Bedrock

A couple of weeks ago, I suggested that the best way to engage people in constructive conversation about the important issues in our country was to ask questions . I promised then to begin a list of a few questions in some of the major issue areas. This is my first such list. I have tried to ask open-ended questions, the kinds of questions that get people talking without suggesting that you don't really want an answer. Some of these questions require that the asker know something about the issues in question, in fact, most of them do. The purpose in asking is not just to exchange ignorant ideas. For that, we can listen to TV talk shows. In making my list, of course, I'm directing my questions first to you? Their purpose is to get at the heart of some pretty serious issues so that we might work toward a constructive consensus that preserves our freedom and faith. Perhaps you can suggest some better questions or a few that might be added. The goal is to keep the ...

This comes from “ The Lesson ” by Toni Cade Bambara , a story that one of my refugee students had to read and analyze: Then Sugar surprises me by sayin, "You know, Miss Moore, I don't think all of us here put together eat in a year what that sailboat costs ." And Miss Moore lights up like somebody goosed her. "And?" she say, urging Sugar on. Only I'm standin on her foot so she don't continue. " Imagine for a minute what kind of society it is in which some people can spend on a toy what it would cost to feed a family of six or seven . What do you think?" " I think ," say Sugar pushing me off her feet like she never done before cause I whip her ass in a minute, " that this is not much of a democracy if you ask me . Equal chance to pursue happiness means an equal crack at the dough, don't it ?" ( Here ’s a teacher’s essay about the story) The lesson of “The Lesson” seems to be socialism, equal outco...

Thomas Paine published his pamphlet called Common Sense in January of 1776, laying out the arguments for independence from Great Britain . Among his arguments, “ I offer nothing more than simple facts, plain arguments, and common sense.... ” I wonder what common sense thinking he would offer in today’s political climate? I have a few thoughts on that. “ A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defense of custom ,” wrote Paine. Ironically, it is not those called “ conservative ,” who represent “the superficial appearance of being right,” but those wrongly named “ liberals ” (better labeled “ secular progressives ,” who are the entrenched defenders of custom. I wonder how many items we could list, where common opinion stands opposed to common sense? Here’s the beginning of that list: 1) Common sense says that you must kill those who would kill you . As a Christian, I ...

As I read, consider the news, listen to the talk shows, and think about the future, I often wonder what it will take for us to reclaim our country and culture. Voltaire is quoted as saying, “It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere,” and that is the problem. Otherwise sensible people accept and even approve of the loss of their own freedom, thinking they are supporting the good. I want every child well-educated, don’t you? I admire good teachers, and our public schools are the best, aren’t they? Nobody wants sick people not to get good medical care, do they? We need the government to keep our food supply safe, protect us from pollution, and keep people from the evils of prejudice, right? I don’t know, exactly, where innocent presumption merges into ignorant thoughtlessness, but at some point, many Americans are like the proverbial ostrich, hiding their minds in the sands of denial, unwilling to face the obvious problems in many aspects of American life a...

Late last night, I heard John and Jeff talking about schools that are“dropout factories .” They concluded that the responsibility for students dropping out falls on the families of those students who drop out. According to Thomas Sowell’s well-documented research in his book Black Rednecks and White Liberals , that may be the case among some minority families, thanks to their heritage and a black cultural bias against education. I seriously thought about calling their show. I have been tutoring refugee students, many in public schools, for over 4 years, and sometimes I’d like to drop out! I have heard rumors about how teaching had changed for the worse, but I had no idea just how badly. To start, perhaps, I should mention that teaching is not necessarily the complement of learning, although it should be. As a teacher and tutor, I understand teaching to be the facilitation of learning. In other words, my job is to help my students learn, and that should be the goa...

" Public servants say, always with the best of intentions, 'What greater service we could render if only we had a little more money and a little more power.' But the truth is that outside of its legitimate function, government does nothing as well or as economically as the private sector. Yet any time you and I question the schemes of the do-gooders, we're denounced as being opposed to their humanitarian goals. It seems impossible to legitimately debate their solutions with the assumption that all of us share the desire to help the less fortunate. They tell us we're always 'against,' never 'for' anything ."— Ronald Reagan I haven’t read David Harsanyi’s book Nanny State: How Food Fascists, Teetotaling Do-Gooders, Priggish Moralists, and Other Boneheaded Bureaucrats Are Turning America into a Nation of Children , but I hope to. Anita Allen’s review in the Washington Post both intrigued and infuriated me. She writes: David Harsanyi begins his...

For many years, I have wondered why people who have diverse opinions and loyalties find it necessary to badmouth people who disagree with them. I like chocolate but you don’t; therefore, obviously, you must be an idiot. I enjoy folk music, buy you prefer country; without a doubt, your mother dropped you on your head as a child. Many have regarded politics and religion as controversial, even too contentious for polite social society, but that doesn’t explain name-calling as an alternative to reasoned conversation. The latest case is Bill Maher (Beware, his rant is nasty!). Why does he feel it necessary to speak crudely about a group of people who, for the most part, are guilty of the sin of loving the United States ? His offensive generalization reminds me of those who think flag-burning is a legitimate form of protest against the current government or a particular policy. I think it comes close to what I consider to be treason . He seems to place himself in the cla...