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WELCOME TO THE
NEW DOWNSIZER-DISPATCH,
formerly
the RCRreport!
Dear DC Downsizers,
Libertarians often wonder, "Why are Americans so
_ignorant_ about their liberty? Why can't they see
we're losing our country?"
I don't mean to be rude or pejorative. As Walter
Williams pointed out, Ignorance is a correctable
condition: Stupidity is not. We're NOT saying the
American people are stupid.
Obviously, the media has played a big role in the
dumbing-down of America. For example, a recent study on
factual knowledge of foreign policy details (like
Afghanistan, Iraq, terrorism, etc.) showed that FoxNews
Channel viewers were the most likely to be ignorant of the
facts. The questions were amazingly simple and most of the
people on this list would've gotten them all right.
Another area where we're losing the battle is in our
schools. And this is exactly what we should expect.
Here's how I explained it in a 2002 article:
We also need to remember that schools teach according
to their own institutional
interests.
1. Catholic schools teach that the Pope, bishops,
and priests, and their moral teachings, hold the
answers, and that a sacramental life is pretty
important.
2. Evangelical Christian schools teach that the
Bible holds the answers, and that personal salvation
and godly behavior are necessary.
3. Prep schools teach that the elites of science,
business, and government hold the answers, and that
hard work and academic success are necessary to join
those elite.
So what should we expect government schools to teach?
Exactly what they do teach...
* That Franklin D. Roosevelt ended the Great
Depression with his wonderful economic policies.
* That the State is an instrument of compassion
and that without it old people would starve and no
one but the rich would have healthcare.
* That the State ended child-labor and that
without government these kids would work 12 hours
days, face starvation, and miss out on an education.
* That the State protects employees from
exploitation and that without it most of us would be
working in unsafe conditions for wages far below the
current minimum.
* That the State protects the environment and
without it there would be no park and recreation
areas, and businesses would dump their trash in our
rivers and streams.
This list could go on and on. But here's the point:
Government schools teach children to trust
politicians.
Children are impressionable. That's why the State
wants them so early and so long.
As a counter example, I'm a Homeschooling parent,
with many Homeschooling contacts. I can testify that
the schooling the State provides can be matched with
Homeschooling three hours per day over a period of
eight or so years. In fact, the young adults produced
through Homeschooling are nothing short of
remarkable.
On the other hand, government funded and controlled
education hasn't served the parents very well. This
"service" has been even more substandard where it's
supposedly needed most - poor, inner-city and
minority-populated areas. And despite greater levels
of spending and an increased emphasis on standards,
the public schools are continuing to fail kids.
The solution? Separate school and state.
You wouldn't want to give the State a monopoly to
produce bread. We saw how well that worked in the
Soviet Union, where bread-lines became the staple of
jokes. Is it any wonder that the bureaucracy has
failed our children?
Should we then be surprised when most Americans can't
see how their liberties have been taken away?
Should we really be shocked when they buy political
rhetoric that we need things like minimum wages, a
war on terror, and a graduated income tax - so the
rich can pay their "fair share"?
I don't think so.
Tomorrow, we're going to share an editorial
commentary with you that we believe is very
important. In that article you'll learn about a
movement that could be the start of something big - a
mass exodus from government schools.
A mass exodus of students from government schools
could serve as a "tipping point" - a moment of
critical mass, an event where we look back and say,
from this point forward government schools were
doomed for the dust bin of history.
With the government out of the business of
indoctrinating future voters, the door opens up for
us to win back our liberty. We hope you'll seek
tomorrow's message out and make time to read it.
For Liberty,
Jim Babka
President
the new DownsizeDC.org, Inc.
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