By Jim Lyde
Chief Operating Officer
First Published May 13, 2014
Chief Operating Officer
First Published May 13, 2014
The hand basket is a depiction of the transportation method for our collective trip to the nether regions. This article will be confined to three areas: education, the economy and politics.
The travesty that is our public education system has been visited by TLC in previous articles. Recently, an article by Renee Nal exposed undisguisable educational indoctrination. This time the culprit is “sunshine standards,” established in Florida as the result of the public’s appropriate denunciation of Common Core. For example, according to “sunshine standards” the Constitutional Convention was to “discuss how to make the national government stronger.” Consider the distortion of a James Madison quote from the Federalist Papers. The “sunshine standards” version is:
“If men were angels, no government would be necessary … You must first enable the government to control the governed...”
The actual quote is:
“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.” (Emphases mine)
Madison was not the only Founding Father to be defamed. Here is what “sunshine standards” has done to the words of Benjamin Franklin:
I agree to this Constitution, because I think a general government is necessary for us . . . I hope . . . we shall act heartily and unanimously in recommending this constitution . . .
Conveniently ignored is the rest of Franklin’s statement:
. . . and believe farther that this is likely to be well administered for a course of years, and can only end in Despotism, as other forms have done before it, when the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic Government, being incapable of any other.
Of course Franklin voted for the implementation of the Constitution, but his fears for the future are unmistakable. Although Franklin’s “despotic Government” is forming many decades later than he probably imagined; clearly that government is near.
An accurate summation of the view our Founders had of national government can be found in this Madison quote from the Federalist Papers:
The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite.
My goodness, what have we the people allowed to happen? Can you imagine assessments more foreign to the truth? And we thought Common Core was bad. Incidentally, the Constitution does not pair the federal government and education. In fact, the Constitution has nothing to do with public education, which was purposely excluded from that document by our Founders. Education, per se, is simply not national business. Perhaps the ultimate solution, then, is to eliminate the United States Department of Education in its entirety. Relatively speaking, America’s children received an education infinitely superior to the education they receive today from the 1800’s “school ma’rm” in the village one-room school. The emphasis on indoctrination at the expense of the truth and knowledge must stop!
Lest we be accused of being biased (perish the thought!) it is important to look at the economy through the lens of the shrinkage of the middle class. Just after the turn of the 20th century, there was a period in our economic history known as “trust-busting,” instigated by President Theodore Roosevelt using the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. The trust-busting rhetoric then is very similar to what we hear today: an extremely small number of people hold almost all the wealth. Virtual monopolies held by J. Pierpont Morgan (railroads, securities), John D. Rockefeller (oil), James B. Dukes (tobacco) and others were targeted. Roosevelt’s “Progressive Movement” had three structural goals:
The desire to remove corruption and undue influence from government through the taming of bosses and political machines
The effort to include more people more directly in the political process
The conviction that government must play a role to solve social problems and establish fairness in economic matters.
The first two, at least, were necessary and “economic fairness” is commendable. The results of the trust-busting era have been generally considered to be favorable to the strength and longevity of this country. It is not proper conservatism to point out that the “ultra-rich” among us are oligarchs, but that is the case. Their incomes are derived more from financial investment than entrepreneurship. Our system of taxation should be revisited with that in mind in addition to concepts such as fairness and a “flat tax.” Also, a massive joint government/private sector effort should be promptly implemented to update the education and skills of “Joe Citizen” to match the unbelievable changes that have occurred globally in the areas of commerce, business and communications. Of course that would require a condition that is virtually absent, especially among our public office holders: visionary leadership not characterized by dishonesty, greed, corruption or incompetence.
This brings us to the bottomless cesspool that is our political culture in America. Many of us have decried the fawning media as it refuses to be professional while reporting governmental activities to the citizenry. The literal incestuous relationship that exists between the press and Washington helps to explain this phenomenon. An internet blogger known as “shavager” has pointed out the following “relative” situations, that TLC has verified:
Ben Rhodes, National Security Advisor David Rhodes, Pres. of CBS (brother)
Jay Carney, Presidential Spokesperson Claire Shipman, reporter, ABC (wife)
Tom Nides, former Deputy Secretary of State Virginia Moseley, CNN (wife)
Elizabeth Sherwood, Presidential Advisor Ben Sherwood, President, ABC (brother)
Sasha Johnson, Chief of Staff, FAA Mark Murray, NBC Pol. Editor (husband)
SNL’s Church Lady would say, “Isn’t that special?” It could be that this President based his selection of administrative personnel largely on with whom they slept or with whom they had dinner on Sundays. We must admit that, whatever the process, it has been hugely successful - if the propagation of lies is the measure.
Although things are bad corrective action can occur. Problems can be addressed if Congress becomes a body with the ability and the courage to repeatedly override Obama vetoes. This certainly is possible; the truth of this presidency is becoming apparent to all.
The travesty that is our public education system has been visited by TLC in previous articles. Recently, an article by Renee Nal exposed undisguisable educational indoctrination. This time the culprit is “sunshine standards,” established in Florida as the result of the public’s appropriate denunciation of Common Core. For example, according to “sunshine standards” the Constitutional Convention was to “discuss how to make the national government stronger.” Consider the distortion of a James Madison quote from the Federalist Papers. The “sunshine standards” version is:
“If men were angels, no government would be necessary … You must first enable the government to control the governed...”
The actual quote is:
“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.” (Emphases mine)
Madison was not the only Founding Father to be defamed. Here is what “sunshine standards” has done to the words of Benjamin Franklin:
I agree to this Constitution, because I think a general government is necessary for us . . . I hope . . . we shall act heartily and unanimously in recommending this constitution . . .
Conveniently ignored is the rest of Franklin’s statement:
. . . and believe farther that this is likely to be well administered for a course of years, and can only end in Despotism, as other forms have done before it, when the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic Government, being incapable of any other.
Of course Franklin voted for the implementation of the Constitution, but his fears for the future are unmistakable. Although Franklin’s “despotic Government” is forming many decades later than he probably imagined; clearly that government is near.
An accurate summation of the view our Founders had of national government can be found in this Madison quote from the Federalist Papers:
The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite.
My goodness, what have we the people allowed to happen? Can you imagine assessments more foreign to the truth? And we thought Common Core was bad. Incidentally, the Constitution does not pair the federal government and education. In fact, the Constitution has nothing to do with public education, which was purposely excluded from that document by our Founders. Education, per se, is simply not national business. Perhaps the ultimate solution, then, is to eliminate the United States Department of Education in its entirety. Relatively speaking, America’s children received an education infinitely superior to the education they receive today from the 1800’s “school ma’rm” in the village one-room school. The emphasis on indoctrination at the expense of the truth and knowledge must stop!
Lest we be accused of being biased (perish the thought!) it is important to look at the economy through the lens of the shrinkage of the middle class. Just after the turn of the 20th century, there was a period in our economic history known as “trust-busting,” instigated by President Theodore Roosevelt using the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. The trust-busting rhetoric then is very similar to what we hear today: an extremely small number of people hold almost all the wealth. Virtual monopolies held by J. Pierpont Morgan (railroads, securities), John D. Rockefeller (oil), James B. Dukes (tobacco) and others were targeted. Roosevelt’s “Progressive Movement” had three structural goals:
The desire to remove corruption and undue influence from government through the taming of bosses and political machines
The effort to include more people more directly in the political process
The conviction that government must play a role to solve social problems and establish fairness in economic matters.
The first two, at least, were necessary and “economic fairness” is commendable. The results of the trust-busting era have been generally considered to be favorable to the strength and longevity of this country. It is not proper conservatism to point out that the “ultra-rich” among us are oligarchs, but that is the case. Their incomes are derived more from financial investment than entrepreneurship. Our system of taxation should be revisited with that in mind in addition to concepts such as fairness and a “flat tax.” Also, a massive joint government/private sector effort should be promptly implemented to update the education and skills of “Joe Citizen” to match the unbelievable changes that have occurred globally in the areas of commerce, business and communications. Of course that would require a condition that is virtually absent, especially among our public office holders: visionary leadership not characterized by dishonesty, greed, corruption or incompetence.
This brings us to the bottomless cesspool that is our political culture in America. Many of us have decried the fawning media as it refuses to be professional while reporting governmental activities to the citizenry. The literal incestuous relationship that exists between the press and Washington helps to explain this phenomenon. An internet blogger known as “shavager” has pointed out the following “relative” situations, that TLC has verified:
Ben Rhodes, National Security Advisor David Rhodes, Pres. of CBS (brother)
Jay Carney, Presidential Spokesperson Claire Shipman, reporter, ABC (wife)
Tom Nides, former Deputy Secretary of State Virginia Moseley, CNN (wife)
Elizabeth Sherwood, Presidential Advisor Ben Sherwood, President, ABC (brother)
Sasha Johnson, Chief of Staff, FAA Mark Murray, NBC Pol. Editor (husband)
SNL’s Church Lady would say, “Isn’t that special?” It could be that this President based his selection of administrative personnel largely on with whom they slept or with whom they had dinner on Sundays. We must admit that, whatever the process, it has been hugely successful - if the propagation of lies is the measure.
Although things are bad corrective action can occur. Problems can be addressed if Congress becomes a body with the ability and the courage to repeatedly override Obama vetoes. This certainly is possible; the truth of this presidency is becoming apparent to all.
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