Category: unraveling

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT

On By Citizen TomIn 2016 Election, Philosophy, unraveling3 Comments

school.pngSometimes the good guys win.

Here is another email from the Chairman of the PWC Republican Committee. It is a thank you note.

Dear Faithful Republicans,

I want to thank each and every one of you for your overwhelming support sending emails and for showing up to the PWC School Board Meetings. It truly made a difference! It was particularly encouraging to see the unity that came out of this very divisive issue. While the fight is not over, we can keep this momentum going by continuing to show up and let our voices be heard. Thank you again!

“Yes” for Brentsville and Gil Trenum; “Wait” on Trans Gender – An Update from the PWC School Board Meeting on September 21st.

Nearly 500 people showed up last night while the board took citizen comments from 7:00pm to 1:00am on policy 060, the policy change to add sexual preference and gender identity to the lists of protected classes.  The entire Kelly Leadership Center school board complex was full, to include an over flow room and the atrium.

Approximately 150 people spoke.  Speakers came from all backgrounds: Hispanic, African American, Muslim, Christian, parents and kids.  Some of the more moving arguments came from young ladies who simply pleaded, “Please protect my privacy and dignity.”  Several African American speakers said “this was not the civil rights issue of the 21st century.”

More than 90% of speakers were against changing policy 060.  Their arguments were: legal “wait for the Virginia Supreme Court to Rule”; transparency “why are you making this decision so hastily without soliciting staff or public input”; and safety “please don’t force a child to undress in front of another student of the opposite biological sex.”

Proponents of policy 060 talked about bullying, hatred and discrimination.  But there was no hatred or discrimination on our side last night. In fact our speakers talked about loving and protecting all children. Sadly, gay and transgender kids are the subject of bullying.  But as a Muslim parent of kids who have been bullied for their faith noted, this policy doesn’t stop bullying. He said we cannot equate bathroom preference with bullying.

Speakers asked the board to focus on meaningful bullying prevention, SOL scores, crowding, in short, real education policy.

In the end, Chairman Sawyers pushed his policy proposal ahead, as originally written.  Loree Williams (Woodbridge) seconded his motion.  Diane Raulston (Neabsco) offered a competing motion to stay the vote until the second SB meeting in June 2017 (presumably after the courts have issued their ruling).

After some deliberation the vote to delay was 5 aye, one nay (Sawyers) and one abstain (Williams).  The Brentsville seat was empty during this vote.

Bottom Line: we showed up, stuck to our message and won the night.  But we need to stay engaged.  This issue isn’t going away.

At around 2:00am, the board voted unanimously to appoint Shawn Brann to fill Gil Trenum’s seat until Gil returns for the 2017-2018 school year.  Shawn was one of Gil’s recommended replacements and is well qualified to serve on the School Board!

Warm Regards,
Dottie Miller
Chairman PWC Republican Committee

It is an old expression, but it applies. We are at a crossroads. What Dottie Miller describes sounds like a great victory. It could be, but so long as we keep electing big government busybodies, such people will push increasingly crazy agendas. Eventually, they will have us at each others throats, more concerned about demanding our “rights” from each other than we are about protecting each others God-given rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Whatever it takes, we must remember the people who vote for expanding the power of government, and we must vote for someone else. Whatever it takes, even if it seems to go against our best interests in the short term, we must vote only for the government we deem absolutely necessary. Otherwise, the busybodies will wear us down with nitnoid nonsense.

In a country where government runs everything, gender confusion will be the least of our concerns. Here is why. When we pass from this life, we will be rightfully ashamed. We will have left our children entirely confused and in the power of leaders who do not even care about the difference between what is right and what is wrong.

TWO DIFFERENT ROADS

On By Citizen TomIn Adam Smith, Culture War, Philosophy, religion, unraveling17 Comments

bibles_books_01Over a decade passed now, but it was then I made a surprising discovery. Much of what I had been taught in public schools is not true.

How did learn of the deception? I began reading what people call the classics and historic works. When we study history, many of these great works serve as primary source documents for historians. Therefore, I have listed a small number of historic documents in Citizen Library.

What led me to read so many seeming long and sometimes difficult works? My long commute to work was driving me batty; I needed a distraction. So I decided to listen to classic works I would otherwise never read. Because my wife and daughters are Christians, the Bible was at the top of my list.

I have since read the Bible several times by listening to it, and I have read many other far less significant historic works.  I have learned there is a crucial difference between reading about history and reading historic documents.

Consider the Bible. Will what someone else says about the Bible be true to that work? Is reading what someone else has said about the Bible the same as reading it for ourselves? No and no.

Pick your favorite dessert. How could you ever describe the taste? You cannot. That’s why we are always willing to share a small sample of our pleasure with someone we love. We have no other way to share our pleasure except to help them taste it for themselves.

The same that is true of the Bible is true of any other historic work. Unless we study the great historic work of history for ourselves, instead of being informed we risk being propagandized. Instead of learning what historic men and women had to say, politicians will tell us what they want us to believe.

Why is it important to learn the truth? What is wrong with being propagandized? In The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Adam Smith spoke of our desire both to be respectable and to be respected. He spoke of a choosing between two roads.

We desire both to be respectable and to be respected. We dread both to be contemptible and to be contemned. But, upon coming into the world, we soon find that wisdom and virtue are by no means the sole objects of respect; nor vice and folly, of contempt. We frequently see the respectful attentions of the world more strongly directed towards the rich and the great, than towards the wise and the virtuous. We see frequently the vices and follies of the powerful much less despised than the poverty and weakness of the innocent. To deserve, to acquire, and to enjoy the respect and admiration of mankind, are the great objects of ambition and emulation. Two different roads are presented to us, equally leading to the attainment of this so much desired object; the one, by the study of wisdom and the practice of virtue; the other, by the acquisition of wealth and greatness. Two different characters are presented to our emulation; the one, of proud ambition and ostentatious avidity. the other, of humble modesty and equitable justice. Two different models, two different pictures, are held out to us, according to which we may fashion our own character and behaviour; the one more gaudy and glittering in its colouring; the other more correct and more exquisitely beautiful in its outline: the one forcing itself upon the notice of every wandering eye; the other, attracting the attention of scarce any body but the most studious and careful observer. They are the wise and the virtuous chiefly, a select, though, I am afraid, but a small party, who are the real and steady admirers of wisdom and virtue. The great mob of mankind are the admirers and worshippers, and, what may seem more extraordinary, most frequently the disinterested admirers and worshippers, of wealth and greatness. (from here)

If we want our children to be both truly respectable and to truly respected, they must study wisdom and the practice of virtue. Yet the public school system is a secular institution. When proper wisdom is Godly wisdom, we have little reason to hope our children will be taught Godly wisdom in the public school system.

Because the study of wisdom and the practice of virtue must be based upon the Truth, the study of wisdom and the practice of virtue is therefore highly controversial. As Pontius Pilate  said: “What is Truth?” (John 18:38). Then he had the Truth crucified. Thus, to avoid controversy, the public school system focuses our children’s minds on the acquisition of wealth and greatness.

 

WHY WE DON’T CARE ABOUT THE PROTECTION OF OUR RIGHTS — PART 1

On By Citizen TomIn Culture War, history, Philosophy, religion, unraveling6 Comments
Jerusalem_Modell_BW_3
Model of Herod’s Temple (a renovation of the Second Temple) in the Israel Museum, created in 1966 as part of the Holyland Model of Jerusalem. The model was inspired by the writings of Josephus. (from here)

OF A POST TO COME promised to compare the governing approaches of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton with respect to two issues.

  • The growth of the power of government.
  • The protection of our rights.

Here we will consider the protection of our rights.

Why The Law Written In Our Hearts Is Not Enough

Why don’t we care about the protection of our rights? We are ignorant of our rights. Because we don’t properly educate our children, we don’t understand the concept of human rights and RESPONSIBILITIES. I suppose that sounds arrogant, but please bear with me and let me explain.

The notion that individuals have rights is a relatively new idea.  We tend to be more concerned about doing the right thing, and we equate what we think is the right thing with respecting human rights.

What do we think is the right thing? Consider this Bible passage.

Romans 2:12-16 New King James Version (NKJV)

12 For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law 13 (for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified; 14 for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, 15 who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them) 16 in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.

Without ever hearing about Jesus or the Bible we each know enough to do the right thing (see IS GOD EVIL OR HOLY?), but our pride and our instincts fight with this knowledge. Hence, we constantly find excuses to ignore it.

Consider when and where the Apostle Paul wrote the passage above.

  • The Roman republic was dead, subsumed by the empire its efficient and brutal legions had created. Slavery was common. How well a slave fared depended upon the decency of his or her master (see here, here, and here). Rome defended the institution of slavery mercilessly. The rebellion led by Spartacus provides the most famous example. Roman legions crucified 6,000 of the rebels (see here and here).
  • Even without slavery, Roman society was highly class conscious (see here, here, and here), and the prestige of the Rome depending upon the integrity of its empire. About a decade after Paul wrote the Book of Romans, the Jews  rebelled. Eventually, Roman legions descended upon Jerusalem. They slaughtered and enslaved the population and burned the city, including the temple (see here and here).

Do we live in a better place and time? Yes, but why? The Romans were civilized and in many ways quite virtuous. Yet they had little respect for human rights, particularly the rights of foreigners. The Romans were as savage as any barbarians, just better organized, trained, and equipped.

What is the difference between the Roman Empire and America? The Romans only had the law written in their hearts. They could see themselves and their conduct reflected in their own eyes and each others eyes, but they too often saw only what they wanted to see.

The Bible provides a better mirror. The Bible teaches that we are all children of God, made in his image. The Bible teaches that we must love our neighbor as our self. As Jesus explained in The Parable of the Good Samaritan, every man is our neighbor. Every man has rights we must respect.

When studied carefully, the Bible does what the law written in our hearts cannot do. Whereas the law written in our hearts is intertwined with our fleshly desires, the Bible is purely of the spirit. Thus, the Bible perfectly mirrors our life and conduct with respect to what God expects of His children.

James 1:22-25 New King James Version (NKJV)

22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.

Yet the Bible only works if we read it and study it, and it works best when we insist our children read it and study it. Unfortunately, such Bible instruction is not common in America anymore.

To Be Continued

  • What Are God-Given Rights?
  • Where Do The Candidates Stand With Respect To God-Given Rights?

THE GROWING POWER OF GOVERNMENT AND THE THREAT TO LIBERTY: ELECTION 2016

On By Citizen TomIn 2016 Election, Constitution, economy, Health Care Nationalization, Hillary Clinton, Laws, Philosophy, schools, taxes, unraveling28 Comments

declaration of independence

OF A POST TO COME promised to compare the governing approaches of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton with respect to two issues.

  • The growth of the power of government.
  • The protection of our rights.

The Growth Of The Power Of Government

Why is it a problem when government is powerful? Government exists to protect our rights. Yet the power we give our government makes government itself a threat to our rights. Therefore, we must choose between giving the government just enough power and giving it too much.

  • To give our government the resources it needs to defend our rights, we must give our leaders the authority to tax us and spend our money. Nevertheless, the more we allow our government to tax and spend, the more we work for government instead of ourselves. At some point, we risk slavery.
  • Some decisions which effect a people must be made jointly. Thus, government must sometimes make decisions we would otherwise make for ourselves. So it is that in a nation of free men and women, we have laws that restrict us from harming each other (traffic laws, for example). In a nation of slaves, however, the laws just list a few trivial decisions that the leaders permit the people to make for themselves.

Here is a table that summarizes where the candidates stand.  Not certain the information is correct? Then check their web sites. I have only provided links where their positions are not available on their own websites.

ISSUE Donald Trump Hillary Clinton
Taxing and Spending Favors tax simplification and reduction Favors increased taxation and spending (inferred from lengthy list of proposals)
Healthcare Private market solution Doubling down on Obamacare
School Choice For School Choice. Will end Common Core Against School Choice. Favors Common Core.
Immigration Favors extreme vetting Open borders/put new immigrants on the dole
Government Regulations Committed to reducing regulations Defends the current regulatory regime
Free Trade Opponent of the big trade bills Helped to craft TPP

To be continued: The Protection Of Our Rights