on societies.

At a United Nations forum, December 7, 1988, Mikhail Gorbachev, atheist leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991, repudiated the atheistic dogma shared by Karl Marx and Charles Darwin.  Reflecting upon the disintegration of the secular (progressive) system, Gorbachev said:  “The compelling necessity of the principle of freedom of choice is … clear to us.  The failure to recognize this … is fraught with very dire consequences ... Freedom of choice is a universal principle to which there should be no exceptions.  We have not come to the conclusion of the immutability of this principle simply through good motives.  We have been led to it through impartial analysis of the objective processes of our time.  This objective fact presupposes respect for other people’s views“ (George P. Schultz, Secretary of State under President Ronald Reagan, Turmoil and Triumph, New York:  Macmillan, 1993, p. 1107).

Failure to acknowledge the benevolent laws of God and conform to moral truth guarantees harmful consequences.  Gorbachev tried to prevent its collapse by relaxing socialistic rule.  To do this, he adopted perestroika and glasnost (which allowed the people to be informed and free to communicate) and property rights, but socialism had gone too far.  Beginning in 1989, the puppet Communist governments in captive countries controlled by the Soviets were overthrown by the people.  The Soviet Union fell apart when captive countries quit sending them the revenue required to keep the socialist economy afloat.

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Writing of perestroika, Gorbachev’s wife Raisa said:  “Our society has set out on the path of renewal and of demolishing totalitarianism and the obsolete command system of administering the country” (Raisa Gorbachev, Reminiscences and Reflections, Harper Collins, 1991, p. 174).

Whether or not Gorbachev realized it, the Soviet empire was being forced to acknowledge that those who reject the “sovereignty of man under God over government” run into the immutable laws of creation’s nature.  Those laws support life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  In contrast, the vacillating laws of man lead to exploitation, cultural decay, poverty, and tyranny.  When God’s benevolent provision is rejected in any particular, the rejecter bears the price of that sin against himself and the will of God.  

 

Fantasy vs. Reality

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In the middle of a hillside surrounded by beautiful homes was a swampland that absorbed the surface water coming down from the properties above. This swampy area was filled with dirt and resulted in serious flooding below it. The goal of the neighbors living below was to solve the problem without an expensive lawsuit. The developer of the swampland was confronted with the truth. Knowing the historic consequences of rejecting truth, the developer agreed with reality. At considerable expense, he provided a large trench to collect and reroute the water away from the development. His acknowledgment of the timeless laws of creation’s nature caused him to solve the problem and avoid the consequences that come when truth is rejected.

Policies consistent with the truth provide significant benefits for states and nations as well.

Ideas for decision making have one of two origins—either materialistic and mortal or a basis upon reality of everlasting truth, according to God’s design.  The Word of the God of creation and creation’s nature has strangely disappeared from the lexicon of public education.  Conversely, those who persist in the fantasy of revisionist morality (moral relativism) and a central government that compromises the people’s right to be fully informed have, in fact, ignored the irreversible laws of creation’s nature.

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William Blackstone

1723-1780

Author of Commentaries on the Laws of England

 

William Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England were used by Abraham Lincoln and by students of law into the 1920s.  Blackstone said: “Man, considered as a creature, must necessarily be subject to the laws [principles] of his Creator …  These laws laid down by God are the eternal immutable laws of good and evil … This law of nature dictated by God Himself, is of course superior in obligation to any other.  It is binding over the entire globe, in all countries, and at all times:  no human laws are of any validity if contrary to this.”

 (William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, vol. I, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1765, 38-40)

 

 

True Patriotism

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In his Farewell Address, Washington reminded Americans that:

"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them."

(George Washington, Farewell Address, http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_ century/washing.asp.)

Knowledge of the Bible, the Great Reformation (1517-1648), and the American experience inspires individuals to become self-governing and, on a broader scale, inspires communities and the nation as a whole to overcome the tyranny of moral confusion.  Even the German atheist Friedrich Nietzsche understood the source of freedom for his way of life when he wrote:  "Remove Christianity and the ideas fall too."  (Cited by Dinesh D'Souza, "Created Equal:  How Christianity Shaped the West," Hillsdale College Imprimis, November 11, 2008.)

 

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Friedrich Nietzsche

1844-1900

German philosopher

 

Failure to acknowledge the benevolent laws of God and creation's nature and conform to moral truth guarantees harmful consequences.  When God's benevolent provision is rejected in any particular, the rejecter bears the price of that sin against himself and the will of God.

 

A most insightful analysis has been presented by Marvin Olasky.  As a Marxist intellectual, he was highly regarded by the chairman of his PhD academic program and dissertation committee at the University of Michigan.  Marvin Olasky, who became disillusioned by the shallowness of socialistic panaceas, became a solid convert to Christianity.

(Marvin Olasky, “God Doesn’t Give Up,” World Magazine, May 23, 2009, 64-67).

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Marvin Olasky

1950-

Author

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Whittaker Chambers

1901-1961

Author

Olasky concurs with Whittaker Chambers, who came to believe in God after being a Communist Party member in the 1920s and 1930s.  In the autobiography Witness, Whittaker Chambers writes:  "A Communist breaks because he must choose at last between irreconcilable opposites--God or man, Soul [conscience] or Mind [emotions], Freedom or Communism ....

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The crisis of the Western world exists to the degree

 in which it is indifferent to God."

 

 

 

 

Posterous theme by Cory Watilo