Restoring Education Central to American Greatness http://davidanorris.posterous.com David A. Norris Blog posterous.com Tue, 26 Mar 2013 07:13:00 -0700 Part I: Government http://davidanorris.posterous.com/part-i-government-74472 http://davidanorris.posterous.com/part-i-government-74472

American Principle Fifteen 

 

The Benevolent Provision and Heart Of God For Mankind

Are Recognized By Our Founding Fathers

 

"And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."

Declaration of Independence

 

 

It is the deeply felt expression of faith in the God who gave us life and the respect for unchanging laws of creation's nature that reversed the historic tide of oppression by government officials.

 

Our duty is to be public about the fact that reliable standards for law come with knowledge of the non-sectarian Creator-based meaning of the Declaration of Independence and the First Amendment.  In 1835, the significance of this connection was observed by Alexis de Tocqueville, "… in America religion is the road to knowledge, and the observance of the divine laws leads man to civil freedom…"

 

We must be honest.  There is an imperative need to restore American law that upheld the impartial life-enhancing morality, known then as Common Law and will always be known as the Laws of Nature.  The Declaration of Independence reads "… the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind…"  This is not only the basis for our nation's charters, it is also the unifier of our immigrant nation for the greatness that has been achieved.  

 

The wisdom of leaders who drafted the American charters is illustrated by the recommendation made for the American Seal.  Originally Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and John Adams proposed that the Seal pay tribute to the benevolent provision and heart of God for mankind.  Their design depicted the Old Testament journey of the Israelites who were guided by God through the wilderness.  The other side displayed Anglo-Saxons from Germanic tribes who descended to England and influenced the making of laws.  The Anglo-Saxons introduced morality for law comparable to the values of right and wrong identified by the human conscience at birth.  Undoubtedly, the most significant guide for law chosen by Americans was the Ten Commandments presented by God to Moses at Mount Sinai.

 

Secular authoritarians who abuse citizen sovereignty in practice and the Constitutional concept of unalienable God-given human rights have always menaced society.  "I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations" (James Madison, Speech to the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 16, 1788).  The quest for power is reflected in their tax and spend authoritarian militancy.  While claiming patriotism, they promote fear and employ every conceivable means to remove any knowledge of America's Judeo-Christian heritage and the principles of the Declaration of Independence that gave birth to the United States of America.

 

The Declaration of Independence concludes: "We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do.  And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor" (the final paragraph from the Declaration of Independence unanimously adopted by the thirteen United States of America, CONGRESS, July 4, 1776).

 

The Constitution concludes: "Done in Convention by the Unanimous Consent of the States present on the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven and of the independence [Declaration of Independence] of the United States of America the Twelfth [adopted earlier] In witness whereof We have hereunto subscribed our names."

 

 

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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, 05 Mar 2013 08:36:11 -0800 Part I: Government http://davidanorris.posterous.com/part-i-government-85354 http://davidanorris.posterous.com/part-i-government-85354

American Principle Ten

 

Government Must Be Decentralized

 

"… repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny [British King] over these States."

Declaration of Independence

 

 

Officials who bypass the principles of limited government are suppressing the supreme right of the people to rule.  Such officials have violated their duties as trustees and are in effect usurpers, oppressors and tyrants.

 

The American system is "a Republic--a federation, or combination, of central and state republics--under which: the different governments will control each other…  Within each republic there are two safeguarding features: (a) a division of powers, as well as (b) a system of checks and balances between separate departments: hence a double security arises [essential] to the rights of the people" (The Federalist No. 51, by James Madison).

 

Regarding the federal government usurping essential citizen rights, "True barriers [for] of our liberty are our State governments" (President Thomas Jefferson's First Inaugural Address, 1801).

 

"The necessity of reciprocal checks in the exercise of political power, by dividing and distributing it into different depositories, and constituting each the guardian of the public weal against invasions by the others, has been evinced by experiments ancient and modern; some of them in our country and under our own eyes.  To preserve them must be as necessary as to institute them" (President George Washington's Farewell Address, 1796).

 

"Bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possesses their equal rights, which equal laws must protect, and to violate would be oppression" (President Thomas Jefferson's First Inaugural Address, 1801).

 

 

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Fri, 22 Feb 2013 04:19:00 -0800 Part I: Government http://davidanorris.posterous.com/part-i-government-1255 http://davidanorris.posterous.com/part-i-government-1255

American Principle Seven (Part II)

 

The Moral Duties Of Civility Are Also a Predicate

For Interpreting Constitutional Meaning

 

"We hold these truths to be self-evident ..."

Declaration of Independence

 

"Tis substantially true that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government.  Who that is a sincere friend to it, can look with Indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric?"

George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796

 

 

The Bill of Rights of Massachusetts provides, with clarity, truth learned from Scripture and the laboratory of history: "The happiness of a people and the good order and preservation of civil government essentially depend upon piety, religion, and morality…"  Citizens in four additional states agreed to ratify the Constitution by adopting the same wording for their state's Bill of Rights.

 

Jefferson emphasized justification for taxpayer-funded education: "The first elements of morality too may be instilled in their minds; such as, when further developed as their judgments advance in strength, may teach them how to work out their own greatest happiness, by shewing them that it does not depend on the condition of life in which chance has placed them, but is always the result of a good conscience, good health, occupation, and freedom in all just pursuits" (Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, 1782).

 

The Grand Jury for the 11th Judicial District of Iowa investigated problems in higher education.  Their Presentment was adopted unanimously December 23, 1968: "In the field of morality all basic truths have been apprehended.  All the changing conditions we hear so much about [the charm of immoral practices] do not affect [negate] the validity or applicability of the central directives of human conduct.  These truths are demonstrable in terms of benefits and as to how it is that those who disregard them fall easily into alien pitfalls of Fascism, lawlessness, drug addiction, etc.  There is no greater contribution a teaching institution can make to human progress and purpose than to endow students at all levels with this knowledge."

 

The few teachers who are militantly opposed to the "Laws of Nature and of Nature's God" and limited government, present their dogma with godly charm and the promises of an easier life.  Why is secular Political Correctness so dangerous?  Those who disagree, the good teacher majority and students, dare not present data that disproves what is being taught.  Those who do so are victimized by any number of charges… bigotry, unconcern for the destitute, diversity-hating, whatever.  Consequently, students are not taught about the standards of morality that make self-government, prosperity and liberty possible.

 

What is the price?  Alexander Solzhenitsyn, in his Templeton Address, said: "More than a half century ago, while I was still a child, I recall hearing a number of older people offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen Russia: 'Men have forgotten God: that's why all this has happened.' Since then I have spent well-nigh fifty years working on the history of our Revolution; in the process I have read hundreds of books, collected hundreds of personal testimonies, and have already contributed eight volumes of my own toward the effort of clearing away the rubble left by upheaval.  But if I were asked today to formulate as concisely as possible the main cause of the ruinous Revolution that swallowed up some sixty million of our people, I could not put it more accurately than to repeat: 'Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened'" (Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Men Have Forgotten God, The Templeton Address, 1983, in National Review, July 22, 1983, 873, quote from David A. Noebel, Understanding the Times, 247-8).

 

The solution requires restoring the intent and meaning of the Bill of Rights that will restore the parents' freedom to choose from among schools that must compete for students.

 

 

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Tue, 05 Feb 2013 07:28:00 -0800 Part I: Government http://davidanorris.posterous.com/part-i-government-99382 http://davidanorris.posterous.com/part-i-government-99382

American Principle Five

 

Liberty--From Oppression By Big Government

and Nongovernment Authoritarians--Is Vital

 

"unalienable Rights, that among these are … liberty."

Declaration of Independence

 

 

"Liberty and life are the gratuitous gifts of heaven.  I shall certainly be excused from adducing any formal arguments to evince, that life, and whatever is necessary for the safest of life, are the natural rights of man.  Some things are so difficult; others are so plain, that they cannot be proved" (Supreme Court Justice James Wilson, Lectures, delivered in the College of Philadelphia, 1790-1791).

 

Liberty, in the context of the Declaration of Independence and Preamble to the Constitution, means freedom from government activity that would undermine the development of citizen self-reliance.  Not only must those in the judicial branch of government support the meaning and intent of the Constitution for God-honoring education curriculum, the people's money should not be used to buy political advantage.  When politicians continually manage to have welfare payments given to healthy people when jobs remain available, they are promoting a growing block of dependent citizens within the population.  Once reduced to dependence on government, the fiscal and sociological consequences to society become permanent.  These people soon figure out that by electing liberals, they can become work-free.  Helping those who are incapable for reasons beyond their control is, of course, man's duty and beneficial to all.

 

"Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are a gift of God?  That they are not violated but with His wrath?  Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just:  that His justice cannot sleep forever" (Thomas Jefferson, Notes on Virginia Q.XVIII, 1782. ME 2:227).  Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence and third President of the United States.

 

The Constitution, starting with We the people, was designed to identify and remove authoritarian cheats from power in government.  Many of those cheats remain unpunished, but, in the recent past, one president of the United States was forced to resign because of dishonest claims.  Another president was required to testify before a citizen grand jury and later found to be guilty of perjury (telling lies under oath) and obstruction of justice, and was impeached by the House of Representatives.  This only works when all men are equal in the sight of God and the law, and when the laws reflect justice.

 

Leaders are important, but leaders must be held accountable to the judgment of the people.

 

 

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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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Thu, 16 Aug 2012 11:01:00 -0700 Curriculum That Is Profoundly American http://davidanorris.posterous.com/curriculum-that-is-profoundly-american http://davidanorris.posterous.com/curriculum-that-is-profoundly-american

The proposal for education advanced by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison and adopted by the University of Virginia provides an excellent formula for teaching American history and government.  It provides indisputable evidence of the American principles that are imperative for education in the taxpayer-funded classroom.

 

The resolution stated that "all students shall be inculcated with the basic American principles of government…  None should be inculcated [taught] which are incompatible with those on which the Constitution of this State, and of the United States were genuinely based, in the common opinion."  The resolution also stated that the faculty had a standard of responsibility and were required to teach affirmatively these unique American principles.  Only after they had done so were they to teach the conflicting principles as such, judging them by the soundness of the American principles that served as a basis.  The resolution then specified six writings that, in the board's opinion, reflected the unanimously supported principles unique to America that youth should be taught.  "These documents were John Locke's Essay Concerning the True Original Extent and End of Civil Government (1690), Algernon Sidney's Discourses Concerning Government (1698), the Declaration of Independence, Washington's Farewell Address, the Virginia Resolutions of 1799 (adopted by the Virginia legislature), and the Federalist Papers."*

 

The character-building curriculum now taught by homeschool parents and many Christian private schools is comparable to the curriculum taught in common schools and one-room neighborhood schools in early America.  At that time, such schools often had, say, thirty students, some at nearly every grade level, with one teacher.

 

Noah Webster's textbooks, including the Webster's Blue-Back Speller, were standard for American schools until early 1930.  Conversant in many languages, he spent several years writing the Webster's Dictionary that preceded the dictionary used in America today.  His definitions were often supported by Scripture.

 

Webster taught school in West Hartford, Connecticut, and later served as a soldier during the American Revolution.  He spent nine terms in the Connecticut legislature and three terms in the Massachusetts legislature.  A strong proponent for convening the Constitutional Convention, he wrote what became Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution.

 

Webster was concerned that the youth of our nation would learn to check their emotions and avoid the fears and pitfalls of foolish imaginations.  Karl Marx stirred up the emotions of heady intellectuals.  With promises of a utopia, he captured millions who, to the great loss of their families and even nations, embraced secular popularism.  The Webster dictionary defined emotions as the "strong impression, or vivid sensation that immediately produces a reaction.  The nature of the reaction is to either 'appropriate and enjoy, or avoid and repel' the cause for the impression."**

 

Abraham Lincoln's strong foundation in language was a result of his stepmother's curriculum--the Bible and Shakespeare (The Encyclopaedia Britannica: a Dictionary of Arts, Sciences…, Vol. 16, by Hugh Chisholm, p 703).

Albert Einstein and Bill Gates were university dropouts but not learning dropouts.  They were challenged to learn about the unvarying reliability and order of creation's design.

 

American_schools

 

*Nathaniel F. Cabell, Early History of the University of Virginia, as contained in the "Letters of Thomas Jefferson and Joseph B. Cabell," (n.p.: Richmond, Virginia, 1856), 339.  Repeated in Hamilton Albert Long, The American Ideal of 1776, Your American Heritage Books, 141-44, 147.

**Noah Webster, American Dictionary of the English Language, G. and C. Merriam Company, 1828; cited by David A. Norris, Lasting Success (Ames, IA Alpha Heartland Press, 2003), 7.

 

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Thu, 19 Jul 2012 08:22:00 -0700 Revisionism In the Soft Sciences http://davidanorris.posterous.com/revisionism-in-the-soft-sciences http://davidanorris.posterous.com/revisionism-in-the-soft-sciences

The collective political power of teacher unions, established by legislative and judicial acceptance, has enabled them to prevent curriculum control by elected school boards and superintendents hired to administer the system.  

 

Even though tenure laws enable teachers in the hard sciences (math, engineering, chemistry, physics, and so forth) to get by with dumbed down approaches to learning, the harm done is less than in the soft sciences.  Whether or not the researcher or teacher is a Bible-believer, the conclusions drawn in the hard sciences tend to be the same because proof is determined by observing consistently repeatable and immutable laws of creation's nature.  Misrepresentations are typically exposed and rejected as a result of our free enterprise system, which thrives on competition and the consumer's right to choose from products that come from the hard sciences.

 

In contrast, conclusions drawn in the soft sciences--such as literature, news editing, education strategies, political science, life-origins biology, history, law, social studies, arts, and ecology--differ starkly between creationist and evolutionist instructors.  The differences include the acceptance or rejection of moral certainties, an honest or dishonest rendition of history, and respect or disregard for parental authority and for the Constitution itself.  When an evolutionist instructs a student year after year, the student's ability to separate truth from non-truth and to appreciate the value of moral law and the traditional family becomes seriously impaired.

 

Not surprising, an Ames, Iowa, public school board member complained:  "I know the Legislature likes to talk about local control, but what I am getting [at] is that … we really don't have local control."*

97vmk

*Teresa Kay Albertson, "School District Cuts Not as Bad as Feared," The Tribune(Ames, IA), January 18, 2009, A3.

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Mon, 16 Jul 2012 08:50:00 -0700 American Education Philosophy Corrupted http://davidanorris.posterous.com/american-education-philosophy-corrupted http://davidanorris.posterous.com/american-education-philosophy-corrupted

Those who champion the atheistic-secular concept of open-mindedness use it to justify exclusivity for imposing their God-rejecting life view upon captive classroom students.  "Not only must school teachers and principles be 'exemplars of open-mindedness and free inquiry, but severally and collectively, they must be prepared to proclaim their faith in that open-mindedness and free inquiry.'"  Here we must hearken to Dewey:  "The administrator will… realize that public education is essentially education of the public: directly, through teachers and students… in the transformation of society [into a God-rejecting, socialistic society]."*

 

Atheistic-secular demands that "school teachers and principals be exemplars of open-mindedness [in] the transformation of society" undermine the moral foundations of civil society.  The justification for a tax on the people for education, in a representative republic, requires that the curriculum promote foundational moral boundaries.  The constitutions of the Soviet Union, China and Cuba proclaimed liberty.  But in the absence of a moral predicate providing certainties for Constitutional law--such as provided in the American Declaration of Independence and Northwest Ordinance, they rule by what Solon of Athens called "incalculable and changeable decrees."**

 

Prior to the leftist takeover, the National Education Association published God-honoring, character-building booklets for students and parents as recently as 1950.  For example, A Golden Treasury from the Bible, contained twenty-four Bible verses, including Psalm 1; Proverbs 20:1; Exodus 20 (the Ten Commandments); Romans 12; John 3:16, 6:23, 14:1-4 and 15:1-4; 1 Corinthians 13; and Ecclesiastes 12:1, "remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth."

 

In contrast to the old European secular philosophy, the American philosophy of education requires that all prominent views, including the atheistic-secular view, be introduced, but that they are taught in the context of the history of their outcomes.  This is seen in the resolution proposed by both Thomas Jefferson and James Madison and adopted by the newly founded University of Virginia (see Chapter 10 of Restoring Education Central to American Greatness).  Their resolution identifies the great need of our day, stressing citizen responsibility and the need for a thorough knowledge of historic American foundations.

 

The education guidelines set forth for the University of Virginia emphasize that "all students shall be 'inculcated' with the basic American principles for government," and, "None should be inculcated which are incompatible with those on which the Constitution of this States, and of the United States were genuinely based, in the common opinion."  The resolution also stated that the faculty had a standard of responsibility and were required to teach affirmatively these unique American principles.  Only after they had done so were they to teach the conflicting principles as such, judging them by the soundness of the American principles that served as a basis.***  These principles are detailed in Chapter 10 of Restoring Education Central to American Greatness.

 

Faithful school boards and administrators take seriously the fact that youthful trust, inexperience and vulnerability to exploitation by the enemies of the family and self-government require that the learning environment be protected.  God has given mankind a wonderful mind to use and explore the universe, with but one exception:  we are not to use our minds to absorb the details and wiles (deceptive snares) of evil (Genesis 3:13; Isaiah 5:15-16, 20; Romans 16:19; and James 1:12-17).

 

Image_nea_booklet

 

*James Allen Johnson, "A Note on Academic Freedom: Schoolmen Must Declare Their Faith," Phi Delta Kappan, 44:185-88 (January, 1963), in Robert Hoffman, Foundations of American Education (Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 1970), 192.

**Will and Ariel Durant, The Story of Civilization, vol. 2, The Life of Greece (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1939), 118.

***Nathaniel F. Cabell, Early History of the University of Virginia as contained in the "Letters of Thomas Jefferson and Joseph B. Cabell" (n.p.: Richmond, Virginia, 1856), 339.  Repeated in Hamilton Albert Long, The American Ideal of 1776, Your American Heritage Books, 141-44, 147.

 

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Fri, 22 Jun 2012 07:37:40 -0700 Exegesis of the Constitution http://davidanorris.posterous.com/exegesis-of-the-constitution http://davidanorris.posterous.com/exegesis-of-the-constitution

 

The importance of firmness in retaining the original meaning of the Constitution for judiciary, legislative and administrative separation merits repeated emphasis.  The duty of unelected judges is to settle disputes based upon the Constitution and Precedents consistent with the Constitution.  Responding to the question, "Is there a role for politics in our judicial system?" Atonin Scalia, who has now served for over twenty years on the Supreme Court, said:  "The absolute worst violation of a judge's oath is to decide a case based on a partisan principle or philosophical basis, rather than what the law [states]."*

 

Prior to the Everson v. Board of Education decision in 1947, the First Amendment protected religious liberty.  Liberals going to court to get the Ten Commandments removed from public property would have been wasting their time.  A disruptive student who objects to the statement "Jesus is the reason for the season" on t-shirts in the public school would not have threatened a lawsuit.  The force of government was on the side of the people's civic right to use their institutions, including public education, to proclaim belief in the nonsectarian God of creation.

 

The First Amendment upholds the unalienable right of the people to share their religious beliefs and make comparisons.  With this knowledge they can then choose what appears to be best.  This competition between the religions strengthens the Higher Authority "government of laws, and not of men" consensus among voters.

 

"On every question of construction, carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text, or invented against it, conform to the probable one in which it was passed" (June 12, 1823, Thomas Jefferson, Autobiography Notes on the State of Virginia, Public and Private Papers, Addresses and Letters, New York: The Library of American, 1984).

 

Modern_judge

*V.P. Price "Are There Too Many Lawyers?" Parade, September 14, 2008, 9.

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Mon, 18 Jun 2012 07:36:00 -0700 Everson v. Board of Education http://davidanorris.posterous.com/everson-v-board-of-education http://davidanorris.posterous.com/everson-v-board-of-education

The 1947 Everson v. Board of Education decision was a departure from American legal foundations, striking at the very heart of self-government and liberty.  Within fifteen years, radicals on American campuses were gleefully rejecting and attacking core American belief for law.  Everson v. Board of Education appears to have been by far the most harmful court action taken against individual liberty since the Dred Scott v. Sandford decision ninety years earlier.

 

The Everson v. Board of Education decision twisted the meaning of the First Amendment of the Constitution in two ways.  According to Daniel L. Dreisbach, "First, the phrase emphasizes separation of church and state--unlike the First Amendment, which speaks in terms of non-establishment and free exercise of religion.  Second, a wall [term used by the Court] is a bilateral barrier that inhibits the activities of both civil government and religion--unlike the First Amendment, which imposes restrictions on civil government only [not on religious freedom]."*

 

Thomas Jefferson's "wall of separation" metaphor was totally misrepresented by the judges.  He adamantly objected to any such tyranny against religious liberty.  Engraved on the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, DC are his own words:  "I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man."  He was a religious seeker and regularly attended church services held on Sundays in the United States Capitol building.**

 

Instead of upholding their oath to abide by the Constitution, judges ruled by "incalculable and changeable decrees."  Rule by men replaced government by established law.  The reasoning behind their decision reflects the old European secular doctrine of open-mindedness for dumbing the people down and transforming society.  Instead of being umpires, unelected judges are trampling on the sacred rights of the people by legislating superior rights for the enemies of responsible liberty.

 

First_amend

*Daniel L. Dreisbach, Professor of Justice, Law, and Society at American University in Washington, DC, "How a Misused Metaphor Changed Church-State Law, Policy, and Discourse," essay, Heritage Foundation publication, June 23, 2006, http://www.heritage.org/initiatives/first-principles

**Hutson, Religion and the Founding of the American Republic, 84.

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Fri, 25 May 2012 05:29:39 -0700 Government by Written and Permanent Law: Stability vs Manipulation http://davidanorris.posterous.com/133432359 http://davidanorris.posterous.com/133432359

The most significant correction that came with the American Revolution was that citizens themselves were recognized as sovereigns under God over government.  In the United States, people looked to creation's God for higher authority.  The First Amendment rejection of power, claimed by government authoritarians, kings, academians, clergy, etc., unleashed competition for religion, education and speech among the people that enabled America to become the greatest nation in world history.

 

William Ellery Channing wrote, "Erase all thought and fear of God from a community, and selfishness and sensuality would absorb the whole man.  Appetite knowing no restraint, and poverty and suffering having no solace or hope, man would trample in scorn on the restraints of human laws.  Virtue, duty, principle would be moved and scorned as unmeaning sounds.  A sordid self-interest would supplant every feeling, and man would become… a companion of brutes."*

 

"Government by written and permanent law" is not complicated.  No matter what one's religion, birthright or political view, the principles of the Declaration and universal absolutes shown here clearly distinguish right from wrong.  Stealing property that belongs to another is violating an unalienable right upon which liberty depends.  Adultery is a violation of the sacred obligations of marriage and family, creating stress and shortening life.  Dishonesty cheats the victim out of an unalienable, God-given right and undermines the reliable communication upon which commerce and community depend.  Deliberately stopping the heart of an unborn child is an horrific offense to the God of life as well as to society.

 

How then can the people protect themselves from cavalier authoritarians who manipulate changes in laws that enable radicals to dumb down students and, by extension, over time, manipulate society?

 

Historians Will and Ariel Durant pointed out Solon of Athens' recognition of the critical procedural choice that is directly related to limiting the options for political deception.  Do we insist upon "government by written and permanent law," or do we permit "government by incalculable and changeable decrees?"**

 

Impressions of Solon of Athens and other lawmakers from different cultures, with the focus on Moses and the Ten Commandments, are displayed on the Supreme Court building in Washington, DC.  Although Solon did not support his understanding with references to the Old Testament for reliable standards, he did recognize the ongoing dangers of deception by authoritarians who manage to dominate soft sciences.

 

"Government by written and permanent law" provides long-term stability.  Mankind is protected from short-lived popular fantasies and preserved from the inroads of political deception.  Secular elitists who insist that the American charter for the use of government power is a "living constitution" now artfully advance "government by incalculable and changeable decrees."  To retain respect for the family and liberty, the Constitution must be anchored to the political truth adopted by the Founding Fathers.

 

Thomas_jefferson_quote_from_karen

 

*William Ellery Channing, 1820, The Great Doctrine of Retribution: The Founders' Views of the Social Utility of Religion, cited by James H. Hutson in a presentation to the John Courtney Murray Seminar at the American Enterprise Institute, 1150 Seventeenth Street, NW, Washington, DC, June 6, 2000.

**Will and Ariel Durant, The Story of Civilization, the Solon of Athens "government by incalculable and changeable decrees" Vol. II, The Life of Greece, 1939, 118.

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Fri, 18 May 2012 09:11:02 -0700 Government by Written and Permanent Law: Liberty vs Oppression http://davidanorris.posterous.com/government-by-written-and-permanent-law-liber http://davidanorris.posterous.com/government-by-written-and-permanent-law-liber

"Government is frequently and aptly classed under two descriptions, a government of FORCE [arbitrary and changeable decrees imposed by authoritarians], 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" (Alexander Hamilton, Tully Papers, 1794).

 

In the words of Chief Justice John Roberts:  "Governments in world history have so often abused the power, and people have suffered because of it.  The framers decided they were going to lay down some rules to try to keep that from happening--that's what the Constitution is.  Of all the major written constitutions in history, it is the shortest.  It's not an elaborate code.  They were laying down basic principles that they wanted to endure and it is timeless… our Constitution is different from a lot of others.  Many countries that have constitutions--they're really just political documents."**

 

Corruption is limited when the development of law comes from the people unless, of course, they become estranged from God and the moral certainties of creation's nature.  When this happens the people become vulnerable to exploitation and paternalistic authoritarians.

 

"In questions of power let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution."

Thomas Jefferson

 

The American Principles One through Fifteen, Chapter 1, in the Restoring Education Central To American Greatness book that we have listed in previous blogs are changeless, practical and appropriate for government "by written and permanent law."  That "all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

 

George Washington reminded future generations that they cannot neglect the personal responsibility for upholding the moral predicate for law:  "It is easy to foresee, that from different causes and from different quarters, much pains will be taken, many artifices employed, to weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth ('keep alive the spirit of Liberty'); as this is the point in your political fortress against which the batteries of internal and external enemies will be most constantly and actively directed.*

 

Wethepeopleimage2

 

 

*Chief Justice John Roberts, discussing the role of Constitutional American politics with C-Span host Lamb on August 5, 2006.

**George Washington, Farewell Address, September 17, 1796, in The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources 1745-1799, published by the authority of Congress, ed. John C. Fitzpatrick, vol. 35, 214-38.

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Tue, 08 May 2012 06:44:59 -0700 America's Civic Religion in Light of Congress http://davidanorris.posterous.com/americas-civic-religion-in-light-of-congress http://davidanorris.posterous.com/americas-civic-religion-in-light-of-congress

Even Congress has recognized that America has a civic religion. 

 

Presidents, as well as many other citizens, attended church services held on Sundays in the United States Capitol building.  President Thomas Jefferson, "during his whole administration, 1801-1809, was a most regular church attendant," documents James H. Hutson in Religion and the Founding of the American Republic.  Ministers of several Christian denominations conducted the services.  Honoring the nonsectarian God of creation in public and on government property is an important manifestation of civic faith.  In addition to attending church services in the Capitol building, Thomas Jefferson made significant financial contributions to that ministry.

 

"After the Civil War, from 1865-1868, the House of Representatives in Washington, D.C., permitted the newly organized First Congregational Church of Washington to use its chambers for church and Sunday school services.  During that same time, specifically on June 13, 1866, Congress passed the Fourteenth Amendment which, according to some later judicial foolishness, forbids religious activities on public property."*

 

Addressing Congress, Benjamin Rush, signer of the Declaration of Independence, proclaimed:  "I anticipate nothing but suffering to the human race while the present systems of paganism, deism and atheism prevail in the world."**

 

English language Bibles had to be imported from England until 1782 when Congress authorized Robert Aitken to commence the first American printing of the Bible in English.   Aitken was also the official printer of the Journals of Congress for the United States Congress.  The following year, George Washington wrote a letter of commendation to Robert Aitken for his "Bible of the American Revolution."***

 

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 and legislators.  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 previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted; 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, and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions… And to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue."****

 

In 1954, Congress ordered that "a room with facilities for prayer and meditation…" be made available in the United States Capitol.  The seventh edition of The Capitol, an official publication of the United States Congress, describes the stained-glass window of the Congressional Prayer Room:

 

"The history that gives this room its inspirational lift is centered in the stained glass window.  George Washington kneeling in prayer… is the focus of the composition…  Behind Washington a prayer is etched:  'Preserve me, O God, for in Thee I put my trust,' the first verse of the sixteenth Psalm.  There are upper and lower medallions representing the two sides of the Great Seal of the United States.  On these are inscribed the phrases:  annuit coeptis--'God has favored our undertakings'--and novas order seclorum--'A new order of the ages is born.'  Under the upper medallion is the phrase from Lincoln's immortal Gettysburg Address, 'This Nation under God'…  The two lower corners of the window each show the Holy Scriptures, an open book and a candle, signifying the light from God's law, 'Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path' [Psalm 119:105]."*****

 

A primary duty of government officials and most certainly the duty of professors and teachers whose salaries are funded by taxpayers is to promote the liberating principles of the nonsectarian American civic creed that has been discussed in this and earlier blog posts.

 

1

 

 

*James H. Hutson, Religion and the Founding of the American Republic, Washington, DC: Library of Congress, 1998, 84.  The entire book is available at lastingsuccessedu.org

**Benjamin Rush, Annals of Congress 1834, vol. I (September 25, 1789), 949-50.

***http://www.greatsite.com/timeline-english-bible-history/

and

http://www.greatsite.com/timeline-english-bible-history/colonial-bibles.html

****http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/GW/gw004.html

*****http://www.wallbuilders.com/downloads/newsletter/H.Res.888.pdf

 

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Mon, 20 Feb 2012 09:43:00 -0800 Natural Law vs. Secular Law http://davidanorris.posterous.com/natural-law-vs-secular-law http://davidanorris.posterous.com/natural-law-vs-secular-law

The natural-law philosophy, foundational to the American constitution, is in direct conflict with secular law.

 

The atheistic-secular philosophy for law identifies with what Solon of Athens described as "government by incalculable and changeable decrees" (Will and Ariel Durant, The Story of Civilization, Vol. II, The Life of Greece, Simon and Schuster, 1939, 118).  No ~ a solid basis is necessary for prosperity and the self-government enablements of man, for which the Constitution was written.  Secular law leads to political adventurism, exploitation, death and slavery.

 

Separation of the three branches of government (checks and balances) is vital, but what about the Declaration of Independence pattern for separation from hierarchical rule?  This is outlined in the Bill of [citizen] Rights and intended to prevent government servants from perverting established law to grant rights that are harmful to the public.  They are also intended to prevent government servants from using the public's treasury to subsidize slothful citizens and thereby attract an irresponsible voting block.  

"Liberty and security in government depend not on the limits, which the rulers may please to assign to the exercise of their own powers, but on the boundaries, within which their powers are circumscribed by the Constitution.  With us, the powers of magistrates, call them by whatever name you please, are the grants of the people…  The supreme power is in them [the people]; and in them, even when the Constitution is formed, and government is in operation, the supreme power still remains.  A portion of their authority they, indeed, delegate; but they delegate that portion in whatever manner, in whatever measure, for whatever time, to whatever persons, and on whatever conditions they choose to fix" (Supreme Court Justice James Wilson, Lectures, 1790-1791).

 

The limited purpose for judicial independence is to enable judges to settle disputes without being pressured by special interests.  When judges establish policies by legislating or administrating, they have seriously violated their jurisdiction and become fascistic.  That is, they are overriding and preventing the people as sovereigns whose exclusive authority it is to elect like-minded representatives to do the legislating and serve as administrators. 

 

"The great object of my fear is the federal judiciary.  That body, like gravity, ever acting, with noiseless foot, and unalarming advance, gaining ground step by step, and holding what it gains, is engulfing insidiously the special governments into the jaws of that which feeds them."*  Upholding the intent and meaning of "certain unalienable [supreme] rights" of the people, outlined in the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights, is indispensable.  Laws that protect sodomy, same-sex marriage, abortion, and the privileges of teacher tenure are a violation of essential American principles that protect the public from exposure to unsavory and virulent evil practices.  On the other hand, laws that protect a strong, responsible citizen majority are crucial to the survival of self-government and liberty from tyrannical government rule.  

 

As long as judges do not use their independence to twist the meaning of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights to mask an authoritarian secular agenda, the American principles for life and liberty are not impaired or diminished.  All citizens, including judges, have the duty to protect the unalienable God-given rights to life and responsible use of liberty for others.

Judicial-activism

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* (Thomas Jefferson, letter to Judge Spencer Roane, March 9, 1821, www.marksquotes.com/Founding-Fathers/Jefferson/index7.htm)

 

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Tue, 31 Jan 2012 07:51:16 -0800 American Principle Eleven: Government and Union Monopolies Involving Education or Religion Are Prohibited--For Liberty's Sake http://davidanorris.posterous.com/american-principle-eleven-government-and-unio http://davidanorris.posterous.com/american-principle-eleven-government-and-unio

"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.'"

Constitution of the United States

 

Education that does not teach the timeless principles recorded in the Declaration of Independence empowers the enemies of life and liberty for the pursuit of happiness.  The delegates to the Constitutional Convention understood this, and they focused upon the fact that governments are by nature a nesting place for tyrants of the mind.

 

It is the collective political power granted to monopoly teacher unions and the establishment of tenure laws that empower the enemies of the family, human dignity, and self-government.  Tenured secular authoritarians have achieved control of curriculum used in the soft sciences and the study of law taught in government schools.  The weapons they use to enforce what must be taught include the ridicule and denigration of the reputation of anyone who dares to challenge leftist political correctness.  The use of the word "science" is code for their atheistic human origins, meaning, and purpose; "diversity" is code for demanding the approval of evil life practices; and "social justice" is code for using government power to force the transfer of wealth from the thrifty to their own block of voters. 

 

It is the competition of education suppliers that reduces inefficiencies in  government-run schools and helps restrain moral pollution by tenured government radicals.  The debasement of morality evident in the tragic church-state monopoly of Medieval Europe compares with the moral decline that started with government establishment of teacher unions.  First-amendment law intended to prevent the suppression of the right of parents to choose between competing education suppliers for their children's education are superior to all other laws--national, state, and local.

 

The indispensable role of education and religious liberty in the preservation of American principles for government is "self-evident."  Education that leaves new generations viewing government as some vague entity leaves them confused about truth.  They are then easy prey for manipulation by what Jefferson called "tyrants of the mind."  Definite and specific American principles for government of a responsible nature do exist.  Fifteen of them are my current focus of this blog.  

 

Education worthy of the name will emphasize that government is the servant of and for the people, the sovereigns under creation's God.

 

A full discussion of these vital American Principles can be found in my book, Restoring Education Central to American Greatness.

 

For more information or to purchase the book:

http://bookstore.iuniverse.com/Products/SKU-000185969/Restoring-Education-Cen...

http://www.amazon.com/Restoring-Education-Greatness-Principles-Liberated/dp/1...

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

 

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Tyranny

 

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Fri, 27 Jan 2012 10:47:00 -0800 American Principle Ten: Government Must Be Decentralized http://davidanorris.posterous.com/american-principle-ten-government-must-be-dec http://davidanorris.posterous.com/american-principle-ten-government-must-be-dec

"…repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny [British King] over these States."

Declaration of Independence

 

Officials who bypass the principles of limited government are suppressing the supreme right of the people to rule.  Such officials have violated their duties as trustees and are in effect usurpers, oppressors and tyrants.

 

The American system is "a Republic--a federation, or combination, of central and state republics--under which: the different governments will control each other…  Within each republic there are two safeguarding features: (a) a division of powers, as well as (b) a system of checks and balances between separate departments: hence a double security arises [essential] to the rights of the people."

(James Madison, Federalist, No. 51, 1788)

 

Regarding the federal government usurping essential citizen rights, "True barriers [for] of our liberty are our State governments."

(President Thomas Jefferson's First Inaugural Address, 1801, http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/founders/jefferson/thomas-jefferson-first-...

 

"The necessity of reciprocal checks in the exercise of political power, by dividing and distributing it into different depositories, and constituting each the guardian of the public weal against invasions by the others, has been evinced by experiments ancient and modern; some of them in our country and under our own eyes.  To preserve them must be as necessary as to institute them."

(George Washington's Farewell Address, 1796, http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=15)

 

"Bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possesses their equal rights, which equal laws must protect, and to violate would be oppression."

(President Thomas Jefferson's First Inaugural Address, 1801, http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/founders/jefferson/thomas-jefferson-first-... 

For more information or to purchase the book:

http://bookstore.iuniverse.com/Products/SKU-000185969/Restoring-Education-Cen...

http://www.amazon.com/Restoring-Education-Greatness-Principles-Liberated/dp/1...

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

 

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Image_jeffersonvstyranny

 

 

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Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:16:00 -0800 American Principle Nine: Authoritarians in Government Are a Parasitic and Ever-Present Danger http://davidanorris.posterous.com/american-principle-nine-authoritarians-in-gov http://davidanorris.posterous.com/american-principle-nine-authoritarians-in-gov

"Taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws,

and altering fundamentally the forms of our governments [constitutions]."

Declaration of Independence

 

"In questions of power then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution" (Thomas Jefferson:  Draft Kentucky Resolutions, 1798, ME 17:388).

 

Two notable efforts by power-hungry authoritarians occurred near the end of the war for independence.  First, army officers were conspiring to take control of Congress.  Second was an effort to make George Washington king.  He squashed both of them abruptly.  After all, Americans had just been through a bloody war with England to get rid of rule by authoritarians, religious and secular.

 

An axiom for detecting the corrupt and evil use of power is to follow the flow of money to politicians inside and outside of government.  Chief among tactics for overriding the will of the people at the state and local levels is bad election finance law.  The importation of millions of campaign dollars from homosexual- and abortion-rights advocates from outside a region to fund the campaigns of radicals in the region to be represented is destructive of representative government.  This should be prohibited.


"The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism.  A just estimate of that love of power, and proneness to abuse it, which predominates in the human heart, is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position" (President Washington's Farewell Address, 1796, http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=15).

 

For more information or to purchase the book:

http://bookstore.iuniverse.com/Products/SKU-000185969/Restoring-Education-Cen...

http://www.amazon.com/Restoring-Education-Greatness-Principles-Liberated/dp/1...

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

 

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George_washington

George Washington

1732 - 1799

Commander-In-Chief of the Continental Army (1775 - 1783)

First President of the United States (1789 - 1797)

 

 

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Fri, 06 Jan 2012 12:58:00 -0800 American Principle Five: Liberty Is Vital http://davidanorris.posterous.com/american-principle-five-liberty-is-vital http://davidanorris.posterous.com/american-principle-five-liberty-is-vital

"Unalienable Rights,

That among these are … liberty."

Declaration of Independence

 

Liberty--from oppression by big government and nongovernment authoritarians--is vital.  "Liberty and life are the gratuitous gifts of heaven.   I shall certainly be excused from adducing any formal arguments to evince, that life, and whatever is necessary for the safest of life, are the natural rights of man.  Some things are so difficult; others are so plain, that they cannot be proved" (Supreme Court Justice James Wilson, Lectures, delivered in the College of Philadelphia 1790-1791, volume II, part II, chapter 1, Lorenzo Press, 1804).

 

Liberty and self-reliance for independence are God's gifts for man to claim.  Liberty in the context of the Declaration of Independence and Preamble to the Constitution means freedom from government activity that would undermine the development of citizen self-reliance.  Accepting promises of politicians who use the public treasury to provide things that replace personal responsibility is a trap. Helping those who are incapable for reasons beyond their control is, of course, man's duty and beneficial to all, but paternalistic government services attract and enlarge an irresponsible voting block. When reduced to dependence, this cannot be reversed.  

 

"And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are a gift of God?  That they are not violated but with His wrath?  Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just:  that His justice cannot sleep forever" (Thomas Jefferson:  signer and principle author of the Declaration of Independence and third president of the United States, Notes on Virginia Q.XVIII, 1782, ME 2:227).

Jefferson_quote1

 

The Jefferson Memorial

Thomas Jefferson's Quote From the Northeast Interior Wall


A full discussion of these vital American Principles can be found in my book, Restoring Education Central to American Greatness.

 

For more information or to purchase the book:

http://bookstore.iuniverse.com/Products/SKU-000185969/Restoring-Education-Cen...

http://www.amazon.com/Restoring-Education-Greatness-Principles-Liberated/dp/1...

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

 

Like on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Restoring-Education-Central-to-American-Greatne...

 

 

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