Because I live in Michigan and the state has been largely shut down for months, I had little better to do than to watch presidential conferences and I formed the firm opinion that the media message is intentionally false and pernicious. The capital correspondents seem to be ignorant in science, math, medicine, and above all, in American civics and our Constitution. Media for my purpose, includes television “news”, most papers, Hollywood, and big-time spectator sports. Some are not as uninformed as they seem, they are pushing our country to socialism. The media will gleefully destroy our country just because their billionaire owners want them to.
It seems whatever the media says is true, is actually false. You are better off believing the exact opposite of what you hear from media. That said, how do I get daily news? For the news I love The Wall Street Journal. The Journal is the last real newspaper in America. The Journal continues to be informative and above all, well-written and edited. Even leaving out the healthy dose of political indoctrination you receive from lesser newspapers, I get tired of trying to figure out what the writer intended in a garbled, misspelled sentence.
When there is a question about the Constitution such as, can a person whose parents were not American citizens become a U.S. president, I do not listen to the media. Instead, I look at the U.S. Constitution and read the answer for myself. The same way with the 1st, 2nd, and 4th Amendments, I go straight to the Constitution and re-read it. The Constitution is a binding contract between the People (U.S. citizens) and our elected officials.
Every American should read the U.S. Constitution itself. When there are questions you should consult the Federalist Papers to understand the intent of the framers of our Constitution. You should own a pocket copy of the Constitution and give copies to friends and children. Additionally, use a good dictionary. I learned that looking up the definition of all unfamiliar words shortens learning time. I do not guess what words mean.
I have a pretty extensive library. To be honest, growing up and attending Detroit public high schools and college I spent a lot of time in libraries reading classical literature, science, history, and philosophy. If it wasn’t for the public library, I don’t know what would have become of me, because even then you could not trust the public school system to provide a sufficient education for poor children to excel. Sadly, in many communities the public library now is a bit of a joke. So, real paper and bound books are a treasure that are going to disappear, so acquire important books while you can.
Books and dictionaries published before you were likely born, are the real prizes. Online copies of books can and are being censored and changed. The censoring is, of course, intentional. Socialists/communists do not want you to know true history. Educated people know that barbarian invaders intentionally destroyed libraries in advanced civilizations such as Samarkand, Alexandria, and Rome. The Vandals were eponymous destroyers, and even today the crime of defacing property is still called “vandalism”. People destroying monuments today have the same intent. I learned from history, and other people should too. There is no education in being kicked by a horse a second time. Wise people learn from the mistakes of other people and avoid injury, death, and other adverse consequences by paying attention to what people tried and failed at or tried and succeeded at before we were born.
I can tell you that being of Polish heritage there was no shortage of relatives, friends, teachers, priests, and warriors who told me about life under socialism. Remember that in 1939 two socialist countries, Germany and Russia simultaneously attacked Poland to start WWII. I’ve met people from East Germany, Russia, Cuba, and a variety of Eastern European nations. No one had anything good to say about living in a socialist country. I do not want America to become socialist. Socialism is a mind-numbing, oppressive system. I don’t want to recite the catechism of Marx just to hold a job.
In hard times such as now, there is great comfort in the Greek philosophy, particularly Stoics. Stoics like Marcus Aurelius (121 AD to 180 AD) overcame the fear of death through disciplined ritual (Mystery schools), meditation and deep thought. Think about this. Would you rather attend one of today’s indoctrination camps that are disguised as schools or have Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle as your teachers? Philip II of Macedon made sure his son Alexander had the best minds available to teach his son, including Aristotle. It really paid off. The biggest port in Egypt is still called Alexandria.
In the 80’s the Polish people themselves overthrew the socialist regime imposed on them after Yalta. Then the Russian people overthrew their own monster government. There was great rejoicing and a lot of Americans thought that we were safe from the perils of socialism─we were wrong. Communism not only survived in China (our most dangerous adversary) but survived in America in academia and Hollywood. Dedicated communists were in safe, well-paying enclaves brainwashing the minds of young Americans every day and in every way.
Every decade young people seem to know less and less about mathematics, grammar, spelling, science, history, and on and on. And much of what they know is false.
The old Hellenic goal of a strong mind in a strong body was discarded. Physical education was abandoned in most schools for the masses of children. And only an elite few, talented and affluent children were able to participate in increasingly expensive, private sport academies. Average Americans work long hours and cannot play with their own children. Socialists believe your children belong to the state in every way.
Further, teachers were bored with teaching the same old reading, writing, and arithmetic, and instead were seduced by re-packaged Marxist concepts. Marxism has always been alluring to a certain class of pseudo-intellectuals who are enamored with communist cell organizations such as the Red Brigade and of course, Che Guevarra. In the minds of the distinctly nonphysical professors, the idea of running around in a dashing beret with a red flag and fighting in the streets was titillating. However, street fighting is inherently dangerous, and it is safer to urge teenage students to do these bad things while they retreat to the safety of the teachers’ lounge.
Parents have been entirely too trusting and failed to supervise public school teachers and above all, the supervisors and politicians that control the curricula. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that exist as non-profit foundations have offered “free” services and money to municipalities. Foolish politicians have accepted the NGOs such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation various Soros foundations, etc., as free money and free help. What’s wrong with free help? Well it is never free. The NGO’s have been doing an excellent job of spreading propaganda that has been very effective in demoralizing Americans and turning them against our fantastic country, its institutions and its loyal servants and citizens.
Social problems in America can be remedied within the existing U.S. constitutional framework. We do not need communism. No communist country has withstood the test of time. They all collapse relatively quickly after millions of their own citizens are killed and the economy fails. Read about the Khmer Rouge when they turned Cambodia communist.
Don’t blame the children and young adults. Blame their bad teachers. But even more, actively monitor what children are being taught right now. Run for your school Board and change the curricula, vote out crackpots who currently serve as Regents at state-owned universities. If your child’s English teacher has skipped grammar to instill un-American doctrine report them to everybody you can. Some public school teachers are trying to covertly message children without their parents’ knowledge while online teaching. If they weren’t saying something inappropriate why don’t they want the parents to know? Go visit your local school and see for yourself what is being taught.
Lawyer tip. Authoritarians love online teaching because they can invade the privacy of citizen’s homes without a search warrant. For online sessions make sure your child has a sterile background such as a screen or drape to deter spying on your household. Remember that even then, the audio can pick up and record everything going on in your home and evidence picked up could initiate criminal investigations of anyone in the house for many things. Where modern teachers go CPS is not far behind. Not to mention that marital privacy can be invaded for gossip value if nothing else.
Some of the teachers and their union officials, cannot be reformed. If we can’t fire the worst of these subversives because of union contracts, then pay them, but don’t let them near children. Let’s save the next generation.
Part II will discuss the most important thing education can convey to you and how you can acquire it to share with your children.