In contrast, authoritarianism is rooted in the notion that politicians, bureaucrats, and their favored special interests have the right to tread on everyone.
A 12-year-old Colorado boy became a victim of “woke” education when he was taken out of class and told he could not return unless he removed a Gadsden flag, or “Don’t Tread on Me,” patch from his backpack. The school backed down after a video went viral in which a school official told the boy and his mother that the problem with the patch is that the Gadsden flag’s origin is related to slavery and the slave trade. The school was criticized by individuals from across the political spectrum for seeming ignorance of the role the Gadsden flag played in the American Revolution. Among the critics was Colorado Governor Jared Polis, one of the few remaining Democrats willing to defend free speech from the woke mob.
This incident reminded me of a 2009 Department of Homeland Security “fusion center” report warning that individuals with Gadsden flag bumper stickers, or bumper stickers supporting my presidential campaign or the Libertarian or Constitution parties, were potentially dangerous extremists. After I and many other Americans objected, the offending report was withdrawn. But, the fact that it was issued in the first place, just like the fact the Colorado student was ever removed from class for his Gadsden flag patch, shows how the authoritarians view the “Don’t Tread on Me” symbol.
The reason the woke authoritarians hate the Gadsden flag has nothing to do with racism or extremism. It is because the flag represents a rejection of authoritarianism and an embrace of liberty. Benjamin Franklin originally used the rattlesnake to symbolize the rebellious American colonies. He chose the snake because the rattlesnake “never begins an attack, nor, when once engaged, ever surrenders.” In other words, rattlesnakes follow the nonaggression principle that forbids the use of offensive force against another’s person or property, but allows the use of force to defend against any violations of one’s rights — including those committed by government officials.
In contrast, authoritarianism is rooted in the notion that politicians, bureaucrats, and their favored special interests have the right to tread on everyone.
Replacing parental control with government control of education (and other aspects of child raising) has been a goal of authoritarians since Plato. After all, it is much easier to ensure obedience if someone has been raised to think of the government as the source of all wisdom and truth, as well as the provider of all of life’s necessities.
During last week’s Virginia gubernatorial debate, Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe promised that as governor he would prevent parents from removing sexually explicit books from school libraries, because he doesn’t think “parents should be telling schools what they should teach.”
McAuliffe’s disdain for parents who think they should have some say in their children’s education is shared by most “progressives,” as well as some who call themselves conservatives. They think parents should obediently pay the taxes to fund the government schools and never question any aspect of the government school program.
School officials’ refusal to obey the wishes of parents extends to the anti-science mask mandates. Mask mandates are not only useless in protecting children from a virus they are at low risk of becoming sick from or transmitting, the mandated mask-wearing actually makes children sick! Yet school administrators refuse to follow the science if that means listening to parents instead of the so-called experts.
Replacing parental control with government control of education (and other aspects of child raising) has been a goal of authoritarians since Plato. After all, it is much easier to ensure obedience if someone has been raised to think of the government as the source of all wisdom and truth, as well as the provider of all of life’s necessities.
In contrast to an authoritarian society, a free society recognizes that parents have both the responsibility and the right to provide their children with a quality education that reflects the parents’ values. Teachers who use their positions to indoctrinate children in beliefs that contradict the views of the parents are the ones overstepping their bounds.
Restoring parental control of education should be a priority for all who believe in liberty. If government can override the wishes of parents in the name of “education” or “protecting children’s health” then what area of our lives is safe from government intrusion?
Fortunately, growing dissatisfaction with government schools is leading many parents to try to change school policies. Parents are also responding by pursuing alternatives to government schools, including the option hated most by authoritarians: homeschooling.
The unnecessary coronavirus lockdowns and the teachers union officials’ support for keeping schools closed have also contributed to the growth in homeschooling.
Parents looking for a homeschooling program that includes an introduction to the ideas of liberty should consider my homeschool curriculum. My curriculum provides students with a solid education in history, literature, mathematics, and the sciences. It also gives students the opportunity to create their own websites and internet-based businesses. The curriculum is designed to be self-taught, with students helping, and learning from, each other via online forums.
Starting in fourth grade, students are required to write at least one essay a week. Students also take a course in public speaking.
The curriculum teaches history from a pro-liberty perspective, and the economics section is taught from the Austrian viewpoint. But, unlike government schools, the curriculum does not compromise education quality, distort facts, or undermine parental authority in pursuit of an ideological agenda.
Students using my homeschooling program develop a love of learning, study superior communication skills, and gain real-world business experience. They also develop critical thinking skills that will enable them to succeed in whatever career paths they choose.
Parents interested in giving their children a well-rounded homeschool education that includes an introduction to sound economics and the ideas of liberty can get more information about my curriculum by going to RonPaulCurriculum.com.
Earlier this month, a group of homeschoolers mobilized and began challenging the ridiculous closures of playgrounds throughout Brazoria County through direct action.
Ironic how the officer with “We The People” tattooed across his arm showed up with such contempt for the actual people. One of the homeschool fathers hit the perfect note when he reminded the officer that it was in fact the park itself that belonged to the same “We The People” he was wearing on his arm.
As we’ve been saying on the Ron Paul Liberty Report for some time, in this period of coronavirus and the naked power-grabs by authoritarian politicians from all levels of government, if there is any hope to claw back some of our liberties it will come from the bottom up.
Politicians are drunk on power and they are not about to enter any kind of 12 step program.
But throughout the country it is the people who are fighting back. And they are scoring tremendous victories. On a small scale, a hundred flowers are blooming daily as Americans who perhaps yesterday were not at all political, or who went along to get along, are realizing what is at stake and are standing up.
The elites laughed at the “flyover country” folks in places like the Lake of the Ozarks who ignored demands that they practice “social distancing” and wear masks in public over Memorial Day weekend and simply went out and had a good time. In fact the elites and the sycophants openly wished these people would contract Covid and die as punishment for ignoring the orders of their “betters.”
That’s how sick things have become.
Here in Texas the speaker of the house Dennis Bonnen – ostensibly a conservative Republican – has warned us lowly citizens that if we want big daddy government to allow us to conduct business again in this state, we need to bow down and scrape.
He told USA Today that if we don’t wear masks whenever we go outside, we can’t have our freedom back:
I don’t know what message they are sending other than the message of stupidity that they’re not going to wear a face covering in public. Well, pick it. Either you want the economy open or you want to be selfish and not wear a face covering when you are out in the public.
The corrupt Dennis Bonnen may think he can push Texans around, but perhaps he’s had his own mask on too tight and is suffering from hypoxia.
Down here in Brazoria county a strong independent spirit runs through the vibrant and active homeschool movement. In fact Texas homeschoolers and particularly Brazoria County homeschoolers have been the backbone of Ron Paul country.
Earlier this month, a group of homeschoolers mobilized and began challenging the ridiculous closures of playgrounds throughout Brazoria County through direct action.
It is the most outrageous abuse of power to deny children the ability to go outside in the sun, help virus-killing vitamin D to flow through their systems, and get the exercise that is most directly associated with a healthy immune system and resistance to coronavirus.
Government restricting children from that which keeps them healthy is not “science” – it’s criminal.
So this group, the “Park Patriots,” took action. First they descended on a park in Lake Jackson, Ron Paul’s hometown, and after the city workers called the police on them they gave the police a lesson in the law and law enforcement. They ended up at city hall and successfully got the vice mayor to admit that there was no force of law behind the forced shutdown of parks. Officials pretended they had the authority to deny citizens the facilities they were forced to pay for, but in the end a “guideline” is quite different than a law.
The mothers returned to the park and let their kids loose on the playground. Victory indeed.
Today the “Park Patriots” struck again, trudging up to Angleton’s “Freedom Park” to again let their homeschooled kids loose on the taped up playground – and to reclaim their freedom.
As they arrived they began dismantling the tape and the other impediments to children using the facilities:
The orange fencing keeping children from enjoying the park that their parents paid for ended up exactly where it belonged:
One of the children – in this case your author’s own daughter – relished the idea of smashing through the ridiculous “caution” tape on the swings:
Once again it was city workers who called the police on the people who pay their salaries – notice a pattern here? – and soon enough some squad cars showed up.
What followed was the greatest example of how citizens can reclaim their own liberty by simply standing up to authoritarians. By simply working up the courage to say, “we’re not going to take this anymore.” Here is a short video of the essence of the exchange between the homeschool mothers and fathers of Brazoria County when the police tried to strong-arm them to leave the park:
Ironic how the officer with “We The People” tattooed across his arm showed up with such contempt for the actual people. One of the homeschool fathers hit the perfect note when he reminded the officer that it was in fact the park itself that belonged to the same “We The People” he was wearing on his arm.
Also of interest is that when the officer’s falsely asserted authority to remove the children from the park was obliterated by the excellent rhetoric of the parents, how only response was the bizarre “y’all anti-vaxxers?” Bad move, officer!
Finally, the officer, totally defeated by the arguments of the parents, turned heel and walked away, leaving his colleague dumbfounded and alone. She also turned around and walked away.
One group of parents broke off to go to the city hall to directly challenge authorities and the other group remained at the park.
Eventually the officer returned to the homeschoolers remaining at the park. He tried to act friendly at this point. “The chief of police has decided that you can remain at the park.”
Victory:
And thanks to these brave and dedicated homeschoolers, “Freedom Park” is free again:
We can all make a difference. We can all fight for our freedom, one small battle at a time. We can all help defeat the tyrants.
This highly credentialed child care costs taxpayers a lot of money. So long as things kept trucking along, most of us were not of the mood to too closely scrutinize these expenses. But now that we’re out the money and have to take care of the kids, reassessment is going to happen.
What does education look like in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic?
At the K-12 level, you’ve got problems. At the collegiate level, you’ve got existential problems.
School is out for the year in most locales. More innovative districts are retooling like crazy and trying to do online classes. Parents are looking for cheap or free resources to do the job and keep their kids occupied during our enforced isolation.
Now that we’re out the money and have to take care of the kids, reassessment is going to happen.
In short, we are all homeschoolers now. Expect that to be much more the case next school year, as enough parents who were forced to try it either a) like it and decide to keep this knowledge train rolling or b) don’t believe the schools are safe enough to send their kids back into and so suck it up.
This will create knock-on problems for public schools certainly, and also for private schools.
Kids go to school for six-plus hours a day, but a lot of that time is wasted. In most cases, you could run through the lessons in about two hours. Parents are seeing that now.
The pandemic quarantine is showing us that schooling is basically state- or parent-sponsored babysitting with some ABCs, 123s, dodgeball, and the prom thrown in.
This highly credentialed child care costs taxpayers a lot of money. So long as things kept trucking along, most of us were not of the mood to too closely scrutinize these expenses. But now that we’re out the money and have to take care of the kids, reassessment is going to happen.
Public education will survive, of course, but in a reduced capacity. Fewer kids will go and school bonds will become a harder sell. Expensive private schools will also face scrutiny, as the now-poorer parents have seen that they can do this on their own if they so choose.
The sector of education that is in real trouble is higher education. Costs have gone nothing but up as schools have used the money from student loans to do things like build more buildings, hire an assistant to the assistant to the assistant of the president — basically anything but put that money back into the classrooms.
As tuition has risen steadily, so has unbankruptable student loan debt. It costs a lot of money to go to college these days, even at state schools. When the good times were rolling, enough high school graduates and their parents were willing to chance it to keep academia fat and sassy.
The sector of education that is in real trouble is higher education.
That will change, and abruptly enough to give administrators whiplash. Colleges and universities are keeping the money flowing in right now with online courses. Students who would never have considered distance learning have gotten a taste of it. Many will decide they prefer that to the in-person experience.
Schools will try to hold per-credit prices up, but it won’t work. Economies of scale for in-demand online learning are significantly lower than classroom learning, and there are enough credentialed competitors in that space that this will finally bend the higher-ed cost curve down.
Well-endowed elite schools, such as Harvard, will do fine. Most state schools will survive, though state legislatures may impose some needed discipline. But many smaller schools in the middle, which have regular tuition hikes baked into how they do business, simply will not make it.
Case in point: a bunch of students at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts asked for a partial refund of their tuition, which comes to nearly $60,000 a year, on the grounds that they are not paying that kind of money to take online classes. Instead, they got a video of Dean Allyson Green dancing to REM’s “Losing My Religion.” She’ll be losing their tuition soon enough.
MCViewPoint 