Freedom and principles
At one time, the mainstream American mindset included the belief that rights are inalienable. That the government was created to protect our rights, not be a service provider.
That the Constitution is a living document only when changes are enacted through the amendment process.
That the legitimate role of the federal government is limited to the enumerated powers defined in Article 1- Section 8. That the rule of law dictates that laws apply equally to everyone including the political elite. That private property is sacrosanct, can only be taken with just compensation, and the redistribution of wealth is unconstitutional. That equality, as it pertains to government, refers to opportunity and not result. These are the principles that historically defined American culture.
Today, anyone who espouses a return to the constitutional republic as the founders designed it is considered to be a right wing radical by the ruling class and their mouthpieces in the media. The mere mention of the above sentiments initiates a barrage of hatred by an alarming number of our fellow citizens. How is it possible that we have moved so far away from the principles that have enabled America to become the greatest nation the planet has ever witnessed?
I believe there are two factors that have led to the decimation of the American spirit of limited government, individual freedom, and self-reliance.
First, everyone born after World War II have only known a country void of external threats. Freedom is their reality and it has never been challenged by an equally powerful adversary. They have never lived through a period when America’s survival was in question much less experienced despotism at the business end of a gun.
While security over such a long period of time definitely has its advantages, it has developed into fertile ground for complacency. Most Americans believe that the American way of life is perpetual. That the freedoms they are losing to an ever invasive government doesn’t warrant their attention much less their ire.
Today’s Americans demonstrate little of their forefathers’ passion for freedom because they believe they are still free. How many of your fellow citizens would gladly support a law they would give the government warrantless access to our private communications in exchange for free cable TV?
How have we gotten to the point where TV shows, sports teams, and popular culture are more important than the loss of liberty at the hands of an overbearing government?
That brings me to my second point. We have a large percentage of our citizenry who are ignorant when it comes to the principles this country was founded upon. Because they know nothing to the contrary, they need to be taught about freedom else they will continue to accept the tyranny they encounter each day.
Most Americans believe that if they can vote, they are free because they never learned that despot after despot was elected into power. They most likely don’t know who Hugo Chavez was or how he destroyed Venezuela with his brand of socialism. They don’t know he was elected into office by spewing the same redistributive rhetoric that we hear from our politicians today.
The founders warned us that this might happen. John Adams stated, “Children should be educated and instructed in the principles of freedom.” Freedom can exist only in the society of knowledge. Without learning, men are incapable of knowing their rights,” said Benjamin Rush. “Educate and inform the whole mass of the people… They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty,” Thomas Jefferson.
Civics and economics courses provide students with the necessary tools to become effective citizens. A study at Tufts University found that most states no longer teach citizenship, government, and law. A 2010 study by the National Assessment of Educational Progress showed that only 9 percent of fourth graders correctly identifying a photograph of Abraham Lincoln. The shift away from this topic can be attributed to federal policies like No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top. States have shifted educational resources away from social studies toward subjects that appear on the standardized tests and civics does not. Only nine states require civics education testing for high school graduation.
In 1963, the goals of the Communist Party USA were published in the Congressional Record. Several of these goals explain why America’s foundation principles have been eliminated from public school curriculums. The goals include using the schools as conduits for socialist and communist propaganda, getting control of teachers’ associations, infiltrating the press, and gaining control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures. They have been very successful at attaining these goals and as you can see, this helps explain what has transpired in our schools and what we see in the media.
Perhaps this explains why Americans are more comfortable feeding at the government trough, demanding more benefits, than standing up and denouncing political overreach. The number of Americans who want the government to leave them alone diminishes as those who value government primarily as a service provider who enables them live at someone else’s expense grows. Americans’ faltering devotion to freedom has made it easy for politicians to buy their votes with promises of ever increasing wealth redistribution.
This is happening because we no longer teach our youth to value freedom. We no longer teach them to appreciate the sacrifices that millions of Americans have made to win and defend that freedom. We no longer teach them about the Venezuelas of the world and how freedom is fragile and fleeting. We no longer teach them that freedom is the exception and not the rule. Historically, anything approaching a free society has been exceedingly rare. And even when they have existed, a far greater percent of mankind has lived under despotic regimes.
The youth of America must be taught to love freedom. They must be taught to be terrified to lose their freedom. They must be taught to recognize the signs of freedom slipping through their fingers. They must be taught that there is no government handout worth trading even the smallest measure of freedom to get.
America is the last hope for freedom on the planet. We must work to perpetuate our traditions of liberty, inalienable rights, and the rule of law. These traditions have been waning because generations of Americans have not been taught in schools, at home, by the media, or by personal experience how valuable this heritage is. It is by far the most import lesson we can pass along. For without this knowledge, voters will continue to be duped into surrendering their freedom for some meaningless government kickback. As Benjamin Franklin once wrote, “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” Franklin also wrote, “When the people find that they can vote themselves money that will herald the end of the republic.”
Area resident Jack Loesch is a longtime teacher at the University of Akron. Read his website at www.TorchnFork.info. He may be reached at: TorchNFork@frontier.com
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