tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32362551.post2393806950928036544..comments2023-12-13T16:57:33.142-06:00Comments on Blogodidact: Ignoring Principle, On PrincipleVan Harveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32362551.post-1707955419504020452008-06-07T13:55:00.000-05:002008-06-07T13:55:00.000-05:00Lance,I've been wanting to comment on your last we...Lance,<BR/>I've been wanting to comment on your last weeks post as well, been working & working, today (Sat) too on a project deadline scramble for the last couple weeks - hopefully this ends today and will get to.Van Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32362551.post-68052721468301263422008-06-06T13:19:00.000-05:002008-06-06T13:19:00.000-05:00Van!!! Check out my new post please. I would like ...Van!!! Check out my new post please. I would like to get your thoughtsAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04973448750714819716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32362551.post-46311811756306515132008-05-20T02:38:00.000-05:002008-05-20T02:38:00.000-05:00Great post, Van!I always learn somethin', or a lot...Great post, Van!<BR/>I always learn somethin', or a lot, when I read your blog!<BR/><BR/>Speaking of principles, or a lack thereof, Obama, of course, has let slip aome of the things he wants to do lately.<BR/><BR/>Paraphrasing, 'cause I'm too lazy to look up a link, Obama said, "people can't keep setting their thermostats at 72 degrees, and driving as much as they want, and eating as much as they want, BECAUSE other countries that don't have the wealth we do, will be upset" (re: jealous, re: envious, COVETING, but he's too chickensh*t to say that).<BR/><BR/>Oh, I get it! Obama is sayin' we should feel GUILTY for our individual and collective success, because they are starving in Somalia, and dying in Burma, and theres extreme poverty in Haiti, blah, etc., blah blah ad nauseum.<BR/><BR/>Well excuuuusssse me, Snobama! It ain't my fault those other people are suffering and I refuse to feel guilty about it, and there is no damn way I'll ever even consider givin' you, or any other victim huckster any power whatsoever!<BR/><BR/>Because you, sir (little s), don't have any Principles, and you refuse to see self evident Truth's, and your idea of virtues is demonic.<BR/><BR/>You sir, are an ignorant ass! And so are you're comrades. <BR/>You would lead your useful idiots in an effort to transform our Liberty filled Republic to a fascist nanny state full of tyranny, and you would disregard our Constitution and revise history to force the ignorant masses who cling to their guns n' Religion to think, talk and act the way you want them to or suffer severe consequences.<BR/><BR/>You and your ilk would throw anyone under the bus to obtain power, and your goal is absolute power.<BR/>Hypocrites! Liars! You and your commie pals are a brood of vipers! <BR/><BR/>You and your bitter wife can't help yourselves...you will continue to leak out what you truly are, and what your real agenda is, and we will be there to tell everyone we know what you are.<BR/><BR/>The GOP is not much better, but it is our only choice at the moment.<BR/>McCain is screwed up, and yeah, I respect the man and his service, but he will not be a good President. He has damaged free speech, swallowed whole the Goracles "climate change" BS, and still doesn't "get it" regarding illegal immigration.<BR/><BR/>But the alternatives are inconceivable. And yet, even if Obama (God forbid) or Hillary wins the election, we will survive, just as we survived Carter and Clinton.<BR/><BR/>I sincerely hope n' pray that classic liberals/conservatives/jacksonians get their sh*t together and endorse (or run themselves) candidates that respect and honor the true principles of our Constitution, Bill of Rights, and our history.<BR/><BR/>I'm optimistic when I see men such as Bobby Jingal (hope I spelled that right), and some up and coming Veterans runnin' for Congress.<BR/><BR/>I'm optimistic and hopeful, because America still has more Patriots then bitter little commies full of envy.<BR/><BR/>It's a constant battle, but those Principles, that sweet Liberty, and those self evident Truth's, is more than worth it! :^)USS Ben USN (Ret)https://www.blogger.com/profile/07492369604790651538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32362551.post-14852690070614292742008-05-07T23:57:00.000-05:002008-05-07T23:57:00.000-05:00"Ignorant voters endanger liberty."That is a scary..."Ignorant voters endanger liberty."<BR/><BR/>That is a scary path to go down one that Mills would have liked for sure.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04973448750714819716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32362551.post-75272486506204708142008-05-07T16:44:00.000-05:002008-05-07T16:44:00.000-05:00"This is an interesting way to look at the use of ..."This is an interesting way to look at the use of land grants during the Civil War. But wouldn't you say that it had more to do with getting people out into the country so that "big industry" the railroads could connect to the west as well as taking the power of colleges out of the hands of the southern states and weakening the southern plantation class?"<BR/><BR/>Well...Businessmen and Industry are concerned with business and industry, if they think something will be to their benefit, they'll push for it, and if Gov't opens itself up to influence by businessmen (as any good Judo practitioner knows, when the opponent grabs you, you can control and throw them through the hold they have on you) via regulations, they'll take advantage of it... but such things are really penny ante stuff, and not very important in the larger picture. I think it's important to look at what was done on the level of the philosophical ideals being pursued, rather than the particulars those involved were chasing at the moment... and chasing too far into the motivations and details of what they thought they were doing and why, can land you into conspiracy theories really quickly.<BR/><BR/>It is safe to say that Morrill and others pushing the act, were pushing what they thought was needed to help the country grow and expand (also not the job of the Fed Gov't), and the civil war allowed them the opportunity to say if they'd been listened to earlier, 'we wouldn't be in this mess now'. In Morrill’s words: <I>“The role of the national government is to mould the character of the American people."</I> and, <I>"Ignorant voters endanger liberty. With free schools in the South there could have been no rebellion in the future...when our youth learn to read similar books, similar lessons, we shall become one people, possessing one organic nationality."</I> But as I asked in previous post, "The Governments job was to “mould the character of the American people”? Where did such ideas come from? Did no one stop to ask what kind of ignorance might come of education directed by a bureaucrats removed from a caring parents interest[and wallet]?" And the answer is 'No'. <BR/><BR/>Morrill knew that the land grant colleges would be focused upon teaching trades, primarily new agricultural techniques, but he and they, still assumed that education would remained centered around a "as Montaigne put it “A traditional liberal arts curriculum of history, language, and literature--the arts that liberate," of educating one to be worthy of Liberty". Even most progressives didn't suspect how far from what they considered to be an education, that vocational influenced education would fall away from teaching people how to be free.<BR/><BR/>If you dig into the records, and much is available through Google (I assume it's still there)- the NEA boasts it, and most colleges as well, this one's still here: <A HREF="http://www.nmsu.edu/president/commentary/Newsletter8-04.pdf" REL="nofollow">"<I>...profound innovation in higher education for several important reasons</A>. First, it enabled the creation of accessible equalitarian “people’s”universities. The Morrill Act reflected the belief that American social and economic development could be best served if higher education were made broadly available to the citizenry. Second, the Morrill Act established a public, federally assisted system...In other words, while other universities of the time focused almost exclusively on philosophy and theology, the land-grants would focus on broader practical education....So the very essence of the land-grant movement was, and is, to break with tradition and convention....</I>" - break with, and <I>break IT</I>. <BR/><BR/>No sooner had the land grant funded colleges been established, than congress felt it needed to be involved in ensuring that the material being taught was the sort of material that was suitable to "Progress!". And then of course, the Progressives began agitating for the need to have uniform control over the 'quality' of teachers teaching in such public schools, which meant creating "Teachers Colleges", where predictably the new teachers would be taught what the progressives thought was necessary and appropriate - and what wasn't. It soon rolled up to a push for establishing mandatory public education nationwide, and standardized grade schools, and so on.<BR/><BR/>Those who could see where it was heading, and just what it <I>must do</I> to educational standards, opposed the act. It was strongly fought against by private colleges, North & South, and others who foresaw and feared the federal control of education that would surely follow, but they were not skilled enough to win the debate.<BR/><BR/>"Educational Reformers such as John Dewey, with their “Modern, Scientific, Democratic” methods and ideals, reassured anxious Teachers that training students for their industrial "destiny" was the heart and soul of "democratic" education. Dewey wrote in 1897 that schools must be adapted "to the circumstances, needs, and opportunities of industrial civilization." Fitting students for economic interests rather than Republican interests was far more realistic and important to their daily needs. Where Jefferson had urged education to teach future citizens "how to judge for themselves what will secure or endanger their freedom.”, Dewey said that the new object of "democratic" education was to teach every child "to perceive the essential interdependence of an industrial society." and to develop "a socialized disposition."<BR/><BR/>When Progressives then, as with the Leftists of today, say "Democratic", what they mean is "Socialistic"."<BR/><BR/>This didn't require any back room plotting by conspiratorial bookworm tyrants seeking world domination, only philosophy. Some, as Dewey certainly did, realized that to change the nation they needed to change the schools, but the nature of their philosophy itself ensured that it would develop as it did, if their ideas gained the necessary footholds. Progressivism would never have gained the popularity and influence it did, without first gaining control of the educational system (creating the education system) in America, and the measures they championed, creating The Fed, Income Tax, the 17th Amendment, and more, would not have come to pass in the 'Progressive Era' without it.<BR/><BR/>The proof's in the pudding. And so are the flies.Van Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32362551.post-89420174868234779922008-05-07T09:18:00.000-05:002008-05-07T09:18:00.000-05:00"With the Civil War, Morril tried again, this time..."With the Civil War, Morril tried again, this time spinning it as a War measure 'Educate them reb's and they won't be dumb enough to rebel again'. Lincoln bought it, and the chink in that Constitutional armor that had so long frustrated the Progressives, had been made." <BR/><BR/>This is an interesting way to look at the use of land grants during the Civil War. But wouldn't you say that it had more to do with getting people out into the country so that "big industry" the railroads could connect to the west as well as taking the power of colleges out of the hands of the southern states and weakening the southern plantation class?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04973448750714819716noreply@blogger.com