The Extremist war on education

          Few things push my buttons faster and harder than attacks on a solid fact based education system. Evolution v."Intelligent Design"(Creationism dressed up as science) garners the headlines. It's sexy. It sells. It brings to mind the Scope's trial and "Inherit The Wind". What flies under the radar is the attack on traditional education itself as a secular plot to destroy conservative thought and religion.( Conservative Christianity)
There is a long tradition of contempt and mistrust of education in America's history. It may come from the educated elite dominating society at the expense of the agrarian, frontier nation we were at our founding. Socioeconomic control of the many by the wealthy, powerful few is nothing new. Farmers in hock to banks for seed money and the Company Store come to mind easily. As does market manipulation, slave wages and laissez faire Governmental policies. There was adequate reason to hold the elite in contempt and mistrust them.
Education on the frontier was seen as a necessary evil. It was felt all that a person needed was to know how to sign your name, rudimentary reading skills, enough math to figure what you owed, was owed you and market value of your crop. Anything else was superfluous. When day to day survival is front and center an expansive education is seen as an unneeded luxury.
Among the populace was a tradition of not being educated to overcome. My Daddy did OK without book learning. I'm doing OK without book learning. And boy, you'll do just fine too.
Even with this attitude education was seen as a vital Government function. During the expansion of the frontier land was set aside by law for the establishment of schools. This was the embodiment of the Jeffersonian idea that an educated population, exposed to new ideas would be able to work out their differences and move the nation forward.
As the Nation grew the benefits of education was recognized. Families realized if their children were educated life would have more opportunity for them. The general curve of an educated populace has historically been upward.
Following WWII the dominance of the American manufacturing prowess was based solely on having the best educated workforce on the planet. Our schools and Universities set the bar for everyone else. The explosive growth of the American Middle Class drove the engine of industry and fostered the goal of universal education for all.
The GI Bill enabled millions to obtain a post secondary education when it had been only a dream for their forebears. An educated America was pivotal in the improvement of the health and welfare of the nation.
So why the Conservative war on education now?
There seems to be an unforeseen side effect of a good, solid learning experience. Educated people seem to be more liberal and progressive. It must be a secular plot to destroy America.
There has been an idea in mainstream conservative thought since Buckley that American Universities are dominated by a liberal elite intent on indoctrination. This is called education. As one is taught critical thinking and are exposed to new and varied ideas your outlook evolves. As you learn old misconceptions are exposed and usually rejected. This is what happens as you learn.
Now the political idea that there is a secret American History not being taught is gaining acceptance in local and State Governments. You have people like David Barton and Glen Beck pushing it's a liberal, secular conspiracy to hide the truth. They have no credentials, knowledge of, standing, grasp of history or historical context. In other words, clueless.
OK, I admit history tends to be written by the winners. However that's where research and scholarship comes in. The purpose of a historian is to sift through the bias of contemporary accounts to glean what was actually happening and WHY. See, if you understand the why you should be able to avoid it happening again. That is the forlorn dream of us who are interested in History.
Beck is a big fan of a worldwide secular conspiracy to reestablish the Caliphate. Let's pretend that idea isn't totally absurd to start with.
What Beck, through intention or ignorance never mentions is what existed under the golden age of the Caliphate.
While Europe was engulfed in the Dark Ages following the collapse of Rome there was a shining light of science and knowledge in the world. It was the Arab world. The Islamic world.
Algebra is an Arabic word. We use Arabic numerals rather than the limited, unwieldy Roman numerals. Science, mathematics, art, architecture and the preservation of knowledge flourished. The Caliphate was the center of intellectualism in a dark western world.
What happened? (See? The why.)
Religious fundamentalism is the short answer. The systematic rejection of anything that conflicts with religious dogma. This is a historical lesson modern Americans need to take to heart, burn into their brains and teach our children.
We see this constantly now. Science denial is rampant, based on religion. Today my focus is on history. And historical denial is also rampant for the same reasons.
The most prevalent myth being pushed as fact is The American Revolution was a conservative movement founded on taxes and the desire to establish a "Christian" nation. The vaunted shining city on the hill.
The activists that pushed the Colonies into open rebellion against the Crown were radical men from Massachusetts. They were the first to openly take up arms against the British Army.
In the Continental Congress in Philadelphia the idea was to find a political accommodation with the Crown. The very concept of declaring independence and establishing a new Nation was alien during the height of Colonial Empires. It had never been done.
The delegates anger over taxes were that they were imposed with no input from these American Colonial subjects of His Majesty. Taxation without representation. They knew taxes were needed for Government to function. These men knew a standing army was needed to protect from internal and external threats. A standing army was expensive to maintain.With this came other unilateral affronts. They wanted seats in Parliament. They wanted a voice in governing these disparate Colonies. They wanted the rights of full British citizenship. The founders didn't care to be second class citizens.
These Delegates were the best educated, most influential men in The Colonies for the most part. There were brilliant orators. There were consummate politicians. There were the best and brightest. There were also political sycophants, intellectual dullards and fools. The trick was consensus building.
In this mix was an abrasive radical firebrand, John Adams. He represented the hotbed of American radicalism. Boston. It's safe to say without Adams' constant cajoling, his annoying persistence and drive the Revolution may not have happened or would have been an entirely different rebellion.
These Founding fathers were well educated men and products of their time. They were living in the middle of the Enlightenment or the Great Awakening. Thousands of years of traditional political thought was being rejected wholesale. Divine Right monarchy was no longer seen as the preordained natural order of things. Science and reason was replacing blind faith. They saw themselves as Humanists. Secular Deists.
They mistrusted organized religion. They mistrusted an absolutist government with no checks and balances on the whims of a King.
The Monarchical whims pushed these men into the realization a political solution to the Colonies grievances were unlikely.
The armed rebellion began in Boston resulted in widespread British retaliation. An army was raised and the conflict was lit. And this was not an extremely popular course of action.
A third of the population remained loyal to the Crown.They were the actual conservatives(Listening Misters Barton and Beck?)Most fled to Britain or Canada.
A third didn't care one way or another. A traditional American political reaction.
So, the great rebellion consisted of a third of the people. (I am proud to say I had Ancestors who were armed participants and members of the Continental Army. Irishmen,so taking up arms against the Brits wasn't that big of a stretch.)
So the history deniers claims this war was only about taxes and religion is not accurate at all. There were strong liberal and radical philosophical underpinnings. It is never as simple as the misinformed make it.
Without extensive military aid from France the Revolution would likely have failed. That sound you hear is GOP heads exploding re: France.
After the war a means of governing these former colonies had to be devised. There was no real precedent. Previous documents were examined and had varying degrees of influence. The Magna Carta, Mayflower Compact, The Declaration Of Independence, The Virginia Charters and statute of Religious Freedom among others were consulted. The result was the Articles of Confederation. A weak central Government with strong, semi-autonomous States. This was an abject failure.
A group of delegates gathered in Philadelphia to fix it. Upon examination they decided it was beyond repair and scrapped it. They exceeded their authority and wrote The Constitution.

If it's Friday, it must be Teabagistan.

          I like to think I'm quasi well informed. A certain amount of self delusion is necessary to remain a more or less functional Human Being. Having one's head constantly exploding can not be a good thing. It's messy for starters.
So anyway I have found that considering a lot of what the right does as entertaining political theater works for me as a coping mechanism. I have spent the week throwing things, weeping uncontrollably and laughing my skinny Irish American ass off. Let's revive That Was The Week That Was. More or less.
Ok. Let's see here.
Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY{State, not the lube}) will be facing a Primary challenge from the right since he is so liberal. A loaded Tea Party favorite is going after the Senate Minority Leader for being a big government spender, confirming liberal judges, working hand in hand with the Democratic Majority to subvert the Constitution and general not true conservative chicanery. Seriously, you can't make this stuff up and I've tried.This Primary challenge should be fun since a national Tea Party group has endorsed McConnell and KY groups oppose him. Fratricide? Please? I do know the campaign will give The Senate Minority leader a chance to show off his visionary view of America, his amazing grasp of political reality and devotion to clean, accurate, informed. intellectual issue oriented campaign debate. Another profile in courage, I am sure.
While in Kentucky, let's check out the Junior Senator who is making noises about a possible Presidential bid in 2016. Senator Rand Paul.
Recently Senator Paul was hailed as a gun rights hero for actually doing a real filibuster because...freedom. Senator Paul visited Iowa to address the State's evangelical Pastors. The Senator is reaching out to minority voters saying no one in the Senate is a bigger supporter of minority rights than him. Now, this is the guy who thinks the Civil Rights Act is unconstitutional.
The Federal Government had no right to ban segregation by private entities.He feels that the free market would have ended segregation because it was doing such a bang up job of that in the Sixties. Were they still around we could verify that with Woolworth's. You know with their lunch counters in the South being so progressive and all.
Senator Paul feels the GOP is the natural home for minorities if they can get past the image problems. So he is promoting a big tent approach as he slams Rep. Peter King(R-NY) for being exclusionary. The Junior Senator from Kentucky is doing this with a straight face as he woos the Taliban wing of Christianity and the so tolerant, reasonable Tea Party voters.
I am looking forward to the 2016 GOP Presidential Primaries as is every stand up comedian, The Daily Show and Colbert. It is promising to make the 2012 Republican field look sane and thoughtful.
I am positive , in a Nation where religious test for public office is expressly forbidden, we will see all the contenders trying to out Taliban each other as the truest conservative Christian. They all know in spite of the lies taught in secular, liberal history classes America was founded as a Christian theocracy. Ask David Barton.
Already we have Senator Ted Cruz(R-TX) seemingly contemplating a run. I am waiting for the inquisition to start over a son of a Cuban who fought with Castro, becoming a citizen in 2005 and an American mother who gave birth in Canada to start any minute. Just kidding. He's not a Democrat. Cruz's platform seems to simply consist of being against anything a sane, rational person is for. He is also proud he is not considered a team player by his Senate Republican colleagues because if he runs for President it is always a good idea to alienate like minded potential allies.
Arch conservative Catholic Rick Santorum hasn't ruled out another run. After all his desire to reestablish the Catholic Inquisition and other archaic, abandoned Church positions and practices as law were so very popular.He may be seeking support of the Torquemada wing of the GOP.
Governor Rick Perry of the Great State of Texas has decided not to seek reelection. This frees him up to spend months and other peoples money to embarrass and humiliate his home State. He'll be able to expound on the great job he has done saving Texas women from their natural stupidity and general sluttiness.
Then there is Perter King of New York. This GOP House Rep has made a career of saying really stupid, intolerant offensive shit is planning a run. His strategy seems to be pissing of everyone except a few racist, homophobic, islamophobic, misogynist white guys. Another guy who couldn't carry his home State in a bucket. Let's also ignore the fact there has been no successful run for the Presidency by a member of the House since the latter part of the 19th Century.
We still haven't heard from the usual suspects Palin, Bachman(if she can stay out of jail).Huckabee and the darling of the literati, Donald Trump.
There are also staunch defenders of women and unions looking at a run. Governor John Kasich of Ohio and Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin.  These guys will be great choices for Republican outreach to women. Their impeccable record of protecting women from themselves speaks for itself. Surely they will attract the support of the Pro life movement. I am anticipating the well reasoned, well researched appeals to logic we will see from these activists. How can you go wrong attacking 52% of the population? Maybe Ann Coulter will help with the base by reminding everyone she thinks women are too stupid to vote.
America can also look forward to candidates for State Elections, Federal House and Senate seats to enlighten us with their views. These stalwarts of Freedom will attack science, history and knowledge as having a Liberal bias. There will be calls to put God in the classroom. They will lecture us on the Constitution, States Rights, creeping socialism, Tyrannical Healthcare. the Feminist, Lesbian, Homosexual secular agenda and a subject they have proven to be experts on, rape. Basically it will be a clarion call for a return to the Dark ages.That did work well for religious leaders and the political elite.
In 2016 I do believe we can continue to see American Political discourse devolve even more into entertainment. A reality show. We must raise our voices to push a substantive debate on real issues. Real American tradition is to expand rights not to strip segments of the population of them. This should never be done using religion and tradition as a rallying cry. After all this was the basis for slavery. This is used to keep the harlot in her place. Decent women want to serve their man.
OK. We have a choice. America moves forward. Or America solidifies itself as a theocratic oligarchy. We stand and watch, wringing our hands or we fight. We vote. We educate. We stand and say no. No farther. This is unAmerican and is not what this Nation was envisioned as.  The time to start is now. As the right is so fond of saying, "I want my Country back". We do. We will prevail as long as good people of belief and vision fight the coming darkness.

When did the Fringe become mainstream?

      For starters, to move forward in any meaningful constructive way we will need to divest ourselves of the bias that any region is inherently more backward and insane that any other region. Yes, I'm talking about the Northern notion that "The Dukes OF Hazzard","Hee Haw" and "The Beverly Hillbillies" were documentaries. "Li,l Abner" was not a diary. "Petticoat Junction" was not a travelogue.The North has ceded any perceived moral superiority they may have ever had. They did so a long time ago.
Today America stands united in what at one time would have been seen as unthinkable insanity. What the hell happened?
American History has never had a shortage of  ill conceived  poorly reasoned political thought and agendas The Whiskey Rebellion should have throttled States Rights and Libertarianism as a viable political ideology in it's cradle. Aaron Burr planned an insurrection. The know Nothing Party. The Grange Movement. Communism. Fascism. The Black Panther Party. The White Panther Party. The historical American Political landscape is littered with the remains of radical, reactionary or single issue political movements
Yet American politics is still a two Party system, very minor aberrations not withstanding. The major political parties here are exquisite examples of Darwinism. They adapt and survive. The parties crush the upstarts by co opting any viable issue or idea they have. The carcase is then picked clean of any original thought or approach. American political thought evolves. A lot of what was once considered politically impossible is now commonly accepted social norms. Slavery is gone. Voting rights have expanded beyond White Male Landowners. Women are supposed to be full citizens, as are African Americans and Native Americans. Homosexuals are being acknowledged as being actual citizens with the same rights as the rest of the Country.
Our problem occurs when the absorbed ideas are antithetical to our history. The trends over more than two centuries is an expansion of the concept of liberty and equality.
Once it was common practice to discriminate not only by race but by religion, national origin , sex and any factor unpopular with the majority. Hence, Irish need not apply signs. The idea John Kennedy could not be elected President because he was Catholic. There are only a few jobs suitable for women. Single women at that. Everyone knew once a woman was married her job was to manage the home, bear and raise children and stop any thought independant of her husband's. Blacks were less intelligent and inherently inferior. Caring for them was the White Man's Burden. The common wisdom is that we have evolved and moved past such primitive notions. It now seems the common wisdom is treated as the ramblings of a fool. The performance of a court jester meant for only ridicule. disdain.and outright loathing.
Regression instead of progression. Today battles are being fought again when we thought the war was won.
The concept of self defense is rooted in English Common Law. A person has the moral right to protect their life, their family and others from mortal threats. Also you can defend your home. The Castle concept. In a confrontation the idea has always been disengagement when possible. If it can be done one should move away from the threat. Deadly force was only acceptable in very limited circumstances. To protect your life and the life of others from an obvious threat. Then came stand your ground.
Somehow the idea of confronting a perceived threat became a perceived right. The notion everyone is John Wayne or Dirty Harry. Disengaging from a threat became cowardice and somehow Un American. This concept seemed to grow hand in hand with the view that gun ownership was the only sacrosanct Constitutional right.
As more and more States liberalized concealed weapons laws (usually over objections of law enforcement) there became a feeling of entitlement. If you had a firearm you should not be told where and when you could carry it. After all that is tyranny. There also came the belief that deadly force was not only a viable option but should be a primary option. A confrontation that once would have resulted in a fist fight now has the ability to escalate into a frontier justice moment. Judge. Jury. Executioner.
The feeling has grown there should be no consequences when lethal force is used. Even if the the person was mistaken about the threat level. There should be no charges. In fact one should be lionized for standing against crime.They dealt decisively with what they thought was a threat.The obvious problem with these concepts is assuming everyone who carries a firearm is a reasonable human being with good judgement and respect for life. At best that is a flawed premise. At worst? Open season for overt racism and violence.
One question. had an adult African American man followed an unarmed white teenager and shot him during a confrontation would the result be the same?  I think he would have been convicted long ago and in Raiford on death row now.
At the beginning of the American experiment in a new form of government the only ones with the right to vote were free white male landowners.By modern standards this is awful. By 18th century standards it was unprecedented. A system of government with a set Constitution and representation to enact laws that could not be changed on a whim by a divine right ruler.
As America grew the right to vote was expanded also. All free white males could vote. Again revolutionary. A system not class based by law and tradition.
 Following a brutal bloody Civil War African Americans became citizens and able to vote. Unfortunately it took a century to end Jim Crow. It took the power of the Federal Government to push the Old Confederacy into the 20th century against their will. It has taken fifty years but the South has changed. Blatant racism is no longer the dominant way of life. If anything they are now more like the North with the racism being covert and insidious.
In the Voting Rights Act the States of the Old Confederacy were forced to have any changes in voting laws reviewed and approved by the Department of Justice. After all there was ample evidence of concerted suppression of the black vote.
Following the election of Barack Obama President, with overwhelming support from minority voters, there was a new push by conservative Republican Legislatures to enact voting laws and regulations to suppress the votes of groups they felt were the Democratic base. Minorities. The young. Newly naturalized citizens. The attempts in the South were beat back by DOJ. The attempts in the North had to be stopped in court. The Northern States trying to pull this off outnumbered the Southern States. Yet it is still decried as a regional problem. It's not. It's an ideological problem. Some have decided America's tradition of expanding liberty is wrong and destructive. An unprecedented, in modern American History, drive is on to strip segments of the population of rights.
This effort is using Evangelical religious belief, flawed Constitutional and discredited States Rights arguments.
They have found and promote so-called historians to validate their fictional version of America. There are those on the reactionary right who feel extremist dogma should be codified as the basis of American law. They are convincedl they have been called by God to establish a Christian theocracy. An extremist Christian theocracy. Their most visible target? Women.
Across the country in conservative Legislatures there has been a rejection of the 21st century. Women are blamed for the collapse of the family, the destruction of morality by wanton behavior. They defy God by not relegating themselves to serving their husbands, being pregnant for most of their reproductive years and daring to be independent and educated. It is their fault rape is an epidemic.
The only recourse is to make life altering decisions concerning their health and future. Everyone knows they are unable to be rational. They are unable to behave in a responsible manner. They refuse to accept the consequences of having sex for non procreational purposes. Thus they can't be treated as fully equal citizens. They are after all walking incubators.
America has always been at the forefront of scientific discovery, innovation and technological advancement As territories were settled land was set aside for schools. Publicly supported schools. Education was recognized as needed for the future of a great nation. American thought, education and sense of unfettered exploration drove scientific and technological advancement in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Now, scientific literacy and ignorance has become something to aspire to. A badge of honor. Mainstream political leaders deny evolution. They deny evidence climate change is a real and present danger. A member of the House Science and Technology Committee decries science as lies of Satan spawned in the pits of Hell. There was a time such an individual would have been laughed out of office. Now he'll be reelected.
School boards are being pressured to teach evolution as simply another theory and present creationism as a scientifically valid alternative. They are pressured to rewrite American History as a Christian triumph  The teaching of critical thinking is vilified as undermining the beliefs of the parents.
America can not survive and prosper if education is a knowledge a la carte. Facts are facts. Scientific and cultural progress is built on empirical knowledge. Not myth. Not suppersition. Not willful ignorance. Not that long ago education was a noble calling. We entrusted educators with our childrens futures. Now they are union thugs indoctrinating students in godless secularism. These ideas I've touched on were once considered so fringe they couldn't be taken seriously. Now they are considered legitimate political thought. A coherent ideology. These ideas haven't changed. They are still crazy. The only difference is crazy is now respectable.
Our choice of action is limited. We beat back the coming Dark Ages, the sequel. We say no to the budding inquisition. We say no to codifying religious dogma. We stand for the thoughts and ideals that made America great. The alternative is to watch it devolve into a repressive intolerant dogmatic theocracy.  We stand with our ideas. Or fall under the flaming sword of reactionary Christianity and the bootheel of regression to the past of camps and witch hunts to preserve ideological purity.  The only real question is who is drug off in the dead of night first.