Restoring Education Central to American Greatness http://davidanorris.posterous.com David A. Norris Blog posterous.com Mon, 08 Apr 2013 11:46:47 -0700 Part I: Government/Chapter 2, P 36, 37 http://davidanorris.posterous.com/part-i-governmentchapter-2-p-36-37 http://davidanorris.posterous.com/part-i-governmentchapter-2-p-36-37

 

The Sovereignty Of Man

Under the Impartial God Of Creation Over Government

 

 

In 1772, Samuel Adams stated: "The right to freedom being a gift from God Almighty . . . the rights of Christians may be best understood by reading and carefully studying the institutions of the great Law Giver which are to be found clearly written and promulgated in the New Testament."  Disrespect for Authority: Being under authority is not being under control.  It is being under God's protection.  The help provided by God-ordained authorities can be illustrated by the protective wall or "breakwater" that shields boats in a harbor from devastation.  Getting a boat into the harbor may be inconvenient, but the barrier tames the waves and keeps boats safe.  Similarly husbands, parents, employers, and police may be an inconvenience at times, but they play an important role in our progress.  God's benevolent instruction is evident at several levels of responsibility and authority for government (Romans 13:1-3).

 

The first level of government is individual self-government.  Lasting success comes by giving attention to God's standards, the laws of creation's nature that were the norm before man's rebellion opened the door for Satan's influence.  Big government, the abundance of police, prisons, and hospitals are the consequences of sinful life practices.  When man restrains his own selfish impulses and desires, the tyranny and exploitation of big government can be avoided.

 

The second level of government is the family.  From the beginning, it has been the holy commitment of one man and one woman in marriage that has defeated the will of Satan in his war against civilization.  God instituted marriage to facilitate companionship and the nurturing of children in the Truth.  The husband cares for his wife in a loving way, and she respects him (Eph. 5:22-33).  Parents are responsible for the education of their children.  By learning to honor and obey their parents, children also learn to honor the lordship of God and become responsible citizens (Eph. 6:1,4; Prov. 15:5).  The Bible makes it clear that property ownership and wealth come through labor, while laziness produces poverty (Prov. 10:4-5). Recognition of this aspect of the laws of creation's nature benefits families (1 Tim. 5:8; Prov. 31:13-27).

 

The third level of government is the voluntary union of people belonging to a church, churches of different denominations to evangelize and edify citizens through Biblical principles for faith and community (1 Tim. 5:17) and discipline (Matt. 18:16-19).  Churches also have the Bible mandate to be societal caregivers (1 John 3:17).  Families and churches are united in the promotion of citizen self-reliance and limited civil governments.

 

The fourth level of government is civil government on local, regional and national levels.  Its prime function is to protect the citizens from criminals inside and outside government and from external aggression (Rom. 13:1-4; 1 Pet. 2:13-14).

 

 

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Fri, 29 Mar 2013 09:56:37 -0700 Part I: Government http://davidanorris.posterous.com/part-i-government-2233 http://davidanorris.posterous.com/part-i-government-2233

Conclusion (Part I)

 

Immortal Principles Central To Liberty and American Greatness

 

 

"Without learning, men are incapable of knowing their rights, and where learning is confined to a few people, liberty can be neither equal nor universal" (Dr. Benjamin Rush, Essay, 1786).

 

Our families and nation are at risk.  Where moral law ends, tyranny begins.  Some sixty years ago, public schools were still circulating the A Golden Treasury From The BIBLE pamphlet full of wholesome character-building Bible verses.  The God-rejecting secular worldview imposed upon education by control of just a few militant teachers, protected by union contract negotiators, has undoubtedly put our nation "conceived in liberty" to the ultimate test.

 

The tactics of a small group of tenured teachers have forcibly elevated sexual promiscuity, infanticide and other practices devastating to students and society to the status of education legitimacy.  Because of the tactics of secular militants, good teachers, students and even the taxpayers who pay the teachers' salaries, are afraid to object.  These few radicals have the power to totally disrupt the education process.  School administrators know this.  Teacher tenure laws, approved by current state laws, force administrators to leave bad teachers in control of the God-rejecting anti-Christian education climate.

 

This is not a strictly religious matter.  The consequences of rejecting the life-enhancing Laws of Nature are easily seen in daily experience.  Even though some parents do not give creation's God credit for life-enhancing standards, they take their children out of government public schools to avoid exposing them to evil suggestiveness.

 

What do we mean by LIBERTY?  We do not need new principles to solve our problems.  We need America; meaning, we need to advance again and apply the civic values of the American Judeo-Christian heritage.  The Preamble (purpose) for the Constitution reads to "… secure the BLESSINGS of LIBERTY to ourselves and our posterity…"  If we do not succeed in alerting our young people, our friends and others, to what the enemies of American liberty are accomplishing, there will no longer be the kind of liberty that inspires the "BLESSINGS of LIBERTY for our posterity [descendants]."  The purpose of the Constitution includes "… establish justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare…" (meaning common needs that do not conflict with or hamper the development of the work ethic and citizen self-reliance).  If we do not succeed in alerting others, ill-advised politicians will, at the expense of taxpayers, justify benefits for voters from birth to grave.

 

 

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Tue, 12 Mar 2013 06:32:00 -0700 Part I: Government http://davidanorris.posterous.com/part-i-government-57285 http://davidanorris.posterous.com/part-i-government-57285

American Principle Eleven (Part II)

 

Government and Union Monopolies Involving Education

Or Religion Are Prohibited--For Liberty's Sake


"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a 'redress of grievances.'"

First Amendment, Constitution of the United States

 

 

Education that does not teach the timeless Creator-based principles, outlined in the Declaration of Independence, empowers the enemies of America and the people's right to liberty from oppressive government employees.  "Without learning, men are incapable of knowing their rights, and where learning is confined to a few people, liberty can be neither equal nor universal" (Dr. Benjamin Rush, Essay, 1786; Dr. Rush was a highly regarded physician and signer of the Declaration of Independence).  Freedom from tyrants of the mind requires that government be prohibited from being a part of or permitting monopolies over education, religion and political unions.  It is the duty of government to encourage competition between them in America.

 

The Following Was Taken From Chapter Nine

 

Even though some judges are soft on crime, "One of every 100 adults are in jail or prison, according to a new report documenting America's rank as the world's No. 1 incarcerator," according to a new study by the nonpartisan Pew Center on the States.  With more than 2.3 million people behind bars, the United States leads the world in both the number and percentage of residents it incarcerates" (David Crary, New York Associated Press, February 28, 2008).

Graph_for_principle_11_pic

These are merely symptoms of the consequences of the secularization of education in government schools.  Far greater damage is the hidden loss to the soul of America, including the loss of the people's discernment needed for choosing public officials.


First Amendment law, intended to prevent the suppression of the right of parents to choose between competing education suppliers for their children's education, is superior to all other laws--national, state and local.

 

 

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Thu, 07 Mar 2013 13:42:00 -0800 Part I: Government http://davidanorris.posterous.com/part-i-government-50006 http://davidanorris.posterous.com/part-i-government-50006

American Principle Eleven (Part I)

 

Government and Union Monopolies Involving Education

Or Religion Are Prohibited--For Liberty's Sake


"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a 'redress of grievances.'"

First Amendment, Constitution of the United States

 

 

The delegates to the Constitutional Convention were concerned about the use of government power by what Thomas Jefferson called "Tyrants of the Mind."  Instead of government being the servant of the people, tyrants override the people's authority and gradually take control of what schools teach.  The family and the teaching of American history become early victims.  Students are dumbed down.  Secular open-minded morality and class envy divide families and communities.  Fellow travelers in the judiciary reject the historical application of First Amendment law.  In later chapters we document the inroads of harmful law.

 

Government-sanctioned teacher tenure guarantees are a violation of the First Amendment.  Privileged government teachers lead toward the same devastating consequences as the government-sanctioned church imposed on medieval Europe.  Experience with tyrants of the mind is the reason for the First Amendment.

 

Tyrants of the mind are bullies.  The creation of fear enables the few to overpower school administrators hired by the people to run schools in the public interest.  The weapons used include bad-mouthing and the ruin of the reputations of good administrators and teachers who dare to challenge leftist "politically correct" militants.

 

Editors of the book Speeches That Changed the World started with the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17) and Christ's Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7).  These editors recognized the good that believers have contributed to society and the superior quality of the Bible as literature.  Speeches That Changed the World included speeches by two Darwinian evolutionists, Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin.  Their leadership did influence the world.  The murder of millions of innocent people demonstrates the depths to which the open-mindedness of Darwin's God-rejecting Origin of the Species dogma can take men.

 

As always happens, those who reject the envelope of the life-enhancing "Laws of Nature and of Nature's God" eventually self-destruct.  The problem now in America is the damage being done to the minds of millions of our youth who will soon be leaders.

 

"Educators have recognized the processes by which thought and behavioral patterns acquired in youth become the basis for adult motivation.  In modern times thoughtful observers have become progressively aware that moral, social, and political concepts implanted during the time of mental immaturity not only participate in the conduct of later life, but, once acquired, such concepts become dominant and often unalterable in the adult" (Grand Jury study of problems in higher education for the Eleventh Judicial District of Iowa, chaired by David A. Norris).

 

"The first national study of four common sexually transmitted diseases among girls and young women has found that one in four [is] infected with at least one of the diseases, U.S. health officials reported Tuesday" (Lawrence K. Altman, New York Times, March 11, 2008).  One in four U.S. teenage girls have STDs.  The diseases, which are infections caused by bacteria, viruses and parasites, can produce acute symptoms… and potentially fatal pregnancy… and cervical cancer.  The two most common sexually transmitted diseases, or STDs, among all the participants tested were HPB at 18 percent, and chlamydia at 4 percent, according to the analysis portion of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

 

An honest evolutionist: "Evolution is unproved and unprovable.  We believe it only because the only alternative is special creation which is unthinkable" (Sir Arthur Keith, citation in Wallie A. Criswell's Did Man Just Happen?, Grand Rapids MI: Zondervan, 1973).

 

Education worthy of the name will emphasize that the president, congress and the judiciary are servants of, by and for the people who are the sovereigns under creation's God.

 

 

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Tue, 26 Feb 2013 10:18:00 -0800 Part I: Government http://davidanorris.posterous.com/part-i-government-13277 http://davidanorris.posterous.com/part-i-government-13277

American Principle Eight

 

The Overriding Concern When Writing the Constitution

Was Imposing a Check On Man's Sin-Prone Behavior

 

"He has combined with others to subject us jurisdiction [control] foreign to our Constitution and unacknowledged by our laws, giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation."

Declaration of Independence

 

 

A high priority when framing the Constitution was to expose government officials who persist in rejecting the message of their own conscience for the short-lived benefits of dishonesty and immoral conduct.

 

Upholding the responsibilities of civility is the necessary predicate for a liberty-friendly Constitution; liberty being the absence of authoritarian oppression.  This dictates the values that must be upheld by legislators, judges and administrators.  These values include sacredness of the family - one man and one woman in marriage; upholding the right to life and liberty, meaning citizen self-rule; equal treatment by law for all, leaders and non-leaders; protecting the labors of citizens' property rights, meaning to keep thieves out of the corn crib and taxes low; respect for God-honoring leaders.  And absolutely no government involvement in education and church except supporting unfettered competition among education and religion providers.  This protects the people's right as sovereigns to choose.  The people can be trusted (historic "rule of law"); government officials cannot be trusted (historic "rule of man").  The clear lesson from history is that government-established education, church authorities, and sanctioned monopoly unions empower tyrants who confuse, exploit and enslave.

 

The testimony of the Constitutional Fathers reminds us that government must be continually restored to the control of law-abiding citizens.

 

"But there is a Degree of Watchfulness over all Men possessed of Power or influence upon which the liberties of mankind much depend.  It is necessary to guard against the Infirmities of the best as well as the Wickedness of the worst of Men.  Such is the Weakness of human Nature that Tyranny has oftener sprang from than any other Source.  It is this that unravels the Mystery of Millions being enslaved by a few" (Samuel Adams, Letter to Elbridge Gerry, 1784, emphasis by Adams, Samuel Adams was a Delegate to the First Continental Congress, 1774; signed the Declaration of Independence, 1776: member of Massachusetts State Constitutional Convention, 1781).

 

"Show me that age and country where the rights and liberties of the people were placed on the sole chance of their rulers being good men, without a consequent loss of liberty!  I say that the loss of that dearest privilege has ever followed, with absolute certainty, every such mad attempt" (Patrick Henry, Virginia Convention for accepting or rejecting the Federal Constitution, 1788).

 

James Madison wrote, "The only distinction between freedom and slavery consists of this: in the former state, man is governed by laws to which he has given his consent, either in person or, by his representative.  In the latter he is governed by the will of another…  If men were angels, no government would be necessary" (cited by Forrest McDonald, The Intellectual Origins of the Constitution, Lawrence, Kansas, University of Kansas Press, 1985, 160 and 205 respectively).

 

 

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Wed, 30 Jan 2013 07:24:00 -0800 Part I: Government http://davidanorris.posterous.com/part-i-government-94240 http://davidanorris.posterous.com/part-i-government-94240

American Principle Four (Part I)

 

All Men Are Equal

In the Sight Of God and the Law

 

"that all men are created equal ..."

Declaration of Independence

 

 

All persons, regardless of their religious, racial, and cultural backgrounds, have human rights that are equal in value.  These rights, which include the right to life, start with the inception of life and the God-given right to equal treatment by the civil and criminal justice systems.

 

"The multitude I am speaking of is the body of people--no contemptible multitude--for whose sake government is instituted; or rather, who have themselves erected it, solely for their own good--to whom even kings and all in subordination to them, are strictly speaking, servants and not masters" (Samuel Adams, essay in the Boston Gazette, 1771).

 

The Creator-based Declaration of Independence is a monumental reversal of the idea that leaders as a class have divine rights, are superior to and entitled to rule others.  The constitutional Fathers believed the Bible, which is a history book, and they recognized how respect for the values of Creation's God supported the work ethic and self-government.  The Founders were students of historic experiments in governments that led to tyranny.  Although they themselves were leaders, they wisely concluded that the people are more trustworthy and discerning in matters of government than are leaders.  Thomas Jefferson wrote, "Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government; that whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, they may be relied on to set them to rights" (Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Richard Price, January 8, 1789).

 

As has been the case throughout history, determined enemies of citizen self-government are now fighting day and night to achieve unequal and superior standing by law for control over education.  Removing respect for Creation's God from curriculum and de-emphasizing the fact that immoral practices lead to harmful consequences are not education.  The consequence of taking Creation's God out of education is apparent from the huge increase in births by unwed teenage girls, infectious diseases and violent crime (even in homes and on school campuses).  Also, S.A.T. scores have declined and the God-honoring family values upon which American greatness was achieved are brought into question, Chapters 7-10.  Pointed instruction for reliance upon the divine nature and breadth of God-given human equality would also reverse support for baby genocide and the appetite for racial prejudice.


 

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Fri, 25 Jan 2013 08:31:00 -0800 Part I: Government http://davidanorris.posterous.com/part-i-government-54116 http://davidanorris.posterous.com/part-i-government-54116

American Principle Three

 

Upholding the Traditional Family Is Paramount

 

"laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."

Declaration of Independence

 

 

Protecting the traditional family as a distinct institution is among the highest priorities for a nation's laws.  This historic arrangement has proven overwhelmingly to be the best setting for raising children to live healthy, responsible and productive lives (Genesis 2:23,24).

 

"That government is instituted and ought to be exercised for the benefit of the people; which consists in the enjoyment of life and liberty, and generally of pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety" (James Madison in the first session of the US Congress, proposing the "Bill of Rights" amendments be added to the Constitution of the United States).

 

It is interesting to note that Genesis chapter 2 of the Bible reads, "… a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh" (Genesis 2:24).  In the New Testament, Ephesians 5:25 says, "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it."

 

"The most important consequence of marriage is, that the husband and the wife become in law only one person" (James Wilson, Natural Rights of Marriage, 1792). 

 

 

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Mon, 21 Jan 2013 09:53:00 -0800 Part I: Government http://davidanorris.posterous.com/part-i-government-74414 http://davidanorris.posterous.com/part-i-government-74414

American Principle Two

 

God Is the Source Of Unalienable Rights

 

"All men are … endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."

Declaration of Independence

 

"We The People Of The State Of Iowa, grateful to the Supreme Being for the blessings hitherto enjoyed, and feeling our dependence on Him for a continuation of those blessings, do ordain and establish a free and independent government,

by the name of the State of Iowa ..."

Preamble, Constitution of Iowa, adopted in 1846--seventy years

after the Declaration of Independence

 

 

Education that does not emphasize that man's unalienable rights are the gift of God is energizing the secular enemies of the family, self-rule, prosperity and liberty.  Liberty is not man's creation or something radically new to the world, but rights "derived from our Maker," rights "indisputable, unalienable," "inherent," "essential," "divine," and even acknowledged since the Middle Ages by British law (from John Adams' Dissertation on the Canon and the Feudal Law, published in the Boston Gazette, August 12, 1765).

 

"The sacred Rights of mankind are not to be rummaged from among old parchments or musty records.  They are written, as with a sunbeam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the Hand of the Divinity itself, and can never be erased or voided or obscured by mortal power" (Alexander Hamilton in his essay, The Farmer Refuted, 1775).

 

"We further recommend the most clear and explicit assertion and vindication of our rights and liberties to be entered on the public records, that the world may know, in present and all future generations, that we have a clear knowledge and a just sense of them, and, with submission to Divine Providence that we never can be slaves" (John Adams, adopted on October 14, 1765, by the town meeting of Braintree, Massachusetts, and sent to their representatives in the Massachusetts state legislature).

 

 

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Fri, 18 Jan 2013 07:46:19 -0800 Part I: Government http://davidanorris.posterous.com/174285831 http://davidanorris.posterous.com/174285831

 

American Principle One

 

The Spiritual Nature Of Man Is Supreme

 

"All men are created … endowed by their Creator …"

Declaration of Independence

 

Foundational to liberty and the American approach to government is the fact that man is of divine origin.  His spiritual or God-honoring nature is held as being of supreme importance.  Upholding man’s God-given “rights” from abuses sanctioned by governments makes liberty possible.  The divine quality of these rights calls for the unequivocal rejection of the authoritarian entitlements claimed by elitists of all stripes—kings, authoritarian politicians, clergy, educators and militarists.  This principle enshrines certain limits that must, for the sake of liberty, be placed upon the use of the law and government power.

 

Humble support for the sovereignty of man under God over government is the guarantor of freedom for family wholeness, self-reliance and prosperity.  People who know the truth can reject, without fear, the alarming chatter of atheistic sectarians.

 

 

 

 

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Tue, 11 Dec 2012 14:43:00 -0800 Introduction I http://davidanorris.posterous.com/restoring-education-central-to-american-great-25997 http://davidanorris.posterous.com/restoring-education-central-to-american-great-25997

The 2012 first edition blog of the above book picked up over 9,000 repeat users.  Directly and indirectly, we were able to answer several hundred questions.  Encouraging responses came from many.  Perhaps the most exciting was an email from Judge Robert Bork's secretary.  

 

As reported in the Ames (Iowa) Tribune, a March, 2008 legislative proposal for union contract negotiators that would make it even harder to fire harmful teachers caused "grave concerns" among school administrators.  Margaret Buckton, chief lobbyist for the Iowa Association of School Boards, said, "Attempts to remove a teacher can last years and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars."  "Grave concerns" is right.  Documented in the Restoring Education Central to American Greatness book, a significantly higher percentage of public school teachers send their children to private schools than do non-teacher parents.  They see the harmful impact that secular absolutism is having upon students' minds and values.  Power-hungry ideologues are now soliciting and ruining a new generation of Americans "with words calculated to destroy the youthful faith in their heritage" (Grand Jury Presentment, 11th Judicial District in and for Story County, Iowa, December, 1968).  Undoubtedly, restoring education central to American greatness is now the greatest singular need in America.

 

The Founding Fathers knew from history that centralized power left unchecked leads to tyranny.  They instituted the Second Amendment to keep guns in the hands of the general public to discourage the use of guns by radical politicians, but this does not keep them from being habitual truth-trashers.

 

To justify taxpayer funding, American history and the Judeo-Christian influence upon the Founding Fathers must be unabashedly taught.  Only with this knowledge can new generations of Americans identify truth-trashers and prevent the deceptive advance of oppressive government.  Those demanding curriculum diversity that undermines the absolutes gleaned from history (traditional American foundations) can pay for their own schools and seek a following, just as must other separatist groups.  The demand of traditionalists is based upon the justification for any education tax being placed upon Americans in the FIRST PLACE.  No other argument is needed, but it must be firmly and uncompromisingly imposed.  "A house divided against itself cannot stand" (Abraham Lincoln, June 16, 1858).  A nation cannot survive if its citizens continue to fund revisionist morality and anti-American rhetoric masquerading as education.

 

Subjects Covered By

Restoring Education Central to American Greatness

 

Part I: Government

Chapter 1

  • Immortal Principles Central to Liberty and American Greatness

Chapter 2

  • The Sovereignty of Man under the Impartial God of Creation over Government

Chapter 3

  • Man May Prosper in Freedom If He Chooses to Honor the Will of Creation’s God

Chapter 4

  • America’s Civic Religion and the Deeper Personal Faith of Our Nation’s Founders

Chapter 5

  • Government by Written and Permanent Law

Chapter 6

  • Defilement of the Judiciary

 

Part II: Education

Chapter 7

  • Academic Freedom and Teacher Tenure History

Chapter 8 

  • Consequences of the Unionization of Government Teachers

Chapter 9

  • The Education Nightmare

Chapter 10

  • Education That Is Profoundly American

 

Part III: Liberty and Responsibility

Chapter 11

  • Appeasement Will Not Work

Chapter 12

  • Our Strategy for Victory: Political Action—Citizen Power

 

Book_image

 

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Tue, 20 Nov 2012 10:34:00 -0800 The Sovereignty of the American Citizen http://davidanorris.posterous.com/the-sovereignty-of-the-american-citizen http://davidanorris.posterous.com/the-sovereignty-of-the-american-citizen

Those among us who choose to exchange declining relationships and health for the temporary excitements of moral revisionism is one thing.  Exercising that diversity in private is their right.  Those demanding the right, however, to take over behavioral curriculum in taxpayer-funded public schools is another.  The war they have imposed, by pressuring liberals in government, must be confronted and won.  America is a Republic!  The "living Constitution" idea of changeable decrees imposed by liberal judges (1947 Everson v. Board of Education decision) always becomes despotism because power in the hands of man, over time, becomes corrupt.

 

"Our fathers have earned and bought it for us, at the expense of their ease, their estates, their pleasure, and their blood.  And liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people, who have a right, from the frame of their nature, to knowledge, as their great Creator, who does nothing in vain, has given them understandings, and a desire to know; but besides this, they have a right, an indisputable, unalienable, indefeasible, divine right to that most dreaded and envied kind of knowledge, I mean, of the characters and conduct of their rulers.  Rulers are no more than attorneys, agents, and trustees for the people; and if the cause, the interest and trust, is insidiously betrayed, or wantonly trifled away, the people have a right to revoke the authority. And the preservation of the means of knowledge among the lowest ranks, is of more importance to the public than all the property of all the rich men in the country" (John Adams, Vice-President under George Washington, and second president of the United States, A Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law, 1766 from The Works of John Adams, …by his grandson, Charles F. Adams, Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 10 volumes).

 

The sovereignty of man under the impartial and higher authority of creation's God over government is traceable from the Bible to the Magna Carta, 1215, signed at the point of a sword by a frightened king.  It is likewise traceable to the English Bill of Rights, 1689, signed by a would-be brutal king.  We then have the God-honoring American Declaration of Independence, 1776, the War of Independence, and then the Constitution highlighted by the First Amendment and the Bill of [human] Rights which details what servants in government must never be allowed to violate.

 

The Common Law jury system, resting final authority in the people, came alive in America on March 4, 1789, the date Congress set for the start of the new ConstitutionThis is the most important feature of the American Constitution.  George Washington became our first president under the Constitution on April 30, 1789.

 

Revelations of the American Judeo-Christian heritage are singularly qualified to foster personal responsibility, citizen self-government and prosperity.  People do not steal the fruits of other men's labor.  The community helps those few who are not able to work or are indigent for other reasons.  Reputations for honesty do not rest in the words of evil gossips.  Taxpayer-funded educators support the character of the traditional family.

 

God does not control men; He protects those who will listen.  By applying God-honoring interpretations of Scripture and being sensitive to His Spirit, man becomes self-controlled (Hebrews 13:18-20).  "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" (Proverbs 3:5-6). 

 

First_amendment_in_yellow

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Fri, 16 Nov 2012 09:37:00 -0800 The First Amendment is the Most Important Amendment http://davidanorris.posterous.com/the-first-amendment-is-the-most-important-ame http://davidanorris.posterous.com/the-first-amendment-is-the-most-important-ame

The most important of all the amendments to our Constitution is the First Amendment:  "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

 

In the 1947 Everson v. Board of Education decision, the Supreme Court majority discarded the principle for control of government by law (government limited by laws instituted by citizen sovereigns).  They displaced it with control of government by man (top down authoritarianism).  Quoting Alexander Hamilton:  "Government is frequently and aptly classed under two descriptions, a government of FORCE [changeable decrees by authoritarian man], and a government of LAWS [governments that derive 'their just powers' from the consent of the governed], the first is the definition of despotism--the last Liberty" (Tully Papers, 1794).  These two approaches to governing society have been at war against one another throughout human history.

 

The Everson v. Board of Education decision clearly compromised "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…" The judges altered the Constitution at the core of its meaning.  Power-hungry judges and politicians, along with fellow travelers in education, the media and monopoly union bosses, are now working overtime.  They are leveraging the judge-created right that empowers liberals to impose government establishment monopoly in public education, preventing the competition of ideas by moral religions.  The power to impose false renditions of truth upon  captive government classrooms and poison youthful minds is being used to confuse, marginalize and rule new generations.

 

"For many years psychologists and educators have recognized the processes by which thought and behavioral patterns acquired in youth become the basis for adult motivation.  In modern times thoughtful observers have become progressively aware that moral, social, and political concepts implanted during the time of mental immaturity not only participate in the conduct of later life, but, once acquired, such concepts become dominant and often unalterable in the adult" (Story County Grand Jury, in and for the 11th Judicial District of Iowa, 1969).

 

Firstamendment

 

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Mon, 05 Nov 2012 08:58:00 -0800 Part Ten: Grand Jury Presentment of "Problems in Higher Education" http://davidanorris.posterous.com/part-nine-grand-jury-presentment-of-problems http://davidanorris.posterous.com/part-nine-grand-jury-presentment-of-problems

Portions of the Presentment of the Grand Jury for the Eleventh Judicial District of Iowa follow, with words added for clarification in brackets.  Supplemental ideas are italicized.

 

End of Presentment II

 

"The 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure by the American Association of University Professors has no legal effect, but the AAUP publicly censures colleges and universities that they believe have violated [their version of] academic freedom.  However, nearly all [not all] of the colleges and universities have adopted this statement or a variation of the statement which is contained in the faculty policy manual of each college or university, and it is incorporated by reference in the employment contract between the university and each individual faculty member."*

 

The penetrating damage imposed because of tenure laws sheltering radical professors and teachers in the soft sciences must be [reversed].  The authority of taxpayer/parents to control what is taught in government institutions must be restored.  By routing education revenues directly to the parents or guardians, sanity will be restored to education.  The many thousands of honest and morally upright teachers will again have the unimpeded support of the citizen consensus.  Not only will what is taught be cleaned up, but also competition between education suppliers will reduce the cost [and increase the quality] of public education.

 

The voice in the chorus of concerned citizens is imperative.  What confronts the American family and voter electorate is a test of wills.  School administrators must be able to fire leftist teachers [without spending] years and… tens of thousands of taxpayers' dollars defending education from the [resulting] lawsuits imposed by ACLU lawyers and the imperial arm of radical judges.  To effect change, active citizen involvement in the political process must exceed the determination of those who are using political circumvention to destroy the family and liberty.

 

43056858587115878

*Dr. Ronald B. Standler, "Academic Freedom in the USA," http://www.rbs2.com/afree.htm

 

 

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Mon, 05 Nov 2012 00:32:00 -0800 Part Nine: Grand Jury Presentment of "Problems in Higher Education" http://davidanorris.posterous.com/part-nine-grand-jury-presentment-of-problems-54938 http://davidanorris.posterous.com/part-nine-grand-jury-presentment-of-problems-54938

Portions of the Presentment of the Grand Jury for the Eleventh Judicial District of Iowa follow, with words added for clarification in brackets.  Supplemental ideas are italicized.

 

End of Presentment I

 

The purpose of universities was freedom for competition of ideas in search of truth.  What has happened is the advocates of atheistic-secular totalitarianism applied their art and removed competition from the soft sciences.  When citizen control of universities, college, and now virtually all lower-level public schools was hijacked by faculty independence (teachers union mechanization and teacher tenure guarantees), tyranny was bound to follow.  What we now have is tyranny against the moral fiber of our youth and nation.  This is the inevitable result of [imposing] "German graduate methods [faculty independence] onto American campuses in the late nineteenth century… academic freedom became a cause celebrate."

 

At the time of the Grand Jury study, we did not realize the linkage between the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and what appears to be their prosecution arm, the leftist American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The book Freedom in Iowa, published by the Iowa State University Press, promoted the Iowa Civil Liberties Union, bringing this connection to my attention.

 

Teacher employee contracts, structured according to ACLU definitions for academic freedom and tenure, shift the decision-making authority for removing radical teachers away from the president of the university, who is hired by the public to superintend the institution.  It is now the aggressive tenured faculty, not the president, who have control over who teaches and what is taught.  Instead of being an administrator, the university president works full-time quieting campus disputes, promoting campus expansion, and raising money by lobbying alumni and legislators.  Sensing this kind of environment, the US Supreme Court held in a dispute that professors at Yeshiva University in New York City were managerial [administrators], not employees within the meaning of the National Labor Relations Act, and hence the university administrators were not required to bargain with the union that represented the professors.  The Court noted: "Budget requests prepared by the senior professor in each subject area receive the 'perfunctory' approval of the Dean '99 percent' of the time and have never been rejected by the central administration.  The faculty… effectively determine curriculum, grading systems… matriculation standards" (NLRB v. Yeshiva University, 582 F.2d 686, 1978, affd 444 US 672, 1980).

 

The ACLU/AAUP version of academic freedom and tenure that enables radicals to reject the public standards for what is taught and not taught is not a legal concept.  Without the control of the citizens who established the schools and pay the bills, what is taught is wholly dependent upon the internal culture of the faculty at the universities and the government grade schools.  This problem is systemic.

 

Liberty

 

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Fri, 02 Nov 2012 13:29:00 -0700 Part Eight: Grand Jury Presentment of "Problems in Higher Education" http://davidanorris.posterous.com/part-eight-grand-jury-presentment-of-problems http://davidanorris.posterous.com/part-eight-grand-jury-presentment-of-problems

Portions of the Presentment of the Grand Jury for the Eleventh Judicial District of Iowa follow, with words added for clarification in brackets.  Supplemental ideas are italicized.

 

Most Important Educational Change Needed

 

1.  Regents' policy changes which will sufficiently define and implement the elimination of moral pollution by faculty and paid speakers will by all suitable means encourage "moral… improvement" (Constitution of the State of Iowa, Article IX, 2nd School… Sec. 3).

 

2.  There is a need for increased emphasis on the American ideal at all levels of education.  We believe this ideal needs to be a continuing emphasis from kindergarten through maturity.  Our revolutionary concepts are a most exciting and important subject.

 

It seems rather clear that the nerve center for society, the power for social revolution, is inherent in the adult electorate rather than in the schools, and that the radical missionaries should be sent to the electorate, not to the captive audience of youthful minds.

 

The idea… that the people of this land should not be trusted with the complexities of education is absurd.  The greatness of America places the educational and political emphasis under the control of the people.  This approach is much safer than providing a haven [tenure guarantees] for… teachers.

 

Our soldiers have been dying for this ideal.  Education, as never before, should clearly teach it.  Even in imperfection, it has achieved greatness for Americans unparalleled in history.  Every individual is important, and the mature public make the decisions over government--something that atheistic, humanist-based governments do not and cannot provide.

 

Right of Taxpayers to Control Education Challenged

 

Who has academic freedom, the parent/taxpayer or the teacher?  Is the parent, who once had academic freedom, now to be deprived because a teacher was hired?  Most agree that anyone can teach what he pleases on his own, but must not [take advantage of his own] academic freedom by robbing taxpayers of their freedom to direct public education in the public's interest, based upon the learning process and established knowledge.

 

Problems Compound If Not Corrected

 

No single level of education should be considered in a vacuum…  But it is going on!  The students of colleges are, after all, the graduates of American elementary and secondary schools.  We, the adults and teachers of today, are the graduates of high schools, colleges, and universities in the recent past.  Not only are various levels of American education interrelated, but the problems also feed back upon one another to produce a complex of relationships that affect us all and must be handled wisely.  In professions such as medicine or architecture, failures soon become apparent and are corrected.  A faulty experiment impacting the socio/political mindset may not be detected for two or three generations, when it is too late to reverse and avoid disaster.

 

Academic_freedom

 

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Tue, 30 Oct 2012 12:01:00 -0700 Part Seven: Grand Jury Presentment of "Problems in Higher Education" http://davidanorris.posterous.com/part-seven-grand-jury-presentment-of-problems http://davidanorris.posterous.com/part-seven-grand-jury-presentment-of-problems

Portions of the Presentment of the Grand Jury for the Eleventh Judicial District of Iowa follow, with words added for clarification in brackets.  Supplemental ideas are italicized.

 

Where to Go for the Solution

 

The frustrating inability of the public to correct the distortion of academic freedom is due, in the Grand Jury's view, to the failure of the people to see the continuation of the atrocious abuses by radicals as the breakdown in the responsibility-authority-control principle that it really is.  Any organization, educational or otherwise, is an attempt at cooperation.  Cooperation is not possible unless responsibility and authority go hand-in-hand.

 

The parents and taxpayers delegated a portion of their responsibility and authority, through an administrative chain-of-command, for the selection of educators who want to teach and [who] agree with public policy.

 

The system of organization varies in the several states, but in Iowa the Board of Regents [chosen by the Governor] is responsible to the public for education at the state universities.  It is…. the Board of Regents who must lay down corrective policy on behalf of the people.  If the problem is not corrected… the public must impose changes as necessary.

 

The taxpayers, having the final responsibility for the universities, quite properly should have the authority to change the Board of Regents' membership or take other measures if they find themselves in disagreement with Board policy.  If the established procedures for governing at this level leave the Regents insensitive to public interest, then it is time to update governing procedures.

 

The citizen public, having given the Board of Regents [in this case] the responsibility to implement public policy, must also leave them the authority to go to the university president, who has the executive responsibility of the university.  The university president, vested with the responsibility by the Board of Regents, has the authority to [replace] his aides if he believes they are not carrying out his ideas [in the public interest].

 

Academic-freedom1

 

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Tue, 02 Oct 2012 11:38:00 -0700 Reaction to the Grand Jury Investigation on Higher Education http://davidanorris.posterous.com/reaction-to-the-grand-jury-investigation-on-h http://davidanorris.posterous.com/reaction-to-the-grand-jury-investigation-on-h

Restoring educational traditions central to American greatness provides the sure basis for strong families, prosperity and limited government for, by and of the people.  Many people are in the dark about the God-rejecting worldview now being imposed upon captive student classrooms and as a result, they do not join in opposition. 

 

It was my privilege to chair a Grand Jury for the Eleventh Judicial District of Iowa that investigated activities at Iowa State University and made several recommendations for changes in higher education.  As noted in a previous blog*, the God-rejecting worldview in American education must be exposed.

 

"Ames, Iowa--(AP)--The Grand Jury wants 'moral pollution'… 'and defamation of our country' (in the Humanities curriculum) stopped" (Denver Post).

 

With a prestigious media network, political, religious and social studies courses, statewide extension offices, and an adult education outreach, universities possessed (and still possess) immense power to shape public opinion.  The president of the university and campus radicals did everything they could to discredit the Grand Jury's work.  Initially, however, news of the Presentment was unimpeded.  The university president and all members of the Iowa Board of Regents except one were out of the state during Christmas break when the Presentment became public.

 

Except for the coverage in the Des Moines Register and a few radical student publications, most news reports were accurate.  Those who were critical were very spirited in their objections.  A January 8, 1969, Des Moines Register headline read, "ISU President Lashes Out at 'Distorted' Report by Jury."  Later, the Iowa State University Press published a book for the Iowa Civil Liberties Union entitled Freedom in Iowa.  This publication showered ISU President Robert Parks and the liberal presidents of the other two universities in Iowa with honors and attacked the work and reputation of several Iowa leaders, past and present, including myself.

 

The Grand Jury Presentment itself was well documented.  One news article reported that the Iowa Civil Liberties Union had decided they would not sue the Grand Jury.  Another paper reported that an ongoing effort had failed to get the new judge, Harvey Uhlenhopp, serving the Eleventh Judicial District, to dismiss the Presentment.  Within two years, Judge Uhlenhopp was elevated to the Iowa Supreme Court.

 

I was concerned that some reporters and editors would misrepresent the Grand Jury Presentment.  Consequently, reporters were told that I would respond to inquiries in writing only, and this brought their interest to a halt.  I personally received approximately one hundred letters from citizens, all of whom praised the jury's work.

 

I was later told that an Iowa State University administrative vice president was briefing the incoming extension course attendees and denigrating the work of the jury.  Eventually, a county extension officer attending one of the on-campus short courses stood up and strongly criticized the vice president's presentation.  His practice of criticizing the jury report ended.

 

Out_in_iowa_ames_daily_tribune_1969

*http://davidanorris.posterous.com/the-healing-of-citizen-paralysis

 

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Tue, 18 Sep 2012 13:56:11 -0700 Every Taxpayer Has Power to Advance Liberty http://davidanorris.posterous.com/every-taxpayer-has-power-to-advance-liberty http://davidanorris.posterous.com/every-taxpayer-has-power-to-advance-liberty

It is important that we reassess how our personal giving and tax dollars are being used.  Of utmost importance, we need to oppose the funding of higher or lower public schools that place in question the primacy of the traditional family, morality and citizen self-reliance.  The following letter is an example of sorely needed citizen influence.

 

Dear County Treasurer:

We are paying the education tax called for by the billing from your office.  This is, of course, an important citizen duty.  We respectfully urge that legislators change the tax law so collections for school tuition would be routed to parents or guardians.  They can then exercise their right to choose a school, be it public or private, that best represents and teaches their values.  There are many ways to administer this, including the very effective tuition program known as the G.I. Bill.  We agree with parents and many teachers who object to any curriculum forced upon students that places the composition of the family in question and presents revisionist morality as an acceptable lifestyle.

Thank you for your work as County Treasurer.

(Signed)_____________________________________________________________

 

Ronald Reagan is quoted as saying, "Education is not the means of showing people how to get what they want.  Education is an exercise by means of which enough men, it is hoped, will learn to want what is worth having."*

 

8735_180187051054_7950999_n

*http://www.notable-quotes.com/e/education_quotes.html

 

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Mon, 10 Sep 2012 12:21:49 -0700 The Prescription For Citizen Paralysis: Knowledge and Action http://davidanorris.posterous.com/the-prescription-for-citizen-paralysis-knowle http://davidanorris.posterous.com/the-prescription-for-citizen-paralysis-knowle

Liberty with prosperity came to America because the Founding Fathers had it right.  They took self and all pretender gods off the throne, and they placed the King of Kings, the impartial, nonsectarian God of life and creation's nature, on the throne.

 

"Our fathers have earned and bought it for us, at the expense of their ease, their estates, their pleasure, and their blood.  And liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people, who have a right, from the frame of their nature, to knowledge, as their great Creator, who does nothing in vain, has given them understandings, and a desire to know; but besides this, they have a right, an indisputable, unalienable, indefeasible, divine right to that most dreaded and envied kind of knowledge, I mean, of the characters and conduct of their rulers.  Rulers are no more than attorneys, agents, and trustees for the people; and if the cause, the interest and trust, is insidiously betrayed, or wantonly trifled away, the people have a right to revoke the authority. And the preservation of the means of knowledge among the lowest ranks, is of more importance to the public than all the property of all the rich men in the country" (John Adams, Vice-President under George Washington, and second president of the United States, A Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law, 1766 from The Works of John Adams, …by his grandson, Charles F. Adams, Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 10 volumes).

 

Parents, guardians and grandparents who can afford it should support the enrollment of their children in God-honoring private schools or, if able, homeschool them.  This is the most powerful political statement that Americans can make.  That is the vanguard for a nationwide competitive school system enabling citizen choice.

 

Promote the election of candidates for public office who unabashedly oppose government tolerance for teacher union tenure laws.  Good teachers have always had tenure by virtue of the quality of their work alone.

 

Teachers do have rights, but ultimately they answer to those who pay their salaries.  Teachers who cannot accept a contract with a school district that requires respect for the family and morality have but one alternative, which is to establish, fund, and teach in their own private schools.

 

"Because of the obvious potential for abuse even labor union advocates like AFL-CIO President George Meany and Franklin D. Roosevelt viewed unionization of the public employees as unthinkable.*

 

When tenure establishment privileges for government teachers are prohibited, good teachers can again safely support the traditional family and historic American principles without having their patriotism dirtied by secular gossips.

 

"We've been blessed with the opportunity to stand for something--for liberty and freedom and fairness.  And these are things worth fighting for, worth devoting our lives to.  And we have good reason to be hopeful and optimistic… so, let us go forth with good cheer and stout hearts--happy warriors out to seize back a country and a world to freedom."**

 

Liberty-bell1

Image from http://amstmonuments.wordpress.com/page/13/

 

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Mon, 27 Aug 2012 07:34:00 -0700 A Suggested Letter to the Editor of Your Local Newspaper http://davidanorris.posterous.com/a-letter-to-the-editor-of-the-ames-tribune-77979 http://davidanorris.posterous.com/a-letter-to-the-editor-of-the-ames-tribune-77979

Applicable today, the confusion of many now trying to decide which candidates for government service best represent the civic and economic interests of our families and businesses is understandable.  The decline in the quality of what is taught about American history, morality, government and free enterprise comes at no surprise with the secularization of government education and, in my opinion, this is NOT the fault of the great majority of teachers.

 

Articles in the local Ames Tribune* opinion page by an atheistic professor in the religion department of Iowa State University suggest that he MAY not understand two things.  One is the Judeo-Christian Bible and the other is American history.

 

The tone of one's deeply felt religious belief, be it God-honoring or otherwise, and values sought for government, law and education, ARE INSEPARABLE.  Much older than any other text, the Bible has remained intact down throughout history.  The reasons are many, but one is that it resonates with human life experience.  The moral law, John 3:16 and Psalm 23 have no equal.  The Bible tells the truth and it DOES NOT GLOSS OVER the evil done in the name of religion.

 

The power of government comes from the people who fund the gigantic bank called the Public Treasury.  We pay for courthouses, schools, highways, salaries of public servants, etc.  Good government is a tool for protecting life and liberty for the pursuit of happiness.  The God-honoring American Declaration of Independence is universal and immortal in scope.  That Declaration and Bill of Rights, added later to the Constitution, are the design, and the Constitution is the tool for implementing that design.

 

Patriotic Americans applaud diversity.  They recognize, however, that worldly concoctions for diversity that tear down family values, morality and appreciation for the American idea, IN GOD WE TRUST, are evil and totally unacceptable.

 

"Patriotism is as much a virtue as justice, and is as necessary for support of societies as the natural affection is for the support of families.  The Amor Patriae is both moral and a religious duty.  It comprehends not only the love of our neighbors but millions of our fellow creatures, not only the present but of future generations.  This virtue we find constitutes a part of the first character of history."

 

The above essay on patriotism by Dr. Benjamin Rush was published in 1773.  He was a delegate to the Continental Congress and signed the Declaration of Independence.  A devout Christian, Rush established Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and served as professor of medical theory and clinical practice at the University of Pennsylvania from 1791 to 1813.

 

This particular blog entry is not under copyright, and we encourage you to use it as a template to write a letter to the editor of your own local newspaper.  Use of the blog is increasing by over 1,000 repeat users per month.  You can help restore the American dynamic by informing your friends about this refreshing review of American values provided by Heartland Foundation, Inc.

In-god-we-trust-1

*http://amestrib.com/

 

Image from http://www.donotbesurprised.com/2011/11/in-which-god-does-america-trust-anywa...

 

For more information or to purchase Restoring Education Central to American Greatness:

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http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/restoring-education-david-a-norris/1103308053...

 

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