The national news media has divided America into blue states(allegedly liberal) and red states(allegedly conservative). But why no white states? What is wrong with white, the third color of the American flag? Implication of politically-incorrect white racial hubris tacitly understood, perhaps?
In any case, white symbolizes purity. Contrast with either conservatism or liberalism could also be understood in this case. How about purity of the U.S. Constitution's rule of impersonal and impartial law, uncorrupted by partisan predilections of either blue liberalism or red conservatism? The U.S. Constitution is actually both: the late U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes once said we must abide by the U.S. Constitution when it pinches us, as well as when it comforts us. Otherwise, there is no point to governance by a national constitution.
The U.S. Constitution is like a two-edged sword: it comforts us with its liberalism as it allows us a latitude of exercise of freedom previously unknown in all human historic experience. At the same time, it pinches us with its conservatism as it places absolute demand upon us to yield to the equal legal prerogatives of other citizens, who see fit to exercise these same freedoms in ways which rub us the wrong way, and rattle our cages. Indeed, we often frown in abject disapproval upon those who dare to differ from us in the manner by which they exercise Constitutional freedoms. Yet, it is no test of the true strength of our Constitutional republic, and of our commitment to the same, if the only exercises of freedom we permit are those with which we all unanimously agree.
Without God-given, inalienable rights extended to individual citizens, there is precious little difference between democracy and mob-ocracy. Herein lies the danger of either blue-state or red-state mentality. Thomas Jefferson best expressed the case for white state consciousness by saying, "Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the boisterous sea of liberty."
-LKM
Friday, October 29, 2010
Saturday, October 16, 2010
A "Dirty" Eight-Letter "N"-Word
"Breathes there the man with soul so dead, Who never to himself hath said, 'This is my own, my native land! Whose heart hath never within him burned, As home his footsteps he hath turned, From wandering on a foreign strand!"
These words were penned by Scottish novelist Walter Scott in 1805, in The Lady of The Last Minstrel. Today, however, in context of massive immigration to the United States, both legal and illegal, the political Left is turning the word "nativist" into an extremely politically-incorrect epithet, if not an outright obscenity. They would have those of us having several generations of ancestral rooting in American soil to apologize for our status against the onslaught of immigrant demands upon American government for political and legal concessions to their life-styles.
The writer of this BLOG acknowledges the richness of some foreign immigrant contribution to American national culture, and to American national consciousness. Nevertheless, there are also some good things to be said for long-standing nativism in any soil on earth.
Nations, complete with national cultural consciousness, are not built overnight. It is often said that "Rome was not built in a day", and this mantra refers to spiritual and social abstractions of thought, as well as to the physically-visible. It is cultural tradition which is so very necessary, to maintain the socio-political cohesion and integrity of any society over time. This is why social innovations are often not immediately welcomed by society-at-large, and why those who have the temerity to be sufficiently individualistic enough to digress from collective social norms and "swim up-stream against the crowd" often find themselves ostracized by said society, even though they might not have violated any written laws, per se. Knowing this, foreign new-comers to America will often live together in ghetto-type situations, rather than voluntarily choosing to freely associate with the previously-established native populations-at-large. The writer of this BLOG is a very enthusiastic student of foreign languages. But he knows that no matter how well he may master the words and grammars of other languages, he will never be one of the "in-crowders" who use said languages as native languages, since he learned the languages outside of cultural context.
It is those people who are heirs to the cultural values of their ancestors, who while coincidentally occupying a particular piece of terrestrial real estate, who also have the greatest degree of social cohesion and integrity by which to administer the affairs of that piece of real estate. This is because every peoples must live off of the land upon which they exist, using whatever resources that land yields to their disposition. Any invasion or intrusion by foreigners raises at least the plausibility of dislocation of long-established traditions. Given that fear of all uncertainty is a primitive and long-established human psychic phenomenon, it is understandable that those steeped in traditions fear the worst rather than the best to come with changes brought from the outside.
Tolerance must be a two-way street, between both nativists and foreign immigrants. There is the saying, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do." But this is not to say that outsiders have no wisdom or knowledge to teach to the Romans. Indeed, world history is full of examples, where one peoples have learned much over time from others. Romans learned much from the Greeks, their cultural predecessors: it is often said that while the Romans militarily conquered the Greeks, the Greeks culturally conquered the Romans. For example, the ancient Romans were a pretty stinky bunch, not knowing much about taking baths and using perfumes, until the Greeks came along to teach them these things.
In honoring the contributions of foreign immigrants to America--of which there have been many until now--the word nativist must not be a taboo word in the American vocabulary. Even the American aboriginals--incorrectly called "Indians"--would agree to that proposition. The first English settlers to the lands of present-day Virginia and Massachusetts in the 17th century, known as "Pilgrims" and "Puritans", owed their survival in the new world to education imparted to them concerning it by the long-standing natives on that soil.
-LKM
These words were penned by Scottish novelist Walter Scott in 1805, in The Lady of The Last Minstrel. Today, however, in context of massive immigration to the United States, both legal and illegal, the political Left is turning the word "nativist" into an extremely politically-incorrect epithet, if not an outright obscenity. They would have those of us having several generations of ancestral rooting in American soil to apologize for our status against the onslaught of immigrant demands upon American government for political and legal concessions to their life-styles.
The writer of this BLOG acknowledges the richness of some foreign immigrant contribution to American national culture, and to American national consciousness. Nevertheless, there are also some good things to be said for long-standing nativism in any soil on earth.
Nations, complete with national cultural consciousness, are not built overnight. It is often said that "Rome was not built in a day", and this mantra refers to spiritual and social abstractions of thought, as well as to the physically-visible. It is cultural tradition which is so very necessary, to maintain the socio-political cohesion and integrity of any society over time. This is why social innovations are often not immediately welcomed by society-at-large, and why those who have the temerity to be sufficiently individualistic enough to digress from collective social norms and "swim up-stream against the crowd" often find themselves ostracized by said society, even though they might not have violated any written laws, per se. Knowing this, foreign new-comers to America will often live together in ghetto-type situations, rather than voluntarily choosing to freely associate with the previously-established native populations-at-large. The writer of this BLOG is a very enthusiastic student of foreign languages. But he knows that no matter how well he may master the words and grammars of other languages, he will never be one of the "in-crowders" who use said languages as native languages, since he learned the languages outside of cultural context.
It is those people who are heirs to the cultural values of their ancestors, who while coincidentally occupying a particular piece of terrestrial real estate, who also have the greatest degree of social cohesion and integrity by which to administer the affairs of that piece of real estate. This is because every peoples must live off of the land upon which they exist, using whatever resources that land yields to their disposition. Any invasion or intrusion by foreigners raises at least the plausibility of dislocation of long-established traditions. Given that fear of all uncertainty is a primitive and long-established human psychic phenomenon, it is understandable that those steeped in traditions fear the worst rather than the best to come with changes brought from the outside.
Tolerance must be a two-way street, between both nativists and foreign immigrants. There is the saying, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do." But this is not to say that outsiders have no wisdom or knowledge to teach to the Romans. Indeed, world history is full of examples, where one peoples have learned much over time from others. Romans learned much from the Greeks, their cultural predecessors: it is often said that while the Romans militarily conquered the Greeks, the Greeks culturally conquered the Romans. For example, the ancient Romans were a pretty stinky bunch, not knowing much about taking baths and using perfumes, until the Greeks came along to teach them these things.
In honoring the contributions of foreign immigrants to America--of which there have been many until now--the word nativist must not be a taboo word in the American vocabulary. Even the American aboriginals--incorrectly called "Indians"--would agree to that proposition. The first English settlers to the lands of present-day Virginia and Massachusetts in the 17th century, known as "Pilgrims" and "Puritans", owed their survival in the new world to education imparted to them concerning it by the long-standing natives on that soil.
-LKM
Thursday, October 7, 2010
The Case Against Compulsory School Attendance Laws
In result of 12 years of formally-structured public school education, plus six years of college, this blogger comes to the conclusion that schooling on voluntary basis is far preferable to schooling on the basis of government coercion and compulsion. Here are the reasons for that conclusion:
1)"God loves a cheerful giver." The Bible, II Corinthians 9:7. The heart of a volunteer is sincerely devoted to his/her cause, purpose or activity, as contrasted with grudging attitude and lack of enthusiasm from those acting under compulsion. We want students in school because they want to be there, not because they have to be there.
2)The U.S. Constitution First Amendment freedom of assembly is also the freedom not to assemble, if one so desires. Compulsory school attendance may violate this Constitutional right.
3)The Declaration of Independence, as a back-drop raison d'etre for the Constitution, speaks of the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as being God-given, and thus inalienable and inviolable by human governments. Thus, people have a right to pursue happiness on their own terms, and not on the government's terms, so long as they do not violate the just Constitutional rights of other people.
4)School administrators and teachers should have to sell their services in context of a free and open market-place, just as every other service and commodity must do. Guaranteed customer clientele means the service or commodity being sold requires coercion to sell it, thus casting doubt upon its value to society.
5)School must not be a substitute for prison, keeping youth occupied just to keep them out of trouble with the law. Also, school may, even though perhaps unsought, nevertheless teach would-be criminals how to commit more sophisticated crimes. Education is no final guarantee of obedience to law.
6)No names mentioned, but some of this blogger's high school classmates from 1964 found magnificent and splendid careers based on skills not learned in public schools. One classmate even flunked a grade in junior high school, but today still has a very successful business.
7)The Col. Zadok Magruder High School(where this blogger's daughter attends) Music Department is very popular, participated in by many of the school's students, all volunteers. There is no obligation for students to sign up for these music courses, either chorus or orchestra. Yet, the school has a nearly-full-sized student symphony orhestra, a jazz band, and several choruses. The truly successful teacher is the one who can inspire his/her students to pursue his/her subject on their own initiative, even after they have left his/her classroom. The high school's Music Department belies any claim that, without government coercion, nobody would go to school. Compulsory school is merely a guarantee of a captive student audience for mediocre teachers.
8)Even if we make mistakes in our life choices, it is far better that we make them, than that government make them for us. When government makes our mistakes for us, it rarely, if ever, takes any corrective measures to redress any injuries it may have inflicted upon us resulting from its decisions concerning our lives.
Before government tells students in school to quit bullying, it should first take a hard, honest look at its own policies, to see where it might be engaging in administrative bullying, just to feed its own ego. If we are to treat our youth like young adults, they must learn to take full responsibility for their own decisions. True enough, ability of responsible adult citizens to earn their own way without becoming a societal welfare charge is a legitimate concern, and to address that concern, the use of social welfare programs should be limited exclusively for the relief of those physically and/or mentally unable to work. Others must learn to put aside something for themselves for another time, when on the mountain-tops of life, so they may survive when they find themselves sojourning in its valleys.
-LKM
1)"God loves a cheerful giver." The Bible, II Corinthians 9:7. The heart of a volunteer is sincerely devoted to his/her cause, purpose or activity, as contrasted with grudging attitude and lack of enthusiasm from those acting under compulsion. We want students in school because they want to be there, not because they have to be there.
2)The U.S. Constitution First Amendment freedom of assembly is also the freedom not to assemble, if one so desires. Compulsory school attendance may violate this Constitutional right.
3)The Declaration of Independence, as a back-drop raison d'etre for the Constitution, speaks of the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as being God-given, and thus inalienable and inviolable by human governments. Thus, people have a right to pursue happiness on their own terms, and not on the government's terms, so long as they do not violate the just Constitutional rights of other people.
4)School administrators and teachers should have to sell their services in context of a free and open market-place, just as every other service and commodity must do. Guaranteed customer clientele means the service or commodity being sold requires coercion to sell it, thus casting doubt upon its value to society.
5)School must not be a substitute for prison, keeping youth occupied just to keep them out of trouble with the law. Also, school may, even though perhaps unsought, nevertheless teach would-be criminals how to commit more sophisticated crimes. Education is no final guarantee of obedience to law.
6)No names mentioned, but some of this blogger's high school classmates from 1964 found magnificent and splendid careers based on skills not learned in public schools. One classmate even flunked a grade in junior high school, but today still has a very successful business.
7)The Col. Zadok Magruder High School(where this blogger's daughter attends) Music Department is very popular, participated in by many of the school's students, all volunteers. There is no obligation for students to sign up for these music courses, either chorus or orchestra. Yet, the school has a nearly-full-sized student symphony orhestra, a jazz band, and several choruses. The truly successful teacher is the one who can inspire his/her students to pursue his/her subject on their own initiative, even after they have left his/her classroom. The high school's Music Department belies any claim that, without government coercion, nobody would go to school. Compulsory school is merely a guarantee of a captive student audience for mediocre teachers.
8)Even if we make mistakes in our life choices, it is far better that we make them, than that government make them for us. When government makes our mistakes for us, it rarely, if ever, takes any corrective measures to redress any injuries it may have inflicted upon us resulting from its decisions concerning our lives.
Before government tells students in school to quit bullying, it should first take a hard, honest look at its own policies, to see where it might be engaging in administrative bullying, just to feed its own ego. If we are to treat our youth like young adults, they must learn to take full responsibility for their own decisions. True enough, ability of responsible adult citizens to earn their own way without becoming a societal welfare charge is a legitimate concern, and to address that concern, the use of social welfare programs should be limited exclusively for the relief of those physically and/or mentally unable to work. Others must learn to put aside something for themselves for another time, when on the mountain-tops of life, so they may survive when they find themselves sojourning in its valleys.
-LKM
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