FRIDAY
JANUARY 14
2000
•
Joseph Farah
is editor of
WorldNetDaily.com.
•
I have a dream, too
I have a dream that America will return to its
heritage of freedom.
But before that dream is realized, we've got to
stop miseducating kids at every turn. What do I
mean? Take what your kids are learning today
about Martin Luther King and the principles of
American freedom.
Just take a look at the garbage being produced
to commemorate King's birthday by Scholastic,
one of the largest educational publishers in the
world.
"Civil rights are the freedoms and rights that a
person has as a member of a community, state,
or nation," writes Kathy Wilmore, in an article
titled "Civil Rights: How Far Have We Come?"
"In the U.S., these rights are guaranteed to all
citizens by the Constitution and acts of
Congress."
No ma'am, that is not true. Civil rights,
America's founders taught us so well, are
God-given, unalienable rights. They don't
descend from government. They are not given
out through acts of Congress. They cannot be
invented by man. They are inherent, universal,
permanent.
This is such a foundational point of
understanding American civic life, history and
government that it cannot be a simple mistake
by an educational publisher. This is deliberate
brainwashing -- an example of the
dumbing-down process we hear so much about
in government schools. What these institutions
produce is not educated students so much as
spare parts for a giant statist-corporate matrix
called America.
As if to underline her point, she adds: "Since the
1960s, many laws have been passed to
guarantee civil rights to all Americans,"
Wilmore writes. "But the struggle continues.
Today, not only blacks, but many other groups
-- including women, Hispanics,
Asian-Americans, people with disabilities,
homosexuals, the homeless and other minorities
-- are waging civil-rights campaigns."
If Scholastic is correct about rights simply being
extended by legislative decree, then rights can
be taken away as easily as they are bestowed.
Those are not rights, folks. Those are privileges.
Notice the subtle way the struggle by blacks is
equated with agitation by "the homeless" and
homosexuals. This is Marxist Indoctrination 101.
I know, I used to use such techniques myself.
But now it is thoroughly permeating not just
academia, but elementary schools and private
educational companies that must sell their
products to the government educational
monopoly.
"Most people agree that decent housing is a
basic right," she continues. "Yet millions of
Americans live in substandard housing -- or
have no housing at all. They live that way
because they cannot afford better -- or are kept
out of better housing by discrimination (unfair
treatment)."
Oh, really? That strikes me as a pretty strong
statement to make without citing any evidence.
"Most people agree that decent housing is a
basic right." Hmmmm. I would challenge that
supposition. Even in America's advanced case
of intellectual, moral and cultural decay, I don't
believe a majority would now say that decent
housing is a basic right. At least I hope not.
But, even if some poll showed that the
statement might be technically true, I have to
add a big, "So what?" Who cares what people
think about rights? It doesn't matter. Once again,
rights -- true rights -- descend from God and
cannot be given to man by anyone else nor
taken away.
We also learn from Scholastic materials that
King got his ideas for peaceful resistance from
two sources -- Mahatma Gandhi and Henry
David Thoreau. Gee, you know, I don't deny
that those folks were influences on King, but to
ignore King's inspiration from the Bible is
ludicrous.
After all, it was Jesus who taught us -- Gandhi
and Thoreau included -- about loving your
enemy and "turning the other cheek."
Ahhh, but then, of course, you have the old
sticky wicket of religion in the classroom. Better
to simply ignore reality -- the truth that Martin
Luther King was a Christian minister. I have a
feeling that not many kids in government school
will hear this part of Martin Luther King's "I
have a dream speech."
"I have a dream today.
"I have a dream that one day every valley shall
be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be
made low, the rough places will be made plain,
and the crooked places will be made straight,
and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and
all flesh shall see it together.
"This is our hope. This is the faith with which I
return to the South. With this faith we will be
able to hew out of the mountain of despair a
stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to
transform the jangling discords of our nation
into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With
this faith we will be able to work together, to
pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail
together, to stand up for freedom together,
knowing that we will be free one day.
"Th