The Power of Democracy

I was reflecting on the British forebears of our American democracy and the transition in British history from absolute monarchy to constitutional monarchy this past weekend. I was especially taken with how democracy became more and more important to Parliament and the subjects of the British Kings. This led me to realize the great power that we, as modern, twenty-first century Americans have. Indeed, we in public education have an even greater power than the common run of the American public.

We get to hire the people who run the “companies” we work for.

What’s more is that we get to have a say in the policies that direct those “companies”. We have a right, a duty, to direct the hands that open and close the purse-strings that direct the amount of money we make, the amount of money that gets put into making sure that EVERY child in Texas receives the lavishly-funded public education that our Texas Declaration of Independence called for and our Texas State Constitution guarantees.

Our esteemed Governor, Rick Perry, has decided that these things are not important. He seems to be of the opinion that Texas businesses will be better served by abandoning Texas school children to a lower set of standards through not funding what they need to learn the lessons they need to take them into the future. He and his cronies in Congress seem perfectly comfortable with the idea that Texas can create a true second-class of citizenship by not funding public education and assuring that only those who can afford to send their children to private schools get educations for their children.

This way, they can assure that only the rich stay rich while those who cannot afford the finder things in life are left to suffer under the yoke of wage slavery, one step above the status that brought thousands of slaves to the shores of our country centuries ago. This is the way that people in power have tried to maintain power in every monarchical society in history.

But our forefathers chose to reject that type of society. They pushed to create one in which even the poorest of the poor could rise up to accomplish great things. They wanted a land where people were free to pursue that which brought happiness. That was one of the three great necessities that Jefferson, Franklin, and Adams wrote about in their powerful Declaration.

In order to win these guarantees, they left us with the responsibility of holding our elected officials to account. Now is the time when we can do this. Now is the time when we must do this.

I know it takes strength. I know it takes fearlessness. But imagine the strength and fearlessness that you’ll be able to muster when it’s too late. Imagine how easy it will be to do this when you are facing down the barrel of the hatchet man’s cannon. Imagine how easy it will be when it’s your job on the line as 300 of our colleagues who are working under probationary contracts are experiencing right now.

It is time to be fearless. It is time to be strong.

It is time to fight for all of us.

My Thoughts on the Tea Party

Now, I know what I’m about to say will be unpopular among many of my friends in the Republican Party.  I have been persecuted for speaking these truths.  But I really am not fond of the Tea Party.

I said it, start the hate mail.

It’s not a general dislike or disagreement with their principles.  In fact, there is much in their concepts of fiscal responsibility and libertarianism that I not only appreciate, but very much agree with.  The government should not spend more than it takes in.  People’s taxes should be low to promote greater comfort in personal spending.  The government should allow companies to succeed or fail on their own merits and only step in to protect small businesses from monopolies (and, frankly, to protect American companies from foreign ones when the foreign companies are supported by foreign governments, giving them an unfair advantage).

But, there are a few things that we have to realize.  The government is compelled by constitutional fiat to provide certain services and by common sense to provide others.  Public education is an absolute must to provide if we want to see our children prepared for the basics of concerned citizenship.  Social aid programs (Social Security, Medicare, TANF) have to have support to function, so that our elderly and our indigent have the capacity to survive.  We don’t live in the jungle, so Darwinism doesn’t apply to this situation.

It’s not their fiscal conservatism that offends me.  It’s the social conservatism.

I’m an educated man and one who pays attention to what he reads.  I am a libertarian when it comes to social issues as well.  Libertarians believe that people should have individual freedom to do what they wish so long as that action does not affect the rights of another.  It is the promotion o a laissez-faire thought process.

That means that the government has no right to tell me what I watch, what I read, what I think, who I sleep with (even if my wife does), who I marry, what poisons I put into my body when it doesn’t affect anyone else.  It means that, in my home where I am not violating the rights of another human being, I must be allowed the freedom to do what I wish, whether it makes you comfortable or not.  I am not going to violate your rights as you have no right of comfort.  You have the right to express yourself, to believe, to write, read, or watch what you wish.  You don’t have the right to limit my ability to pursue those things I want to do.

The problem with the Tea Party, the very intellectual dishonesty that I can not stand, is that they say they are libertarian, their fiscal policies even suggest it, but their social policies would make me believe, think, feel, and act as they want.  It is the first step on the road to fascism.  It is the first set of freedoms denied by historical figures like Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini, Franco, Mao, and Castro.

Do I honestly believe that Sarah Palin, Rand Paul, or Rick Perry are the next Hitler?  No.  I don’t.  I figure they’re simply doing what they think is best.  I even believe that they value freedom and liberty and are not fully aware of the natural consequences of their actions.  I don’t believe they are evil.  They are simply ignorant and misguided.

And the question you have to ask yourself is:  Do you want to follow the ignorant and misguided?

Because that is where the Tea Party wants to lead the United States.

Smart Politics Requires Smart Politicians

I know.  If you're anything like me, the phrase "smart politicians" makes you shudder.  It brings up mental images of men in smoke-clouded back rooms, chomped cigars clenched firmly in their jaws, while they decide which of the candidates will be Mayor, Governor, what have you.

But that's not what I mean when I say "smart politicians".

I mean politicians that have actual intelligence.

I don't know about everybody else, even you if you're reading this, but I do know that I've looked at both major (and several minor) parties' platforms and none of them agrees completely with my personal political opinions.  I'm fully aware that these platforms are written mainly by groups of fundamentalist fanatics within the party ranks (for those of you keeping score, that's "liberal-commie-tree-hugging-yadda, yadda, yadda" for the Democrats and "fascist-vindictive-tea-partying-yadda, yadda, yadda" for the Republicans) and rarely reflect the views of the mainstream of either party.  These are people who would happily sell out their whole families in order to serve the interests of the far-right/far-left agendas they have and they are the ones creating the expressions of what the party believes, usually to the chagrin of the moderate party member who sadly shakes his/her head, often with their heads firmly planted in their hands and wonder what happened to the party they believed in and were proud to belong to.

Smart politicians are those who actually study the issues, not just what the lobbyists and their party leaders say, not just the positions THEY take, but actually look at what real issues are and decide what position they should take, what's best for their district/state/precinct and, ultimately, what's best for the country.

Some of you, those that don't know what I do for a living perhaps, may wonder what exactly I'm talking about.  The issue that is foremost on a lot of people's minds today is public education.  It is time for politicians to be intelligent, realizing that cutting public education is by far not the best idea of the day.

You can't solve present problems by destroying the future and taking away from education just makes it more difficult, even impossible, to help the adults of the future (the children of today, natch) receive the best they can.

So hold your politicians responsible.  I don't care if you are a Democrat, a Republican, a Libertarian, or a Green.  You can even claim the Whigs or Federalists for all I care, but it's more important than ever that you reach out to the people that represent you to tell them what's important to you.  Tell them what you demand they do as part of the condition for getting to keep their jobs in 2012.

Make them be truly smart politicians and make them practice smart politics.

...And away we go.

I've never been much of a blogger even though I've been writing since I was in Junior High.  I've usually been too busy to actually sit down and write about stuff and, when I get those free moments, it's just nice to stop and look around once in a while.  But that's just because I don't want to miss it.

So, what's this thing really going to be about?

Will I express my thoughts on education?
Yes.

Ideas about improving the world?
I would think so.

Sports?
You betcha.

My feelings on pop culture and what it means to the future of our (hopefully continuing to be human) race?
Lord, yes.

And what about politics?
Oh......definitely.

Basically, this will be my journal.  It will be revealing, often sarcastic, and, hopefully, entertaining.

Today has been a good day.  Maybe we'll talk about it tomorrow.

But, then, tomorrow is another day.