Day: November 26, 2005

There are two central problems I see facing the preservation of true civil liberties in America today. No matter how committed to preservation of liberty or resolute in defense of liberty anyone might be, commitment and resolution fail in the face of these issues.

1. Most Americans are historically subliterate, if not illiterate and have no idea what the civil liberties the Founders and Framers wrought for us are. That being the case, these historically sub- or illiterate folk fall prey to every manipulation of the media, academia, politicians and such organizations as the ACLU use to poison the well of liberty.
2. The same historically sub- and illiterate folk can vote. *shudder* And do. (Though fortunately, not in as great a number as they could.)

And the problem is exacerbated by the simple fact that so many people grow up in these United States not only historically ignorant but unable to reason. Witness: just about any evening news program or major newspaper, where strings of fallacies are presented as “news” and sheeple eat it right up, completely unaware—as I do not doubt most of the media folks who perpetrate the crimes against reason are—that what they are hearing/seeing/reading is drivel.

Of course, sheeple are not born; they are made. Made by a process of government interference, parental stupidity and laziness, educrats’ “academia nut” theories used as child abuse in the classroom (e.g., “new math”, “look-say”) and increasingly lazy and indifferent students. Add to that an ever more removed-from-reality educational system, and it’s no wonder so many adult Americans are truly functional illiterates, and masses are culturally, historically and even literarily subliterate._1_, _2_, _3_ (Linked: three pdf files comprising the 1992 National Adult Literacy Survey, and folks, the news hasn’t improved since then.)

Yes, moral fibre is essential to preserving liberty. But absent the knowledge of true liberties, the enemies of liberty will win over even an “upright” and  fervent, but ignorant, populace.

So, what shall we do? Depending on public education is a recipe for disaster. Even good teachers are stifled, blocked, prevented from, well, teaching by stupid, entrenched bureaucracies and generations of mistaught students who are now… parents. And stupid, entrenched bureaucracies (and by at least one objective criterion—GRE scores—educrats/school administrators are the stupidest people working in the education sector) will NOT “go gently into that good night.”  

*sigh*

We must do it. It would be nice (“‘Nice,’ he says… ” heh) if the words of the song were more substantive, but at least one line rings truer all the time as we travel the road that leads to preservation of true liberty for our children… or not…

“Teach your children well.”

You who are on the road
Must have a code that you can live by
And so become yourself
Because the past is just a good bye.

Teach your children well,
Their father’s hell did slowly go by,
And feed them on your dreams
The one they pick’s, the one you’ll know by.

Don’t you ever ask them why, if they told you, you will cry,
So just look at them and sigh and know they love you.

And you, of tender years,
Can’t know the fears that your elders grew by,
And so please help them with your youth,
They seek the truth before they can die.

Teach your parents well,
Their children’s hell will slowly go by,
And feed them on your dreams
The one they pick’s, the one you’ll know by.

Don’t you ever ask them why, if they told you, you will cry,
So just look at them and sigh and know they love you.

Powered by Castpost“Teach your children well… ”

*sigh* (And as I learned when attempting to explain the Fair tax to an older voter recently, “Teach your parents well” also applies.)

They are NOT going to learn what they need to be good citizens of a democratic republic in school. Count on it.

It is up to us. Our children and grandchildren (yes, and in some cases, parents) must learn somewhere if the friends of liberty are  to have the fundamental tools and knowledge—and numbers!—necessary to defeat the foes of liberty.

(Yeh, I expanded on this post in “Comments”. So? 🙂

Linked at: Otimaster, Peakah’s Pub, the rather racy, Where Are My Socks?, Choose life! and Don Surber After Hours… for now. 🙂

[Yes, that is the lyrics and an instrumental cover of the Crosby Stills & Nash piece. Recorded from a midi file collected years ago from… I don’t know where. If you know who created the midi file this mp3 is based on, let me know. Meanwhile, sing along if you have the hankerin’ to. 🙂 ]

I’ve finally, partly because of some recent comments and partly because, well, I guess about time, decided to post a “Commenting/Trackback Policy” CLICK the link if you’re interested. There’s also a “permapost” link in my right sidebar, if anyone cares (or if anyone doesn’t care–so? 🙂

Have fun, folks.

Tripping my blogroll this a.m., I naturally stopped off at my fav “coffee shop”—Morning Coffee and Afternoon Tea—for a lil eye-opener. (heh—I typoed “sys-opener” a sec ago. Actually took me a sec to realize it. Need. More. Coffee.) Christine actually hasn’t posted anything new in the past coupla days, but this time I followed a link she provided to…

Cubicle Coffee, but not to the neat Bodum French Press. No, I went straight for the philosophy cubicle.

Rick Lee shows what can be done with Thanksgiving Dinner leftovers. What an eye!

And, of course a stop at Kat’s for a lil weekend music is in order. How ’bout this one from John Prine and Iris Dement? Great Saturday morning fare! Not to your taste, try the Bill Morrissey she has posted.

Kris links to a near death experience at WallyWorld… heh. Oh, and a real nice after action report on her week, too. Don Surber links to a WallyWorld mayhem video. Funny, Don. “The Next Wal-Mart Millionaire” indeed. heh. And another “indeed” just for the heck of it. And,

I oppose the death penalty but it would be awful tempting to pass a law that would allow the people of the United States to elect each year a celebrity to be pelted to death with US magazines.

Droll, Don. But… just for good measure, (three is and even number, right? 🙂 let’s round out the “After hours” posts with, “Christmas 1, PC 0”. heh

Nothing new since Wednesday at Jerry Pournelle’s, but in a mail post that starts with a tomatoe bazooka and ranges through intellectual property rights, computer security, ID and the once (and future??) USSR, there’s plenty for everyone there. I thought about the “Scotch tape foils Sony copy protection” notice in his Current View section for my “Around and About” the other day, but didn’t carry it through… of course, I would never defeat copy protections schemes. No, not I! heh

Carol Platt Liebau rips into a grade school teacher for propagandizing his students. Justifiable ripitude. heh And her succint summation of the Boston “Holiday Tree” flap is bang on, too.

Dan Riehl has commentary on Sir Elton and “Lady David”. Feelin’ a tad snarky, Dan? 🙂 He also includes a link to another video of Wal-Mart Mayhem.

Bret Rogers over at Beat Canvas has already painted his Christmas card for this year. Next step, reproduction/printing… Good job, Brett!

I’m looking forward to The Conservative Cat’s exposés: “What makes John Murtha a better expert on Iraq than Michael Yon” and “The Truth about the Truth Laid Bear thing”, but until then, I can click through the wealth of links he offers on really important topics…

Grab a cuppa joe, sit back and dig into a recent history lesson with Cao’s October 1998: Military Analyst Goes Where Spies Fail to Go, but Her Efforts Are Rejected. Significant stuff, folks.

And check her post on the Padilla indictment (and how the ACLU is attempting to interfere) over at Stop the ACLU.

That’s about it for now. RW stuff needs doing.

Linked at Don Surber After Hours, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, and Stop the ACLU’s Weekend Open Trackbacks..