Pushback: Huge increase in homeschooling in VA
Home-schooling: a example of liberty in action
Because of oppressive and racist policies that include mask mandates, remote schooling, and the teaching of the bigoted and Marxist program dubbed Critical Race Theory, Virginia has seen a huge increase in home schooling in the past two years.
Homeschooling in Virginia has increased by nearly 40% since 2019, which has been partly fueled by the implementation of critical race theory in classrooms and the coronavirus. “The children don’t belong to the state. I think parents really want to impart their own values to their children – their values and beliefs and their own worldview. And that is a major reason parents are home schooling,” Yvonne Bunn, director of government affairs for the Home Educators Association of Virginia, told the Virginia Mercury earlier this month.
There are currently about 62,000 homeschoolers in Virginia, according to Virginia Department of Education data. There were 44,226 homeschoolers in the state during the 2019/2020 school year, marking a more than 39% increase. The numbers this year are slightly down from the 2020/2021 school year, when 65,571 students were homeschooled.
In ’20-’21, students returned to in-class learning, so it was expected that the numbers being home-schooled would decline. That the decline was so tiny suggests most home-schooling parents suddenly realized that their kids were better off being educated at home, and decided to keep them there. That decision was further reinforced by the determination of some Virginia school boards to keep their mask mandates in place, in defiance of the state’s governor, to a point where the schools event threatened unmasked students and their parents with arrest.
In addition, the article notes that some parents took their kids from school out of fear the school would force the COVID shots on them, as has happened in California and elsewhere.
The bottom line is that we are seeing the growth of competitive alternatives to the corrupt public school system that has increasingly failed in recent decade to educate children properly, focusing instead on pumping them with leftist indoctrination. Not only are parents moving toward home-schooling, they are also forming home-schooling co-ops where their kids learn in groups, like the old fashioned one-room school house. In addition, many parents are moving their kids from the public schools into charter or private schools.
This shift means the public schools will lose enrollment, which means they will lose funding. The competition will thus force them to reform, and if it doesn’t it will guarantee collapse of these failed institutions.
People must have the fundamental right to make their own choices that matter for them and their families. The recent growth of viable educational alternatives is a welcome sign that those choices are becoming increasingly easier to make.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
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Home-schooling: a example of liberty in action
Because of oppressive and racist policies that include mask mandates, remote schooling, and the teaching of the bigoted and Marxist program dubbed Critical Race Theory, Virginia has seen a huge increase in home schooling in the past two years.
Homeschooling in Virginia has increased by nearly 40% since 2019, which has been partly fueled by the implementation of critical race theory in classrooms and the coronavirus. “The children don’t belong to the state. I think parents really want to impart their own values to their children – their values and beliefs and their own worldview. And that is a major reason parents are home schooling,” Yvonne Bunn, director of government affairs for the Home Educators Association of Virginia, told the Virginia Mercury earlier this month.
There are currently about 62,000 homeschoolers in Virginia, according to Virginia Department of Education data. There were 44,226 homeschoolers in the state during the 2019/2020 school year, marking a more than 39% increase. The numbers this year are slightly down from the 2020/2021 school year, when 65,571 students were homeschooled.
In ’20-’21, students returned to in-class learning, so it was expected that the numbers being home-schooled would decline. That the decline was so tiny suggests most home-schooling parents suddenly realized that their kids were better off being educated at home, and decided to keep them there. That decision was further reinforced by the determination of some Virginia school boards to keep their mask mandates in place, in defiance of the state’s governor, to a point where the schools event threatened unmasked students and their parents with arrest.
In addition, the article notes that some parents took their kids from school out of fear the school would force the COVID shots on them, as has happened in California and elsewhere.
The bottom line is that we are seeing the growth of competitive alternatives to the corrupt public school system that has increasingly failed in recent decade to educate children properly, focusing instead on pumping them with leftist indoctrination. Not only are parents moving toward home-schooling, they are also forming home-schooling co-ops where their kids learn in groups, like the old fashioned one-room school house. In addition, many parents are moving their kids from the public schools into charter or private schools.
This shift means the public schools will lose enrollment, which means they will lose funding. The competition will thus force them to reform, and if it doesn’t it will guarantee collapse of these failed institutions.
People must have the fundamental right to make their own choices that matter for them and their families. The recent growth of viable educational alternatives is a welcome sign that those choices are becoming increasingly easier to make.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
I think homeschooling should be put in the broader picture of school choice- a move away from government schools. that would include charter schools as well as vouchers for parents to pay for tuition at private schools. Gov. Youngkin is packaging these as what he calls lab schools.. As expected, he’s getting pushback from the Democrats who are a wholly-owned subsidiary of the teachers union. unfortunately the Democrats control the state Senate with a slim one vote margin. but as we’ve seen on the national scene, the Democrats are extremely disciplined and can rule with vanishingly small margins. all the Republicans need to flip is one vote and then lieutenant governor Sears could break the tie for the Republicans. I am a big fan of homeschooling. To support them consider donating to the homeschooling legal Defense Association HSLDA.
vouchers are the way to go, Let free people decide who will educate their children.The folks I know had to
pay the public school system plus the private school they sent their kids too.Then you have the poor that cant afford a private school. Without competition the public schools have had a near monopoly and that is
un-american and untold billions have been spent corrupting youth with no pushback.Glad to see it here .
“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
Wouldnt it be good..?
The problem with government-issued vouchers is the same one with government-issued college loans and grants: the schools just drive up their prices to ridiculous levels. I say get the government out of the business altogether
Concerned:
Vouchers or portability represent the taxes that local individuals pay to their localities in that they be able to provide education to their children as I understand it.
The teachers’ unions would fight to the death in order that that rule or law never be able to be instituted.
Take your school taxes and spend them where you think your child’s best interests are served. That is a very powerful tool that each parent that pays taxes or lives in a particular school district should have.
I do not agree that the result would be the increase in the cost of school. I think the reverse may actually occur.
tangential, but sorta topical…..
The Canadian’s at Juno Beach (June 1944)
https://youtu.be/oaQTOfC46HA
17:43
Robert, your statement that Mars colonists should base their decisions on what’s best for our children is right on target. I’m seeing that argument used more and more by our side on issues we face today against the instant gratification leftists.
One minute video of half dozen California public middle school students forced to sit unsupervised on the sidewalk off campus for not wearing masks to school.
https://twitter.com/PapiTrumpo/status/1490503102147055618
James Street: I assume you are referring to what I write in Conscious Choice, though I have also written it many times in other places.
Children must come first, now and in the future. You can always find out who are the bad guys by how they treat children. And the Democrats and the left have clearly revealed themselves to be those bad guys in the past two years. Masks and COVID shots for little kids? Teaching kids to hate each other because of their race? It is all insane, irrational, and a form of child abuse. That it has taken almost a year of increasing anger and protests to get some of these political thugs to begin finally backing off from these evil mandates and racist policies should tell everyone that these petty dictators should never be able to wield power again. The sooner they are out on their asses, the better.
From the article:
This is what school boards and the PTA are for, to ensure that the children are educated the way the parents (who are paying for it) want. That the parents are abandoning their schools shows that these two institutions are failing along with the public school system of education.
You know, I was once proud that I got a wonderful education through the government
Primary and Secondary – Land Ordinance (1785) – Which established the principle of government establishing schools
Bachelors – Morrill Land Grant Act (1863) – Second Generation, my dad also graduated from a Land Grant School, My school acknowledged its roots via art https://www.psu.edu/news/campus-life/story/old-main-frescoes-capture-penn-states-history-and-mission/
Masters – GI Bill (1944 and updates)
Doctorate – Directly funded at a civilian institution by the US Army to ready me for my next assignment
As a system, it was the envy of the world, both in terms of quality and number and diversity of students served
Alas, no longer
Col –
Very impressive!
I went to a land grant school as well.
In what, is your doctorate?
Jordan Peterson on Socialists
“They Don’t Love the Poor, They Just Hate the Rich.”
[excerpted from; “Identity politics and the Marxist lie of white privilege” (2017)
https://youtu.be/wreDa1xarTM
9:08
GOVERNMENT, all and every form of government that has ever existed throughout human history accomplishes one thing. It is always the enemy of and a direct threat to the people’s freedoms in all of its degrees and forms.
“Trudeau stokes divisions by branding 7,000-strong Freedom Convoy in Ottawa as a ‘few people shouting and waving swastikas’: Anti-mandate protesters blockade busiest border crossing to US at Detroit”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10486929/Canada-pushes-against-GOP-support-COVID-protests.html
Government, specifically Democratically formulated governments like the American and the Canadian governments must always strive to find the balance between their politically empowered by the people fiduciary responsibilities and self-interests and the people’s Rights and freedoms. Where do they draw the line?
Prime Minister Trudeau, as is “President” Biden are in the process of vilifying and designating those who oppose their interpretation of their politically empowered fiduciary responsibilities as being domestic terrorists. Why is that? Because they are weak leaders who are fronting for now clearly desperate Leftist and Socialist political parties that tend to be politically authoritarian and oriented to seek absolute obedience rather than compromise.
And the counter argument for that position is a more reasonable and balanced orientation informed by a belief and philosophy based in individuals having and employing their own reasoning and free choice in their lives and in how they inform and give feed back to their government.
And these two 180-degree divergent and sometime overlapping attitudes towards governance and their interpretation of their politically empowered fiduciary responsibilities in our time is a stark example and lesson in Democracy. What is Democracy, and what is NOT Democracy.
Democracy as per what we can detect from the actions of those politically empowered on the Left side of the equation appears to be:
Democracy = The people must do whatever those on the Left in political power at the moment deem to be necessary as per their political agenda and goals that ensures their political power. And that includes the tearing down and discarding of the very structure that formulates what it is that empowers them. Which in the context of our modern world at this time in history is the Constitution in the case of America.
Usurp all political power and then enshrine in perpetuity that *NEW* political power model of control. And that is ultimately the Democrat party machines goal, plain and simple.
Why is that? Because that is the nature of the acquisition of and the retention of power.
By the metrics of the Democrat party machine today, George Washington was a domestic terrorist. Just like the truckers in Canada, just like anyone who opposes the Leftist dominated political agenda of the Democrat party in America. Look in the mirror, YOU are a domestic terrorist.
And understanding these truths that are plain to see we find that those on the Left are fundamentally in opposition to the very founding structure and philosophy of those who designed and structured the Constitution. The Democrat party and the Leftists that now dominate, drive and control their agenda exist in direct opposition to America and what it was formulated to protect and counterbalance.
Why is that? It is the nature of power. What else are they left with doing?
The only solution? The people.
(That is while the majority of them are not strategically designated as being domestic terrorists just like George Washington that is)
“[T]he great security against a gradual concentration of the several powers in the same department, consists in giving to those who administer each department the necessary constitutional means and personal motives to resist encroachments of the others. The provision for defence must in this, as in all other cases, be made commensurate to the danger of attack.
Ambition must be made to counteract ambition.
The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place. It may be a reflection on human nature, that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?
If men were angels, no government would be necessary.
If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.
In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions.” ([1788] n.d., 337)
James Madison
The Federalist No. 51
https://www.independent.org/publications/article.asp?id=1982
Wayne:
The Democrats who have now been overtaken and perverted by the Leftists among them reject Madisons observations and sentiments regarding the abuse of power.
Go, Wayne, go to the mirror and gaze upon todays domestic terrorist in America! Turn yourself in!
(What else are the Democrats in their existential desperation left with? No pun intended :)
Here in California, my wife and I homeschooled our two daughters through the 90’s into the first half of the 2000’s. The local school district thought people like us were deviants and cultists. But we knew that the only things our kids would miss out on learning at the government schools would be how to use a knife, how to swear, and how to disrespect adults. An added benefit was they didn’t have to develop hand-to-hand defense skills against the bullies.
Both our girls had excellent SAT results and went on to complete four-year college educations.
Since our time of family education, the morass that is the public schools here in California has become far worse than we could ever imagine. I regret that it is doing little to prepare so many kids for a productive life.
Wayne, It was in History (I was dual degree in undergrad – BA in History and BS in Chemystery. I took a full load every term and spent an extra Summer and Fall to get both) – obviously of a military flavor
Cotour-
I confess….I will not go quietly!
Dave-
great story!
Col-
extremely interesting!
GOVERNMENT, all and every form of government that has ever existed throughout human history accomplishes one thing. It is always the enemy of and a direct threat to the people’s freedoms in all of its degrees and forms.
Unless … it is compelled to make respect for our unalienable rights its Prime Directive, never to be subordinated to any other “common good” or “greater good”, no matter how noble … such rights to be limited only when their exercise poses a clear, present and significant threat to the unalienable rights of others.
Not just any powers that sound good to us, but just powers … powers that do not work against the reason government is instituted: to secure these rights.
When strictly respected, this sets limits upon our government operatives in their ability to reach into our lives – to “first, do no harm” as Hippocrates put it.
It neutralizes identity politics. It is respectful of all spiritual worldviews that are compatible with it, instead of giving one faith (that happens to see its gods in their mirrors) exclusive access to our institutions for its spread.
And strict allegiance to it maximizes the amount of distributed intellect applied to our problem-solving processes – engaging millions of people with common sense and proximity-informed insight that a “little intellectual elite in a far-off capital” CAN’T possess – by incentivizing the responsible exercise of individual initiative instead of expecting government to solve one’s problems FOR them and therefore submitting to its operatives.
This is what has been forgotten, in our narcissistic worship of our “advancement” that has led a few to think they have all the answers, and the rest of us to think that, since they APPEAR to have all the answers, we don’t have to do anything more than punch in, do what we’re told, and punch out every day.
This is the path back to a thriving society,
And still:
GOVERNMENT, all and every form of government that has ever existed throughout human history accomplishes one thing. It is always the enemy of and a direct threat to the people’s freedoms in all of its degrees and forms.
S.O.M: CONCLUSION: The public lives and operates under a subjective moral code or within a “Pedestrian Realm” perspective which they assume their leadership which exists within the “Political Realm” is constrained by. This is a subjective false perspective conclusion on the part of the public. Leadership at its existential core is not about morality, truth and honesty. Leadership is about the fundamental exercise of power and “its” survival.
“ITS SURVIVAL”.
“When strictly respected, this sets limits upon our government operatives in their ability to reach into our lives – to “first, do no harm” as Hippocrates put it.”
In an ideal world, which we do not and have never and will never live in.
And that is why what the Constitution actually fundamentally structures by design or by happenstance, I am not sure which, is political warfare. And in the political warfare battle, in that at times existential struggle there is the only hope that “IT” is revealed so that the people in the end are better informed and can properly give the needed feedback to those who they choose to politically empower and those they choose to relive of political power.
And there are no guarantees.
PS:
And the fact that the *PEOPLE* in the end have the real power that threatens to relieve those who are in the Political Realm and have been politically empowered of their power makes the two natural enemies.
Both the entity government and those who are politically empowered by the people to represent them within the government are the natural enemy of the people and their enumerated Rights and associated freedoms.
Its counter intuitive, but it is so.
And that is what sets up the struggle for power and control in the political warfare that ensues.
And it makes our system as healthy (and perverted and corrupt) as it can possibly be.
BUT, there are no guarantees. There is nothing in this universe that says, that dictates that our system, this concept in governance, must be. NOTHING, except respecting the rules and parameters structured by the Constitution.
Which IMO when you think about it for a second, think about everything that had to come together in between all the blood and struggle and the unique individuals of vision and commitment to the concept involved, is a stone-cold miracle.
Leadership at its existential core is not about morality, truth and honesty. Leadership is about the fundamental exercise of power and “its” survival.
Being human, our leaders can be short-sighted in their desire to survive, and end up not surviving (politically or otherwise) … or they can, at the expense of a total control that cannot be sustained, pursue their sustained survival by respecting our unalienable rights..
By serving in a respectful Heaven rather than ruling in a selfish Hell of their own creation, they secure their survival.
By doing the opposite, we will all descend into a law-of-the-jungle dystopia similar to that portrayed in the Star Trek: TOS episode “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield” … the episode where Frank Gorshin and Lou Antonio are perpetual enemies because their coloration is mirror-images of each other.
The same citizens who declared those truths to be self-evident, including the reason governments are justified, are the developers of our Constitution. The conflicts – checks, balances, its embodiment of federalism – are all designed to respect and protect liberty by limiting the ability of government operatives to reach beyond the Prime Directive and impose their whims/beliefs/selfishness upon us. The Constitution is designed to implement what I am talking about … its characteristics are not separate from that respect for our unalienable rights (even to the point it includes processes for correcting deficiencies found within it in this regard).
You call it warfare … I call it healthy tension. For example, IMO the way to protect our Second Amendment rights, while also assuring that crooks and kooks are limited in their ability to possess firepower, is to leverage federalism such that the states/cities take on interdicting the cooks and kooks … while the Federal government is limited to assuring that the right of the law-abiding/rights-respecting citizen to keep and bear arms is not infringed by the states’ efforts to protect us.
Unlike the warfare you describe, healthy tension can be sustained … if it is vigilantly maintained.
And therein lies the seed of our dysfunction, and eventual destruction.
In the name of expedience and/or lack of confidence in our own common sense, we have allowed the “experts” and “leaders” to act beyond the limits of the Constitution – and even their own ability to perceive what their directives do to particular individuals – eroding the bonds of that healthy tension and moving us back into unsustainable warfare.
In fact, we have come to EXPECT them to do so, even actively striving to put them in the position to do so, if it means that we get even some trivial benefit – say, a pet tax deduction, or a student-loan guarantee, or a welfare benefit, or a government grant to fund our endeavor, or the delusion of safety in having masked-and-vaxxed neighbors.
Our own short-sightedness has eroded the healthy political climate set out by Milton Friedman:
Meet the enemy … he is us..
We forget that the more we expect government to do FOR us, the more power we give it to do TO us – and diminish our power to reverse that.
Our government operatives no longer respect the words of one Harry Callahan: a man’s got to know his limitations. And we praise them for that lack of respect, as long as the trivial benefits keep coming – then wonder what happened when they stop coming and only coercion is left.
And we ignore that without respect for life and liberty above any other “common good”, there is only dominance and submission that eventually descends into conflict that will go kinetic. Civilization cannot sustain that warfare and sustain itself … in that environment the only sure peace is that of the grave (and depending on how the Creator assesses your condition, perhaps not even then).
Much like John Houbolt’s take on lunar-orbit-rendezvous, from what I see making respect for our unalienable rights the Prime Directive of governance is not a way … not the best way … but the ONLY way civilization can be sustained and improved.
The term “Healthy Tension” is too civilized a term and discounts what in reality is underway in our politics.
Have no doubt about it, its political warfare of the first order. A “Healthy Tension” is how you would describe what you see on going within our government in the Congress? Nacy Pelosi is not participating in or exercising a “Healthy Tension”.
No, what you are observing is a desperate existential political struggle and all of the corruption, squirming and perversion that accompanies that struggle for political survival.
And in that display in that public struggle the people are best informed about what in reality is going on in their government and they are better informed in order to further politically empower or deny power. All as best as it can be is revealed.
Maybe I am being too raw, cold and objective? Absolutely not.
By not being so raw and cold and objective about the subject you are giving yourself the room to fool yourself about politics and human nature as it relates to the acquisition of and the retention of power. You seem to argue that we are involved in a very civilized activity, and it is not. Its bloody both metaphorically and literally and people live, and die related to the reality that one embraces or allows themselves to be fooled by.
A man must know his limits. Politics however has no limits because those who are politically empowered in real terms exist in a very different reality. There is the Pedestrian Realm in which *WE* exist in and then there is the empowered Political Realm which is unlimited in many respects.
From S.O.M.: “EXPLANATION: Strategy Over Morality describes a two-tiered “conversation” between a Public and their Empowered Leadership where the Public believes there is only a single, no tiered conversation occurring, and that single conversation is assumed by the Public to relate to the Public’s morality and truth model perspective.”
“In this “conversation”, leadership in the empowered “Political Realm” or their empowered subordinates step “down” to the public’s level, the “Pedestrian Realm”, and presents information, agenda, policy or strategy in a tailored, palatable package the public can believe and comfortably accept. Leadership then steps back to their “higher” level, formulates and executes “necessary”, by their subjective standards, agenda, policy and strategy where the public’s interpretation of morality or truth is not relevant or becomes optional.” jgl
“A man’s got to know his limitations”. https://youtu.be/_VrFV5r8cs0
Unfortunately, politics in its perversion and corruption is about no limitations. And counterintuitively because I understand these things in this manner, I remain hopeful and optimistic :)
But there are no guarantees.
No, what you are observing is a desperate existential political struggle and all of the corruption, squirming and perversion that accompanies that struggle for political survival.
Precisely because those like Nancy Pelosi, in arrogant self-righteousness, value their own worldview over respect for their neighbors’ liberty. Their morality informs (and drives) their strategy, A few among the alt-right do the same, valuing their view of an orderly America where bell-curves are determinative of one’s value and the People must be “protected” through mercantilist trade law.
I have no problem engaging in even uncivil political war with either faction – and even realize that if things further degenerate, it may require going beyond the mere political – for they are a threat to the one personal possession that is not to be denied me: my unalienable rights. The healthy tension I speak of is a post-war condition, once these busybody tyrants are reduced to irrelevance – it is an expression of sustained vigilance, that never again will we allow people to lord it over us, even if it is less convenient to sustain that vigilance.
The question for both of us is: when do we know when the war is over? What is our criteria for victory? When can we turn our energies from dog-eat-dog war to the more stable state of sustained vigilance?
Is it when “our side” prevails in every way, so that the world marches in lock-step with our views? If so, we risk the same overreach as our enemies over top of the unalienable rights of our neighbors … and we will never achieve a stable state; for our neighbors will return the favor and – without respect for life and liberty as the Prime Directive – overreach over top of us, just like our enemies do now. Reality then looks more and more like end of that Star Trek episode I referenced: two “equals” fighting over scorched earth, as we’ve seen from Afghanistan to Yugoslavia, each sure of their own righteousness?
Or, is it when we figure out that respect for those self-evident truths as primary – by all parties – can form the basis for a “truce” that allows us to return to the pursuit of our happiness by maintaining that sustained vigilance?
Our morality must inform our strategy … both to sustain the fight against the tyrants until they are reduced to irrelevance vs. simply submitting in the name of expedience as people have done in so many times and places … and knowing when to end the fight before we become tyrants ourselves, seeking to impose our beliefs over all as though we are infallible.
Which brings me back to my last assertion: making respect for our unalienable rights the Prime Directive of governance is not a way … not the best way … but the ONLY way civilization can be sustained and improved.
Because without that, it’s war without end.
* “Our morality must inform our strategy”
Its Strategy OVER Morality, not Strategy informed by our morality. Throw that out the window, these two mind sets exist in the context of this conversation and politics are separate and distinct. There are two conversations always on going, one that the Pedestrian Realm believes is relevant. And another conversation that the those in the Political Realm know is relevant in the context of their subjective interpretation of their fiduciary responsibilities. And those in the Political Realm will always defer to their interpretation when politically acceptable I.E. during a declared health emergency for example. (And this is a relatively low threshold example)
* “The question for both of us is: when do we know when the war is over?”
The political warfare that the Constitution structures is NEVER over. *IT* must go on and *IT* ensures the health of our particular flavor of Democracy. This sounds counter intuitive, but it is so.
“Their morality informs (and drives) their strategy,”
In the Political Realm its always Strategy and Morality or the appearance of morality is optional. Again, this sounds counter intuitive, but it also is so.
“for they are a threat to the one personal possession that is not to be denied me: my unalienable rights. ”
Your “Unalienable” Rights are but a concept of man and do not actually exist but for the concept being recognized as being essential to the foundational structure of our particular flavor of Democracy.
“without respect for life and liberty as the Prime Directive – overreach over top of us, just like our enemies do now. ”
The Political realm when it comes down to it, and you can see this clearly in how the Democrats under the leadership of Nancy Pelosi do not care one second for your, mine or anyone else’s life and liberty. What is their primary concern as it relates to their subjective interpretation of their fiduciary responsibilities? The acquisition of and the retention of THEIR political power.
Jestor:
With the greatest respect. I understand that we are talking about very similar things, but I have developed these concepts that to my thinking more precisely describe what is in fact going on and it lies a bit deeper and closer to the reality of the thing than where you see things existing.
And in not going to the depths that S.O.M. goes you are then able to morally deceive yourself because morality is your primary Pedestrian Realm perspective that your political opponent especially when times become existential as they are right now not constrained by and is a fatal mistake. In the Political Realm its always Strategy OVER Morality. Not Strategy informed by Morality.
The entity government, just like a corporate entity structure, has no morality, they are soulless and devoid of morality. The only thing that governs their actions is a structure bigger and more primary than themselves. And in the context this discussion that primary structure is the Constitution.
More evidence that supports my position:
“DHS Says Spreading Misinformation Is Potential Terrorism Threat”
https://dailycaller.com/2022/02/09/department-homeland-security-misinformation-covid-19-election-fraud-possible-terrorist-threat/
The Federal government turns and points a finger to those who threaten their interests and political power and agenda, those who oppose them politically, YOU!
Who defines exactly what “Misinformation” is? For instance: As you well know the information coming out of the CDC and the FDA and the mouth of Fauci has been less than accurate or honest as it relates to the Covid / “vaccine” issue. Should those in control of these agencies come under scrutiny for spreading misinformation? Should they be charged with sedition?
And who defines something like the riot that took place on Jan. 6th, 2020 in D.C.? (Which at the time I wrote was a great disservice and something that did great harm to any positive political movement that existed. And now we can clearly see why that happened in the manner that it happened. And now we can plainly see it had a purpose. Pure Strategy.)
What I witnessed was a riot which has been clearly revealed to at least to some great degree was instigated, driven and directed probably by Federal agents / agent provocateurs, I.E. the likes of Ray Epps and other actors. CLEARLY.
And the Federal government and those currently in possession of the political power in Washington D.C. need to define that Jan 6th event as sedition when it clearly was not. And that is purely a function of strategically legally tagging those charged and those who they allege and are their political opponents and alleged instigators made them do what they did as treasonous traitors.
Actual sedition is a whole nother animal. But the Federal government and those currently in political power and their big tech MSM hand maidens need this assertion to stick hard so it can be leveraged into political advantage.
Pure Strategy and no Morality.
Their strategy is based upon their morality: the moral value assumed by our social technocracy, that the elite who Know Better™ have the right to lord it over us “for our own good”.
And you (and I) believe that we have the right to prevent them from doing that … but what is our basis for that belief, that justifies our opposition to their “benevolence”?
One of the most profound things you have said, is where there is risk, there must be choice.
My primary problem with SOM is that the constant-warfare mindset (as opposed to vigilance) it embodies will lead us into denying the truth in those words … denying them their choices, because we are so sure we have the right answers for them … just as the Left thinks and does, in their self-righteousness. And then those others will return the “favor” to us, when they have the power to do so.
America works, because we ordinary folks have avoided much of that warfare thanks to our nation’s respect for those self-evident truths in times past.
That respect has now been eroded, in hubris induced by our own success … the hubris to think that Smart People™ can solve ANY problem from the top down if they set the rules for the rest of us … and our continued vigilance and deferred gratification (as opposed to getting “free stuff” NOW!) is unnecessary in our “advanced” society.
Attributing our current dysfunction to malice alone, may lead us away from an accurate understanding of that dysfunction and its precursors that is essential to ending the dysfunction without creating more – and returning respect to ordinary folks that will Make America Work Again.
Two fundamental problems with your assumptions:
1. The entity Government is not burdened with morality because it is a conceptual structure that is a function exclusively of the human mind. Just like your “Unalienable Rights”, concepts which only exist within the construct of the Constitution. And those who have been politically empowered within that entity structure who when elevated become a part of a very exclusive club, the Political Realm, have their innate morality modified to where it can become optional related to “What must be accomplished” as it relates to their subjective interpretation of their fiduciary responsibilities.
Only the strongest leaders can overcome to some degree this rule. As an example: George Washington, and even he was influenced by the politics of the day in S.O.M. terms.
And
2. The concept of warfare precedes the concept of vigilance. After there is warfare then you can have the luxury to be vigilant. And that being so if warfare is the primary structure that you exist within, which is exactly what the Constitution structures, then that is the rule. If you live within a structure that insists upon warfare, then vigilance is a secondary concern. A valid concern and endeavor but secondary all the same.
The Constitution essentially structures eternal political warfare, and in that concept, in that reality lies our only hope to survive. It in fact keeps our system healthy and viable.
S.O.M. is precisely correct, it describes the fundamental rules of political power in its cold Machiavellian terms. Machiavelli gives situational examples of the exercise of political power. S.O.M. describes the existential human nature that Machiavelli observed and documented and what it all sits upon.
Machiavellian : Cunning, scheming, and unscrupulous, especially in politics.
Just plug in all and everything you are witness to in these extreme existential political times and you will find what lies at the bedrock of it all is Strategy OVER Morality. In the politically empowered Political Realm, Morality is optional.
Another PS:
‘Not just any powers that sound good to us, but just powers … powers that do not work against the reason government is instituted: to secure these rights.”
The entity government, the Leviathan government is not instituted to secure the people’s Rights, not at all. Actually, the exact opposite is so. The government is a direct and ever existing threat to the people’s Rights. The entity government is necessary, but it is a necessary evil. And why is it an evil? Because it is always a direct threat to the people’s Rights and freedoms to live as they see fit within the confines of the Constitutions structure.
The Constitution was instituted to secure the Rights of the people and stands between the Leviathan government and guards those Rights. The Constitution specifies the mechanisms and parameters of how government operates and enumerates what the government must NEVER do in relation to the people’s Rights, inalienable or otherwise.
WHO MADE IT ALL POSSIBLE?
Who conveniently made the coming Russian invasion and a hot war in Ukraine and the coming as of yet to be characterized invasion of Taiwan all strategically possible? (By agenda)
“President” Joe (The Big Guy) Robinett Biden (D) and the now Leftist Democrat party machine and those RINO’s who support them who are in the process of “Transforming the culture in America”, read destroy America as founded under its Constitution.
‘The Anglo-Saxons need a war’: Russia blames WEST as Putin ‘decides to invade Ukraine on WEDNESDAY’ | Daily Mail Online
“The Anglo-Saxons want war’: Russia accuses the West of provoking conflict as US spooks say Putin ‘has decided to invade Ukraine on WEDNESDAY’.”
“President” Biden strategically surrendered Afghanistan and the major military airfield advantage America held in that region of the world that was a direct threat to China. AND “President” Biden has made it financially possible for the Russians to invade Ukraine by destroying America’s ability to produce energy and skyrocketing the cost of energy that puts money billions in the Russians pocket that allows them financially to invade.
Add to that the day one invasion of Americas Southern border by literally millions of illegals from all over the world, the trillions in spending that threatens all with out-of-control inflation, the constant promotion that everyone in America is racist, the government’s attempt to classify all who disagree with their agenda as domestic terrorists, the insane no bail no jail for all criminals, irrational health mandates that force individuals to have injected into their bodies still experimental drugs or lose your job, it’s a long and perverted un and anti-American list.
The Democrats and the RINO’s who support them under the “Leadership” of Joe Biden, Big tech media censors, their facade and clearly incompetent president, are destroying America and its standing in the world and more importantly its Constitution if they are able right in front of your own eyeballs, live and in color. And PS: Good news if you are a drug addict, free needles and crack pipes for you compliments of your government. I guess that is a hat tip to Hunter, the “Smartest man that Joe (The big guy) Biden knows”?
What do you think about that America? You support these America destroying actions? Thats what you vote for? Feel free to comment.
And here they are, the three men, three Leftist agenda China and Russia empowering men who are “Transforming America”. Into what you might ask?
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TWO HEADLINES THAT TELL YOU ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW
(Copy and share with a friend)
These two headlines tell you everything that you need to know about what went on and what is going on within your government. You might ask yourself what the implications exactly are related to both issues. And IMO it ain’t good as it relates to the truth that you need in order to live your life and make decisions and secure your Rights and freedoms.
1. “Biden Administration Urges Court Not to Allow Release of ‘Secret Report’ on Dominion Voting Machines”
2. “FDA Now Wants 75 Years to Release Pfizer Vaccine Documents”
(Stay tuned on this one: Judge scraps 75-year FDA timeline to release Pfizer vaccine safety data, giving agency eight months)
Government is at best is a blunt instrument, and at worst will steal your freedoms and may cost you your life. jgl
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