Thursday, September 3, 2009

Teaching Obama to Children (And Maybe Some Adults)

I've heard that on Tuesday, September 8th, 2009 Mr. Obama plans on addressing the school children residing in the United States of America. It is my understanding that his speech will address issues such as national service, health care, and other items on the administration's agenda. It is also my understanding that this speech will be given to young elementary school children, perhaps even younger than five, as well as to older high school children who will be able to vote in a couple of years. One might wonder what the purpose of such a program would be. Certainly, such an unusual measure taken as this can lead to the conspiracy theorists speaking out. Perhaps in this case they have more than good reason, especially when you consider the historical significance of such past programs. Think about Hitler youth, Pol Pot, Kin Jong Il, those kind of guys and how they treated the children of their countries. Never before, at least not in my memory, has a president of the United States of America specifically addressed school children nationwide on subject matter as sophisticated as this. Perhaps there is something very nefarious going on here, or perhaps Obama and his administration have come to the realization that they can no longer fool the thoughtful adults in this nation and they have no other place to turn for support than the youth of America, or perhaps they believe Obama will be president for a very long time.

It is my understanding that parents are up in arms over this event. Although they haven't had much advanced notice, many parents that have found out are angry and hysterical and have vowed to take their children out of school to prevent them from having to suffer through this government propaganda. Perhaps this is a prudent move, but perhaps it's a mistake. There is a possibility that we are missing out on an opportunity here. Even though this event is designed to be a collectivist, authoritarian government love fest, perhaps it can be turned around by concerned parents and teachers who are aware of history and what it truly means to be American.

I have heard that Mr. Obama's administration has come out with a guide for teachers to go along with his broadcast to the school children. I haven't seen one personally, but I've heard that they have a series of questions and discussions that teachers are supposed to have with the kids before and after the speech. Although this might seem like an attempt to propagandize Mr. Obama and make the office of president seem to be the end all, be all, if handled correctly this can actually be made into a tool to teach children the truth about what the federal government of the United States is supposed to be and how they can peacefully help win back the freedoms we have lost as a nation.

One of the discussions the administration wants teachers to have is something along the lines of who is Mr. Barack Obama? Well, the answer is really simple. Mr. Obama is a man. He is a human male like many other human males. He is fallible. He can and does make mistakes and errors in judgment. He has opinions and ideologies that are more and (mostly, in my humble opinion) less valid than others. He is not a god. He is not the messiah. He is not even the devil or the antichrist. He is simply a human male that has done whatever was necessary to elevate himself to the station he has achieved. I'm certain that some of what he's done in order to achieve those goals is quite questionable just as some of his associates are quite questionable. It seems to me this would be a good opportunity to discuss such things with the children, and even with the child like adults who seem to think otherwise and idolize Mr. Obama.

Here would be a good opportunity to discuss morality. One could discuss with the children the goodness and wisdom of letting one grow up unmolested by collectivist dogma and how nice it is to live in an individualist society where one is allowed to discover for himself what he wants to do with his life rather than being dependent on government telling him what is best for him. It would be a good opportunity to discuss the utter evil of brainwashing the innocent into believing they are furthering the betterment of society by serving an authoritarian figure. It would be a good opportunity to discuss with children about how the tattletale societies of Nazi Germany and Communist Russia worked and the evil that resulted in those places at those times because of such practices. It might also be a good opportunity to remind some adults about these dark times and places in human history. It could also be a good opportunity to talk to these children about how it is quite likely that no one loves them more than their parents, certainly not the coldhearted state.

Another point of discussion in the government guide, or so I've heard, is that of who is the president of the United States of America and why should we listen to him? While I'm sure the establishment wants this to become another point of collectivist indoctrination by having teachers lead their students into discussing such ideas as the president being “the most powerful” human on the face of the planet or “the leader” of our nation, I think this discussion can be taken in a more honest direction.

While it may be true that the president of the United States of America is one of the most powerful men in the world by virtue of the fact that he has his finger on the nuclear button and has command of perhaps the most powerful military this planet has ever seen, it could be pointed out that this does not make him inherently good, or right, or even able to do whatever he wants whenever he wants. He is the leader of the executive branch of the federal government, not of the people who are supposed to be left alone to decide for themselves what to do with their lives, so long as they don't tread upon the rights of their fellow man. This could lead to a discussion about how our form of government is a republic, not a dictatorship. Our founding fathers penned a document called The Constitution of the United States of America in which they spelled out the specific powers each branch of the government had and tried to create a balance of power so that one branch would keep a check on the others. While this could be further explored and discussions could arise as to how things didn't quite work out this way and how most of what the federal government does these days is unconstitutional, therefore those who run it are technically breaking the law (remember the Constitution is supposed to be the supreme law of the land) and therefore they are criminals, these discussions may be a bit deep for some of the younger children and perhaps should be left to age appropriate venues.

Furthermore this could be an opportunity to discuss the value of electing representatives that will make it their top priority to help safe guard the rights and liberties of the individuals living in this country rather than helping themselves and their friends to the public money trough and opening the treasury to the special interests. This could lead to a discussion on how we as citizens have been dreadfully negligent in our duties to watch over those we send to Washington DC to do our will as evidenced by the rampant corruption and the extraordinarily high re-election rate of incumbents, even those who have been openly corrupt or caught breaking the law. Yes, we adults do have to take some of the blame for the mess we find ourselves in as socialism encroaches more and more into our everyday lives.

The example can be used of how important it is to listen to Mr. Obama, especially pay attention to what he's said in the past and what he said during his campaign. Politicians are notorious for lying and he is no exception. One could point out his already broken promises. There are still troops in Iraq. Warfare carried out by American soldiers in other areas has been escalated. Torture of “enemy combatants” continues. No law of the Bush administration, however unconstitutional they may be, has been repealed. A vitriolic and divisive debate on health care reform has been launched to cover up these inadequacies in his policies and keep the support of his left flank from collapsing. In short, there was no change delivered, there will be no change delivered, except for maybe toward a more authoritarian, collectivist model of government, and the hope that we once had for this great nation, the hope of individual freedom and self determination for all mankind, is dwindling with each and every big government program that he tries to force down our throats. It should be explained to these children and maybe some adults that this type of dishonest behavior shouldn't be tolerated. It isn't tolerated in the private sector and it shouldn't be tolerated in the public sector either. It can be explained to the kids that perhaps most people are more than fed up and frustrated by the antics of almost all of our federal government officials, regardless of party, and that perhaps this is why we've seen such outbreaks of anger expressed at the recent town hall meetings.

I don't blame people for wanting to have their kids take a sick day from school on September 8th. It will be the day after Labor Day and they might as well make it a long vacation. It's a good protest and a good way to show solidarity by keeping lots of children from being indoctrinated in such a manner. Yet I can't help but think that perhaps there is an opportunity here to do so much more. I think if we all get together to show the establishment that we will not be bullied, we can use the tools authoritarians want to use to divide us as a way to unite us. We can open up some dialogs. We can get together with the teachers and administrators of our schools, who are after all members of our communities, and discuss our concerns with this type of indoctrination. We can find out exactly where they stand in terms of the role they believe government should have in our lives and if it's contrary to the will of most of the people in the community than we can determine how to best ostracize them so that their unAmerican ideologies do not infect our children. Find other liberty minded people in your community and get together with them. There is power in numbers. Speak out. We have been tolerant and accepting of corrupt control freaks for far too long and if we don't take a public stand now I'm afraid we will not be able to later.

No comments: