Will coddling China ever end? by Duggan Flanakin
Now US social media aid and profit from Chinese censorship skills, instead of challenging them
Duggan Flanakin
What is it about Communist China that makes the world’s most populous nation such a favorite of the international globalist, socialist community?
In 1997, China was granted an exemption from any obligations to reduce carbon dioxide emissions under the Kyoto Protocol (as was India), on the ground that it was a “developing nation.” Despite its posturing over the Paris climate agreement, China’s carbon dioxide emissions have soared ever since, as the country became an economic and military superpower.
One reason cited by President Trump for pulling the U.S. out was that the Paris treaty committed the U.S. to massive, immediate CO2 emission reductions (26-28% by 2025). China merely committed to its previously announced goal to increase non-fossil-fuel electricity to about 20% by 2030.
Today, China has the world’s 59th highest per capita income (IMF data, with India at No. 139) and is building or planning over 300 coal-fired power plants around the world, from Egypt, Turkey and Zimbabwe to Bangladesh, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam. The world’s leading CO2 emitter is also building what Wired magazine calls “an insane number” of new coal-fired power plants at home, with little objection from United Nations gatekeepers and climate alarmists.
Meanwhile, over half of the people in sub-Saharan Africa still lack access to electricity, largely because United Nations “sustainable development goals” dissuade investment in coal, natural gas or even nuclear and hydroelectric power plants, while favoring dung, wood, wind and solar – and anti-development banks refuse to provide loans for even the cleanest, most efficient coal or gas power plants.
China’s government sees human rights as an “existential threat,” says Human Rights Watch, a stance that “could pose an existential threat to the rights of people worldwide.” The Nobel Peace Prize-winning organization says the Chinese Communist Party “has constructed an Orwellian high-tech surveillance state and a sophisticated internet censorship system to monitor and suppress public criticism.”
Human Rights Watch singled out for blame “a void of leadership among countries that might have stood for human rights, and a disappointing collection of democracies willing to sell the rope that is strangling the system of rights they purport to uphold.”
Now, with massive help from Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Google, and other social media and search engine collaborators, the Chinese Communists are aiding, abetting or approving Chinese largesse to a China-coddling veteran, in his quest for the U.S. presidency. (Son Hunter Biden worked with Chinese investors to fund China General Nuclear Power Corp., which the FBI recently charged with stealing American nuclear secrets.)
Hiding behind the façade of “private enterprise,” these organizations have led an assault on First Amendment freedom of speech by censoring, shadow-banning and deplatforming content unfavorable to their favored causes and candidates. But these same organizations never objected to infringement of the rights of an Oregon bakery’s First Amendment claim for refusing to bake a cake.
They have been joined by governors who used executive orders and the COVID pandemic to impose outright bans on church attendance – even Bible studies in private homes – and effectively destroy numerous businesses, while excusing, blessing and even encouraging violent protests.
Universities have imposed Draconian bans on freedom of speech, assembly, religion and other rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. Some even insist that the Constitution itself is outdated and should be replaced immediately – along with its protections for individuals against the imperial state.
The world now knows that China wants Joe Biden in the White House. Perhaps that’s why Democrats have unilaterally attacked “Russian interference” with the U.S. elections and totally ignored the massive in-kind and financial contributions being made by the Chinese government.
New evidence of Chinese collusion reveals that Chinese Communists are advising Facebook on how to censor, de-platform and shadow-ban information that might favor the Republican candidate or cast the Democratic candidate in a poor light. Disturbing new revelations are reported almost daily.
Journalist Sorrab Ahmari obtained (and confirmed) information from a Facebook insider that the social media giant’s “Hate Speech Engineering” team includes Chinese national PhDs whose specialty is “machine learning” – teaching computers how to learn and act without being explicitly programmed, so that certain content ends up at the top of the news feed, while disfavored content shows up “dead last.”
A Facebook spokesperson haughtily condemned as “absurd” any suggestion that “these employees have an outsized influence on our broader policies.” But Ahmari is quite correct in asking what’s to stop these Chinese engineers from delivering intelligence to the Chinese government? More important, why would Facebook and China help each other improve this technology – and skew U.S. news and election results?
Facebook’s ban on negative information on Biden family business dealings with Chinese companies is a strong indicator that the company is serving China’s interests in securing the election of ”the Big Guy.” According to a new Project Veritas exposé, Google is intentionally manipulating results to benefit Democrats and hinder President Trump’s campaign. Google now faces a federal antitrust case.
Together with the Attorneys General of eleven states, the Justice Department alleges that: “For years, Google has entered into exclusionary agreements, including tying arrangements, and engaged in anticompetitive conduct to lock up distribution channels and block rivals.”
Despite the angst of intellectuals, “mainstream media” stalwarts, socialists and many Democratic Party leaders, a new poll by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) found that a majority of Americans view China negatively and believe (as does Human Rights Watch) that it is the country that presents the greatest threat to the United States, and the rights of individuals.
Broad-based support for banning China’s Huawei Technologies from 5G networks reflects worldwide concerns over Chinese human rights violations. Scott Kennedy, Chinese business and economics chair at CSIS, says “Americans and others around the world have given up on the idea that the goal should be to change China into a free-market economy.” His assessment is dispiriting, but realistic.
A recent MSN News article claims Joe Biden had historically embraced the idea that the U.S. could coax China into acting as a “responsible stakeholder,” but insists he no longer adheres to that viewpoint.
The former vice president has taken few questions from the media about his China policy, though he did claim he would end Trump tariffs on Chinese imports. But even that statement was almost immediately walked back by aides, who said Biden would only “reevaluate the tariffs upon taking office.”
Acceptance of Chinese-style restrictions on human rights by the Biden-Harris campaign and many of its supporters may be a signal that the U.S. Democratic Party sees the Xi-led Chinese Communist Party as a kindred spirit, especially on what people should be “allowed” to read, hear, see, say and even think.
Yet, despite the media blackout on recent revelations about Biden family and Chinese business (hence military) mutual interests, a President Biden might have to show a new toughness toward China to douse what could become a raging inferno of criticism. Too many Americans do not want to see U.S. jobs (recently reclaimed from Chinese slave laborers) returned to the Middle Kingdom.
Of course, if the Democrats and their social media and old media allies have perfected censorship enough to drown out any learning, thinking or opposition that would threaten their absolute reign, who would dare challenge China’s environmental, climate or human rights callousness?
Duggan Flanakin has a BA in History, an MA in Public Policy and a lifelong passion for human rights
The Weekly Sam: Before There Was Common Core There Was Outcome Based Education
Before there was Common Core, there was Outcome Based Education. Here is a lecture that Sam Blumenfeld did on the subject at a homeschool convention in Michigan back in 1994:
Please visit the Sam Blumenfeld Archive: https://campconstitution.net/sam-blumenfeld-archive/
United Nations Day of Shame
Today marks the 75nd anniversary of the “House that Hiss Built.” The United Nations charter is diametrically opposed the U.S. Constitution. Thankfully, more and more Americans are learning the truth about this world-government, racist and anti-freedom organization.
Camp Constitution instructor John McManus conducted a class on the subject at our 2019 family camp:
U.N. “peacekeepers” torture a Somilian national
AMERICAN ELECTIONS and FOREIGN POLICY AFFECTS the PERSECUTED CHURCH by Dr. Peter Hammond
An African Perspective
As Americans approach their 2020 elections, few may be considering its implications for the persecuted church. Yet recent history reveals that the lives of many millions of Christians are drastically affected by United States foreign policy. As a missionary to the persecuted in Africa for over 38 years, I have served in 38 countries and been involved in 8 wars and 3 revolutions. I have seen first-hand the, often, disastrous consequences of White House policies.
Ideas and Elections Have Consequences
U.S. Foreign Policy often affects believers in Africa and the Middle East:
A Trail of Betrayal
During the 4 years of the presidency of Jimmy Carter, 13 countries fell to communism. In most cases, they did not just fall to communism, but were actually betrayed into the hands of communist revolutionaries. It was a major foreign policy goal of Jimmy Carter’s presidency to force the people of Rhodesia to hand over to Robert Mugabe’s ZANU terrorists. Americans removed Jimmy Carter from the presidency over 40 years ago. However, the longsuffering people of Zimbabwe are still stuck with Carter’s legacy in the form of Robert Mugabe’s murderous Marxist dictatorship and Mugabe’s Legacy in Zimbabwe. Zimbabweans are still suffering under the Marxist ZANU, 40 years later, just one of Carter’s legacies. Iran is another.
A Legacy of Liberty
No countries fell to communism during the 8 years of Ronald Reagan’s presidency. In fact, countries started to be freed from communist oppression. Ronald Reagan put freedom on the offensive, supported resistance movements in communist countries and helped win the Cold War that brought down the Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain. The collapse of communism throughout Eastern Europe in 1989, brought about a new era of religious freedom and Missionary activity that had previously been inconceivable.
Strength and Weakness
As one politician observed: “There is nothing they despise more than weakness; there is nothing they respect more than strength!” America was plainly despised in the days of Jimmy Carter. However, under Ronald Reagan, America was respected.
Persecution Increases
During the confused and erratic Clinton era, we witnessed and experienced a steady increase of violent persecution of Christians in the Muslim world. It was in the 1990s that radical Islamic regimes, such as the National Islamic Front in Sudan, began systematic terror bombing campaigns of churches, hospitals and schools. It was at that time that I experienced artillery and aerial bombardments while ministering in churches in Sudan.
A Dramatic Decline of Bombings
However, as America began fighting back after the terror attacks of 11th September 2001, toppling the radical Taliban regime in Afghanistan, the bombing of churches in Northern Nigeria and South Sudan abruptly stopped. We enjoyed a period of relative peace and stability as radical Muslim regimes went on the defensive.
An Explosion of Persecution
However, after Obama became president of the U.S.A. and supported the so-called Arab Spring revolutions that toppled stable governments in Egypt and Libya there was an explosive escalation of violent attacks on Christians worldwide, particularly in the Muslim Middle East. Many hundreds of churches were bombed and burned throughout Northern Nigeria, Egypt, Sudan, Syria and Iraq in 8 years of Obama. The U.S. government destabilized governments and supported radical groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood, Al-Nursa and ISIS. In Northern Nigeria, there were over 1,000 attacks on churches with 17,000 Christians killed by Boko Haram Jihadists just in a 5-year period (2010-2015). The U.S. engineered destabilization of the Middle East resulted in the catastrophic collapse of stable governments, the destruction of hundreds of historic churches and the deaths of many tens-of-thousands of Christians, especially in Iraq, Syria and Egypt. Millions of refugees fleeing the carnage in the Middle East flooded into Europe, leading to a shocking escalation of violent crime and terrorism.
American Foreign Policy Affects Lives
I am sure that most Americans do not think foreign policy when they vote for their president. However, believers in Africa and the Middle East would earnestly entreat our brethren in America to seriously consider the foreign policy implications of their votes. Lives are at stake. One of George Bush’s first actions as president in 2001 was to stop US funding of Planned Parenthood abortions in Africa. One of the very first acts of Barack Hussein Obama as president, in 2009, was to release hundreds of millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars to fund Planned Parenthood abortions in Africa. Hillary Clinton made clear her enthusiastic support for Planned Parenthood and its abortion agenda. President Donald Trump stopped U.S. taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood abortions in Africa.
Doomed by Disastrous Diplomacy
There is no doubt that millions of people died throughout Africa, Asia and the Middle East because of the foreign policies of Jimmy Carter. Tens-of-millions continue to suffer to this day as a result of the Carter foreign policy legacy, including the people in Iran. It needs to be remembered that the Shah of Iran was one of America’s closest allies in the Middle East when Jimmy Carter’s State Department actively worked to betray their ally and push Iran over to the ayatollahs. The end result of that has yet to be seen as Iran continues to be a volatile part of the extremely violent Middle East. The full extent of the chaos caused by Obama’s foreign policies in the Middle East are yet to be calculated. “Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord? Therefore, the wrath of the Lord is upon you.” 2 Chronicles 19:2
Delivered
However, as I wrote in my article: Ronald Reagan Saved Lives in Angola, there are many millions of people alive and free, today, because of the far-sighted and courageous foreign policies of President Ronald Reagan.
Cease-Fire in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan
The long-suffering persecuted Christians in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan have enjoyed over 3 years of relief from the decades of scorched earth and aerial bombardments by the government of Sudan. The Trump Administration prevailed upon the Sudan government to cease and desist hostile acts against the beleaguered people of the Nuba Mountains and South Kordofan, the Blue Nile and Darfur, in exchange for lifting of economic sanctions. As a result, hundreds of schools have been able to be established, churches planted, buildings repaired, crops harvested and other essential aspects of life, which had been virtually impossible under the incessant aerial bombardments of the government of Sudan’s Antonovs. MiG’s and Mi-24 Hind helicopter gunships.
New Freedoms and Opportunities
From our first Mission to the Nuba Mountains in 1996, we have come under aerial bombardments, witnessed the devastation of the scorched earth Tamsit (combing) campaign of the National Islamic Front government of Omar Al-Bashir. Yet in the last 3 years, our Mission has been able to carry out extraordinary, far-ranging missions in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan, delivering and distributing hundreds of thousands of Bibles and Christian books to hundreds of schools and churches throughout this island of Christianity in a sea of Islam. The people of the Nuba Mountains have asked us to communicate our gratitude for American intervention, which brought about such a dramatic improvement in their daily lives.
An Urgent Call to Prayer and Action
Ideas have consequences. What we sow, we reap. There are consequences for every action. We continue to pray that our Christian brethren in the United States will be in much prayer and seek the wisdom of God as they approach this critical election, November 2020.
Back to the Bible for Reformation and Revival
May we all be Faithful to God’s Word and effective in His service as we seek to reclaim our countries for Christ, laying solid Biblical foundations for Reformation and earnestly praying for Spiritual Revival. 8 November is International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted, see: IDOP-Africa for more details.
May the Lord continue to be your strength and shield.
Yours for the fulfilment of the Great Commission
Dr. Peter Hammond
Frontline Fellowship
P.O. Box 74 Newlands 7725
Cape Town South Africa
mission@frontline.org.za
www.FrontlineMissionSA.org
Westford, MA Votes to Keep Columbus Day, How the Candidates Stand on the Columbus Holiday by Frank Mazzaglia
WESTFORD, MA — A new diversity and inclusion committee will consider a day to honor native peoples — after a proposal to rename Columbus Day as Indigenous Peoples Day met with defeat on Sunday at Town Meeting.
Voters after much debate defeated Article 11, a citizen-petitioned article at special Town Meeting, held Oct. 18 at Westford Academy’s Trustees Field.
In a separate motion, voters overwhelmingly approved a motion to refer a proposal for a day honoring natives peoples to the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee — recently appointed by the School Committee and Select Board.
IN OCTOBER IT WAS COLUMBUS
IN NOVEMBER IT WILL BE OPPOSITION TO THANKSGIVING
AND THEN IT’S TRIBAL LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
OCTOBER HAPPENINGS
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh has not yet announced his intention to run for another term. Talk on the street, however, has it that he’s hoping for a Joe Biden win and then landing some nice position with the feds. If things don’t turn out that way though, and Walsh does run again, he may find support from the Italian American community in some jeopardy.
Walsh seriously underestimated the symbolism of Christopher Columbus to Italian Americans.
That became obvious with the vandalized Christopher Columbus statue in Boston’s North End on city property in what was clearly a hate crime by a bunch of thugs this past summer. In a rush to get a hot potato off his political plate, Walsh ignored all of the donors of the statue and awarded the statue it to the local North End Council of the Knights of Columbus which promised to care for it. Due process was overlooked because an employee in the Mayor’s Office had a special connection to the North End’s Council of the Knights of Columbus.
Walsh could then wash his hands and walk away. EXCEPT that it won’t work so neatly. There are a host of unanswered questions, that the local Council of Knights will face. In fact, there will be so much public scrutiny that these misguided Knights may regret their part in this unwholesome scheme– which Boston City Councilor Lydia Edwards regrettably called “reasonable”.
Here are a few questions for the North End’s Council of the Knights of Columbus.
1. Is the local Council in a position to financially maintain that statue?
2. Will it be placed in a safe and prominent location?
3. Will it be easily accessible for tourists to view?
4. Will the statue have proper security?
5. Will there be insurance coverage to cover repairs if the statue is vandalized again?
6. Will the Archdiocese of Boston hold any responsibility?
That last question is intriguing. In times now past, Italian American Catholics could depend upon Cardinal Richard Cushing to protect that statue. It was Columbus, after all, who first brought Christ to South America. Catholic Missionaries ended the barbaric practices of cannibalism and human sacrifice.
Cardinal Cushing even founded the St. James Missionary Society which sent hundreds of Boston’s heroic diocesan priests to Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador to help Latino bishops who needed more clergy.
Boston’s first diocesan missionary priests, living in extremely difficult conditions among the poorest of the poor, constructed churches, schools, food kitchens, banks, hospitals and a host of other facilities to help people in desperate need. Then, like true apostles, once a parish was established, they would turn the work they accomplished over to the local bishop, move on and begin all over again in a new equally poverty-stricken district.
I know because I personally traveled to Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador for Cardinal Cushing. After visiting every single mission post in all three countries, I returned to Boston to work very long hours to help the Cardinal in his fund-raising efforts. We were aided by the pictures we took and the stories we could tell about the amazing work of our own Boston diocesan priests who were laboring on high mountains, jungles, and over crowded city slums.
We know that Christopher Columbus was a devout Catholic and a member of the Franciscan Third Order for lay men and women. Cardinal Cushing himself was so enamored by the Franciscan spirit that when he died, he asked to be buried wearing the rough and humble garb of the Franciscan habit.
Unfortunately, we do not have Cardinal Cushing to help us now.
So the fact is that Mayor Walsh may think this is over, but it’s not. The ALLIANCE continues to weigh legal options and will keep a close eye on the matter.
There’s more.
NOVEMBER, which is Native American month by Presidential Proclamation, will be filled with howls to end Thanksgiving.
Yes, Native Americans oppose the celebration of Thanksgiving Expect to hear how it’s shameful to celebrate the landing of the Pilgrims and the diseases that brought death to so many Indians.
The attempt to end Thanksgiving has been going on for years without success. That’s why Native American groups turned on Columbus. They thought he would be an easier target.
It will be more difficult to end Thanksgiving, but they certainly will try.
WHAT COMES NEXT?
IT’S — TRIBAL LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT DAY
Yes, the Massachusetts Center for Native American Awareness (MCNAA) is asking individuals and community officials to sign a document acknowledging that they are living on Native American land.
We are not making this up. Here is a direct quote:
“Commit to returning land .Individuals around the country are returning their land. Encourage others you know to do the same. MCNAA – will accept the return of any piece of land located within the I-495 belt –specifically Essex and Middlesex counties.”
This, of course, opens the door to reparations. The inconvenient truth, however, is that Native Americans never accepted the western idea of real estate. They only held to the concept of tribal territories and never conceived of private property.
However, if all the self-righteous politicians who supported Indigenous Peoples Day in place of Columbus Day decide to give up their homes and private property to Native Americans, well, who are we to complain !
Frank Mazzaglia
WHERE THE POLITICIANS STAND
In the interest of public education, The ALLIANCE wants you to know how our public leaders are dealing with the legacy of our Italian American Heritage and Christopher Columbus.
What follows is what we know. However, political leaders are known to change their minds. When and if that happens, we will let you know.
PRESIDENTIAL RACE –
To date, Presidential candidate Joe Biden (D) has not uttered a word to support Columbus or Italian Heritage.
On the other hand, at a Pennsylvania Rally on Columbus Day, President Donald Trump (R ) told thousands of attendees, ” We are protecting the legacy of Christopher Columbus. I love the Italians. Christopher Columbus will always be here on my watch. I love the Italians.”
FOURTH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT –
In Massachusetts, the 4th District finds Jake Auchincloss ( D) pitted against Julie Hall ( R )
Julie Hall has not issued any statement that we are aware of concerning Columbus.
Jake Auchincloss, a Newton Democrat on the City Council, is expected to vote to replace Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day in Newton.
FIFTH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT
In Massachusetts, the 5th district finds Katherine Clark ( D ) pitted against Caroline Colarusso ( R )
Caroline Colarusso ( R) has indicated that she supports Columbus Day.
Katherine Clark has not issued any statement we are aware of concerning Columbus.
THE US SENATE
Candidates for the US Senate from Mass. include incumbent Edward Markey pitted against Kevin O’Connor ( R )
Sens. Ed Markey (D ) and Sen John Cornyn ( R )- from opposite ends of the political spectrum — attempted to pass legislation by unanimous consent making Juneteenth a federal holiday in place of Columbus Day. Markey also suggested that the Columbus statue in Boston should be replaced with one of Mayor Thomas Menino. He has also supported a state rep who is adamantly opposed to honoring Columbus.
Republican Senatorial candidate Kevin O’Connor spoke at a New Bedford rally and firmly declared that Columbus Day should continue to be celebrated.
ALLIANCE HOLDS LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE
The ALLIANCE called a LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE on Columbus Day to plan and to discuss ways and means to work together more closely.
The ALLIANCE was formed as an umbrella ACTION organization in which most of the assembled leaders are already affiliated. It was decided that the the leaders of thee various groups will be invited to future ALLIANCE Board meetings and become more involved in ALLIANCE decisions.
The Conference discussed future strategies to combat anti-Columbus and anti-Italian activities, our possible responses to Mayor Walsh’s decision to gift the Boston Columbus statue to one of its donors without proper consultation with the other donors, and the need for more concerted effort from all of us.
Currently, the ALLIANCE is concerned with the poisoning of young minds in the public schools, the symbolism of the Columbus statue, and the audacity of the Boston Arts Commission to think that it alone has the right to pick a statue that properly depicts Italian immigrants.
Battle of Yorktown October 19, 2020
On this day in 1781, British General Charles Cornwallis formally surrenders 8,000 British soldiers and seamen to a French and American force at Yorktown, Virginia, bringing the American Revolution to a close.
Meanwhile, a British fleet under Admiral Thomas Graves failed to break French naval superiority at the Battle of Virginia Capes on September 5, denying Cornwallis his expected reinforcements. Beginning September 14, de Grasse transported Washington and de Rochambeau’s men down the Chesapeake to Virginia, where they joined Lafayette and completed the encirclement of Yorktown on September 28. De Grasse landed another 3,000 French troops carried by his fleet. During the first two weeks of October, the 14,000 Franco-American troops gradually overcame the fortified British positions with the aid of de Grasse’s warships. A large British fleet carrying 7,000 men set out to rescue Cornwallis, but it was too late.
On October 19, General Cornwallis surrendered 7,087 officers and men, 900 seamen, 144 cannons, 15 galleys, a frigate and 30 transport ships. Pleading illness, he did not attend the surrender ceremony, but his second-in-command, General Charles O’Hara, carried Cornwallis’ sword to the American and French commanders. As the British and Hessian troops marched out to surrender, the British band played the song “The World Turned Upside Down.”
Although the war persisted on the high seas and in other theaters, the Patriot victory at Yorktown effectively ended fighting in the American colonies. Peace negotiations began in 1782, and on September 3, 1783, the Treaty of Paris was signed, formally recognizing the United States as a free and independent nation after eight years of war.
This is from This Day in History: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/cornwallis-surrenders-at-yorktown
The Weekly Sam: Why the Federal Government Should Get Out of Education
Why the Federal Government Should Get Out of Education By Samuel L. Blumenfeld
The real issue is Limited Government versus Unlimited Government
Most Americans want less government, smaller government and lower taxes. The only
way to accomplish this is by abolishing federal departments and bureaucracies. As far
back as the Reagan administration, Republicans promised to abolish the Department of
Education. They couldn’t do it then because they lacked a majority in Congress. But
whatever happened to the plan to abolish the Department of Education when Republicans
became the majority? Not only did they forget their promise, but in September 1996 they
passed the single largest increase in federal education funding: $3.5 billion. Who were
the Republicans trying to impress? The National Education Association?
The basic question is: Can good education be provided in the U.S. without the help or
intrusion of the federal government? The answer is clearly yes. In fact, there is ample
evidence indicating that the present decline in educational quality is a direct result of
federal funding which has been used by the educators to fund more and more expensive
educational malpractice.
A little historical background will help us understand why the federal role in education in
America is more of an aberration than a natural development. There is no mention of
education in the U.S. Constitution. However, in 1785 and 1787, while the United States
were still under the Articles of Confederation, the Continental Congress passed the
Northwest Ordinance Acts which provided for the orderly settlement of the Northwest
Territory and encouraged the establishment of schools in the territory by stating:
“Religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to good government and the
happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall be encouraged.” The
new states were required to set aside the 16th section of each township to be used for
educational purposes. But there was no requirement that the schools be government
owned and operated.
Seventy-five years later, in 1862, Congress passed and President Lincoln signed the
Morrill Land Grant Act providing each loyal state with 30,000 acres of land for each
Senator and Representative, the land to be used for agricultural and mechanical schools
under a measure proposed by Senator Justin S. Morrill of Vermont. Five years later, in
1867, a federal Office of Education was established. Its purpose was:
“To collect such statistics and facts as shall show the condition and progress of education in the
several States and Territories, and to diffuse such information respecting the organization and
management of schools and school systems, and methods of teaching as shall aid the People of
the United States in the establishment and maintenance of efficient school systems, and
otherwise promote the cause of education throughout the country.”
It should be noted that the National Education Association had been founded ten years
earlier in 1857 and that its members called for the establishment of a federal department
of education at the founding convention. And it is obvious that in that statement of
purpose was an expansionist view of the government’s future role in education.
After World War I, the NEA began a long range campaign to get federal aid for public
education. From 1867 to 1940–a period of 73 years–the Congress passed about 11 minor
pieces of legislation related to education. The fear of federal control of schools kept most
legislators from voting for federal aid to public education. But resistance was gradually
broken down by such acts as the National School Lunch Act of 1946, the School Milk
Program Act of 1954.
But it was the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 passed during the
Johnson administration which opened the floodgates of the U.S. Treasury for the benefit
of the education establishment. From 1965 to 1983–18 years–there were 43 education
acts passed by the Congress, including the establishment in 1979 of a U.S. Department of
Education with cabinet status. In the year 1994 alone, there were about 180 educational
restructuring bills before Congress! The three most important bills enacted were the
Goals 2000 Act, the School-to-Work Opportunities Act, and the Improving America’s
Schools Act, a reauthorization of the ESEA of 1965. All of this legislation was passed
with much Republican help. In short, the Congress launched an avalanche of bills which
virtually amounted to a cultural revolution.
It seemed as if all restraints had been removed on government expansion and intrusion
into education, and the Republican Congress did nothing to reverse the trend. That is
why the federal government has become a government of unlimited power.
We must return to the principle of limited government if we wish to reduce the cost of
government and its unwarranted intrusion in the education of our children. A limited
federal government does only those things that cannot be done by the states or the private
sector. The purpose of taxes is to pay for government not change society.
There is no doubt that the federal intrusion in education has harmed education and
produced the dumbing down effect. Test scores attest to this bizarre phenomenon. Since
1962, SAT verbal scores have declined despite billions of federal dollars pumped into
public education. In September 1993, the U.S. Department of Education revealed that
some 90 million adult Americans have grossly inadequate reading and writing skills,
despite compulsory school attendance. The more federal money Congress pumps into
education the worse it gets. Why? Because educational malpractice is very expensive,
and without federal funding we’d have much less of it.
The simple truth is that federal education programs cost the taxpayers billions of dollars,
and not one: of these programs has actually improved education. Claims have been made
that Headstart is a successful program. But research indicates that whatever gains
children make in Headstart are lost by the third grade. Federal education grants subsidize a liberal academic elite with its secular humanist, socialist agenda, thus violating the Constitutional prohibition against establishing a state
religion: Humanism. The Data Collection System of the National Center for Education Statistics threatens
family privacy and freedom. Children are not a “national resource” to be monitored and
controlled for use by the state or industry. They are individuals whose lives belong to
themselves, not to “the economy.”
The federal government has institutionalized educational malpractice by supporting
unsound educational theories and practices which have found their way into the public schools via the federally funded National Diffusion Network. Federal aid to public education simply reinforces a socialist, government owned and operated education system which distorts market values and encourages monopoly union practices.
Meanwhile, the education establishment continues to grow and prosper. In 1982, the
average public school teacher’s salary was $19,274. In 1995 it was up to $37,643., and in
2008 it us up to $47,602. In 1982, per pupil expenditure was $2,726. In 1995-96 the
national average was up to $6,213, and in 2009 it was up to $9,963. In 1984, total
expenditure for public education was $134.5 billion. In 2002 it had risen to $420 billion.
In short, never has public education been more generously supported by the taxpayer and
never have our schools seen more violence, academic disarray, and parental
dissatisfaction than the present.
What is even more shocking is that over four million
students must be drugged daily with Ritalin in order to be able to attend class.
Today, well-connected change agents like Mark Tucker are busy imposing on America
the new Human Resources Development System, exuberantly described by Tucker in an
18-page letter to Hillary Clinton when her husband was elected President. Tucker
described his system as “a seamless web of opportunities to develop one’s skills that
literally extends from cradle to grave and is the same system for everyone–young and old,
poor and rich, worker and full-time student.”
And so, in place of academic excellence, we have Outcome Based Education, Whole
Language, Multiculturalism, Skinnerian Mastery Learning, National Teaching Standards
and Certification, School-Based Clinics, Attitude Assessments, Global Citizenship, and
Socialized Medicine for every student.
What is actually taking place is a cultural revolution engineered by behavioral
psychologists, humanist educators, and socialist change agents using a whole galaxy of
education programs to implement their agenda, financed by the federal government.
And much of this has taken place when Republicans were in control of Congress. And
that accounts for the extreme frustration of conservatives who vote Republican but get
liberal results. When will this change?
The takeover of the White House and the federal government by radical leftists has finally
awakened the American people to what has happened to this country since we started
allowing the federal government to exceed all limits placed on it by the Constitution. But
in order to succeed in restoring the principles of government held by our founding fathers,
we must return to limited government. This can only be done if the American people
realize the potential for tyranny inherent in a government education system.
The most important institution in a socialist state is a government owned and controlled
school system wherein children can be indoctrinated to accept a socialist way of life. And
the best way to prevent this from occurring is to return to the concept of educational
freedom in which the federal government has no role in education.
Local public schools can easily become private institutions governed by local trustees and
supported by tuition fees. This would greatly reduce the tax burden on home owners and
provide more than enough resources to pay for the tuitions of poor families. The costs of
education would decrease dramatically since education would once more become reality
based wherein the fundamental academic subjects would be taught without the added
costs of educational malpractice. Individual intelligence would be enhanced, while
collectivist group-think would be discarded.
Can this be done? Only if America’s conservative leaders demand that it should be done.
The home-school movement has already proven that parents can actually teach better
than our high-priced professionals, that children progress better academically when taught
at home, and that the cost of educating a child at home is less than $1,000 a year.
If Americans want to once more experience what it means to be free, they must burst out
of the high-priced straitjacket imposed on them by the socialist education tyrants. If they
want better education at lower cost, then the prescription for success is simple: get the
government out of education.
This article is from the Sam Blumenfeld Archive: https://campconstitution.net/sam-blumenfeld-archive/
What is the antidote to ‘Wokeness’? by Douglas Flanakin of CFACT
What is the antidote to ‘Wokeness’?
Evan Sayet’s The Woke Supremacy provides answers we cannot afford to ignore
Duggan Flanakin
Political comedian Evan Sayet says he has long dedicated himself to conserving and promoting the American values that have given him freedom and allowed him to pursue his life of liberty and happiness. His new book, The Woke Supremacy, lays out the history and characteristics of “Wokeness.”
However, in failing to examine the origins of this totalitarian intolerance, he misses the critical difference between old-style Marxism, so-called “Democratic socialism,” and “cultural Marxism” as first delineated by the Italian communist Antonio Gramsci and employed by Chinese dictator Mao Zedong.
That’s okay, though, because Sayet masterfully describes how these subversives operate and lays out the tactical principles (and lack of moral principles) that drive them. Their goal, he says, is to replace Western civilization with a nihilist premise that everything about Western culture is evil.
One fruit of this evil, poisonous tree is that Western society is so racist, Woke activists assert, and so fraught with multiple other evils that it cannot be repaired. Instead, it must be eradicated and replaced.
Philosopher, historian and self-defense advocate Sam Jacobs summarizes the origins of Wokeness by reviewing Gramsci, who spent a decade in Mussolini’s prisons and rejected the twin ideas of a dictatorship of the proletariat and direct ownership of the means of production as losing propositions.
Instead, this son of a low-level Italian bureaucrat argued that for socialism to “take America without firing a shot” (as Khrushchev would later boast) would require a “long march through the institutions” of Western culture in order to penetrate, infiltrate and eventually control them. In the 1960s Marshall McLuhan summed up Gramsci’s argument in his book, The Medium Is the Message.
Both Chairman Mao, beginning in 1966, and Cambodia’s Pol Pot a decade later saw existing cultural institutions as impediments to their quest for absolute power to reshape their societies according to their Marxist ideals. But both revolutions failed, perhaps because they had missed Gramsci’s point. Success comes from slowly subverting the culture rather than destroying it.
Mao’s vision was to rid China of “the four Olds” – Old Customs, Old Culture, Old Habits and Old Ideas. In other words, everything that pre-dated communism. As Christopher Holton writes in The Hayride, Mao’s Red Guards started out renaming streets, quickly escalated to destroying old buildings, old books, and old art, and ransacking homes of the disloyal. They even desecrated cemeteries, dug up corpses and tore down monuments. Only later did they start killing.
Pol Pot witnessed China’s “Cultural Revolution” and wanted to outdo his mentor via a “Super Great Leap Forward,” instead of a “long march.” He expelled foreigners, closed embassies, shuttered newspapers and TV stations, confiscated radios and bicycles, outlawed mail and telephones, and put those still alive in agrarian camps. People began starving to death.
In his 2012 book, The Kindergarten of Eden, Sayet posited four laws of “modern liberalism,” beginning with “indiscriminateness,” total rejection of the intellectual process. This, he said, leads to a topsy-turvy worldview that always sides with the lesser and against the better, the wrong over the right, and the evil over the good. That is what happened in China and Cambodia.
Promoting the lesser is always paired with denigrating the better. The negative qualities of the Woke (socialists) are ascribed to the un-Woke (nationalists) – and vice versa. Hillary Clinton thus framed President Trump for “collusion with Russia,” which evidence now shows she herself engaged in.
The primary goal of the modern liberal, Sayet contends, is the total regression of man back to his first days on earth. Or as Joni Mitchell wrote, “We’ve go to get ourselves back to the Garden.” The blueprint for cultural Marxism in America, Sayet argues in both books, is John Lennon’s popular song, “Imagine.” The perfect, peace-filled world has no heaven or hell and people live just for the moment, with no countries, no religion, no possessions, and nothing worth dying for.
This Woodstock hippies’ quest for an imaginary simpler time provided the New Left with a ready-made tool for organizing to effectuate institutional control. Their rejection of Western civilization – their search for the innocence of “the Garden” – enabled them to create new curricula that lured “useful idiots” into the halls of academe, the arts and the political arena, where hard-core Woke nihilists could redefine “truth.”
Sayet opens The Woke Supremacy by stating that, while Hitler’s National Socialism was ideologically the polar opposite of Democratic Socialism, ideology has little influence over behavior once any socialist system gains power.
Both rejected nationalism built on a foundation of local leadership (hence our Tenth Amendment) that implements policies which make sense locally even if not nationwide. Socialism, Sayet affirms, requires top-down governance where “one size fits all” (except for governing elites).
Enforcement of top-down government requires tyrannical control, and tremendous energy, to impose a Woke supremacy from which there can be no dissent or even debate. Wokeness thus requires the use of hate and fear. There is no redemption for the apostasy of believing facts when they conflict with “Woke truth.” The “Cancel Culture” can be just as vicious against a prior ally as against longtime opponents.
Conversely, there is no “Woke morality” by which infidelity, theft, property crimes or even murder disqualify a person who is useful in promoting Wokeness. The Woke proudly spotlight even criminals who shot first as “victims” of a “racist” police force that oppresses the entire society. Deconstructing sexual norms is also a powerful tool that confuses what is a “right.” Environmentalism turns science into a Woke morality play, regardless of real-world evidence to the contrary.
The Woke also use modifiers to confuse, divide and conquer. Adding “politically” to “correct” changes objective truth or outright fiction into narratives of “my truth.”
Similarly, the modifier “social” transforms the concept of “justice” notions that “the oppressed” are morally right to steal or commit voter fraud if their “intent” is couched in victimhood that can spark “peaceful protests.” The goal is victory, “by any means necessary,” whether packing the Supreme Court or turning a murderer into a victim to generate hatred of the law.
Not only must evil become good to the Woke; actual good deeds must be deconstructed. A major tool is the “dog whistle,” a tactic that asserts the Woke “know” the “real meaning” behind seemingly innocent or even positive words or actions.
Sayet recognizes that even a Trump/Republican political victory this fall will not defeat the Woke Supremacy’s culture war on America. They are too entrenched in schools and universities, in newsrooms and entertainment fields, and across social communications industries, to be easily vanquished.
Jacobs helpfully suggests that the first step in defusing cultural Marxism is to learn what it is and how it operates – and call it out for what it is. Sayet provides an excellent primer for this.
Step 2, says Jacobs, is to learn from the history of society and ideas the many benefits that Western Civilization has brought, including its self-correction of prior evils – and teach them to others.
Step 3 is to reject political guilt and instead recognize that Western civilization is a constant work in progress, a continuing effort to improve society, not a static conspiracy to rob everyone but “old, rich, white men” of their just rewards.
Duggan Flanakin is director of policy research for the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow (www.CFACT.org)
The Jury-The Last Line of Defense: An Interview with Pastor David Whitney
We recently interviewed Pastor David Whitney on our radio show. The topic was the power of the jury. Pastor Whitney will be one of the instructors at our 2021 family camp.
For the past eleven years Pastor Whitney been teaching with Institute on the Constitution the American View of Law and Government. In 2006 he ran for State Delegate against the 3rd most powerful man in the Maryland State House. Though he did not win the seat, his message resonated with many as he called for a return to Constitutional government in the State of Maryland. He and his lovely, talented wife and daughters reside in Annapolis, Maryland.
(A link to the audio version: https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/shurtleffhal/episodes/2020-10-12T06_42_58-07_00
Happy Columbus Day
In order to celebrate Columbus Day, Camp Constitution is reposting an interview we did with Dr. Frank Mazzaglia of the Italian American Alliance
MP3 format from our Podomatic page
https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/shurtleffhal/episodes/2020-06-18T05_34_37-07_0
And from our YouTube Channel