Inspiring

I'm still reading "The Student Whisperer" by Oliver DeMille and Tiffany Earl. The book is filled with exercises, some of which I have done as requested, but I've decided to go my own way. When I read a book the first time through, I tend to not take good notes. I run through it to get to the end. The second or third time, I take notes or do the exercises. This author specifically says to do the exercises since that is what the book is about and I tried that, but my inner self makes me crazy wondering what is at the end, so I'm running through and will go back and read it again. Kinda like a cow and its cud. :)) Sick, I know.

But here was a great little part in an exercise that I really wanted to tell you about because I find it to be SO true SO often. "Require of yourself to be inspiring, even though you're tempted to compel, force, decree, push or assign." To do this, you have to feed yourself. I have to be involved in my own education to inspire others (especially those closest to me) to go get theirs. There is no need to force my children to learn things they are not inspired to learn. It will go nowhere and no one will be happy with it.

And this relates to my Christian relationship with God! What? God does not require us to love him. He does not force us to do his bidding. We have free will and a conscience. But every day I find that He inspires me to love Him through His work in this world. The way He creates each day and brings wonderful people into my life.

Book Review - The Bridge at Andau

I was assigned this book at the beginning of the year by my Classic Moms class at Abigail Adams Academy. She changed it to "Magnificent Obsession" last month, but I was already hooked on this book and finished it yesterday.

Written in 1957 by James A. Michener, it is the account of what Hungary was like under Soviet Russia's control and how they attempted to throw them out in 1956. People were still very close to the situation and very much afraid of the communist regime. The author interviewed people that he helped escape into Austria for refuge and compilated their stories, changed names, rearranged places and times, so that families of the people left behind would not be in danger by the government. Wow! It was a rough read at times. I can't imagine life being that frightening and having so little hope to escape it.

A must read for sure. Like the Hunger Games, it gives you the past as a warning for the future and what roads should not be traveled for fear of arriving at a place like this. But unlike the Hunger Games, it is real. It really did happen. It's not what might happen, but what did and that makes it a lot scarier and worrisome.

"Commies". I will not use that derogatory term lightly anymore.

Book Review - Magnificent Obsession

Another book assigned by my Classic Moms class at Abigail Adams Academy that I'm so happy to have read! Written in 1929 by Lloyd C. Douglas, this book brought me closer to the idea of God that I love so much. It touches on the idea that God is not just a character in the Christian Bible, that He may be so much more. We watched the Rock Hudson movie as well and it dwelt more on the love story and less on the spiritual side of it, but it was still a great movie.

The idea is that...well, you have to read the book to really get it. I'll give you a few of my favorite lines though.

"Of course, if you decide to experiment with this projection of yourself through investments in other people, you must be prepared for all manner of failures, disillusionment, disgusts. You will frequently go to no end of trouble and expense for somebody who turns out to be a pest and a piker. You will be imposed upon, lied to, lied about! You will run into cases of ingratitude so rank that it will sicken you! But - now and again, you will manage to put the thing over...and when you do you will discover it has squared for all the failures you've had!"

"I've thought a good deal about the soul lately, Granpere. It strikes me that the things one reads about souls are frightfully misleading. They inquire, 'What are you doing to, for, and with your soul?' as they might ask 'When are you going to turn in your old car?'...I can't say 'my soul', as I would 'my hat', or ' my canoe', or 'my liver'...I AM a soul! I have a body! My body is wearing out, and when I can't tinker it back into service any more, I'll drive it out to the junk-pile; but I don't have to be junked with it! I'm tied up to the Major Personality!...like a beam of sunshine to the sun!...I'll not lose my power unless He loses His!...If that's religion, Grandpere, I'm religious! But I'd rather think of it as science!"

"This oncoming generation, now in its adolescence, is not in the least way concerned about organized religion. Religious enough, instinctively, I dare say; but out of sorts with the sects; weary of their bad-mannered yammering at one another over matters in which one man's guess is as good as another's, and no outcome promised either in faith or conduct, no matter whose guess is right!"

Bible Study - HELP!!

You know the whole read a little each day and listen for answers thing? Well, I like that for the Old Testament but the New is just dragging me down. My sons and I both don't understand a lot of it. It seems so counter-intuitive and sometimes contradicts when I'm reading it straight. Many of things I know are lost in translation but how do I clarify things for myself? I've searched and searched online for a good in depth New Testament study but can't find one. I love the Old Testament and the studies I've found for it. Love love love! Help!!

My attempt at story writing...

An Education Tale

There once was a family that sent their children off to school. Mom worried that they run into bullies. Dad worried that the school wouldn't teach them all they needed to know. But the state said they were fine and picked them up in a big yellow bus. Time went by and every day there was more homework, every week there was another fundraiser and every year the children grew more and more detached from their family and more and more just like the other kids at school; bored, restless, and angry. No learning was happening here.

One day the Mom saw another Mom at the grocery store with three school age children in tow. “Day off from school?” she asked. Why no! In fact, they were “at school”. These children were homeschooled and Mom was teaching the basics of math, nutrition, and thrift while doing her weekly shopping. “Homeschool? I never thought of that.” she thought as she talked with the children and questioned this Mom.

Mom and Dad talked it over. Both researched that night. Was it legal? Will they be smart? What about socialization? With questions still swirling they called a homeschool organization and got all the details. “Pull your children out now!” they said. “No need to wait. Start your own private school and take some time off. Find out what you like and how your children tick, then choose your style to make it stick.” So the next day they did. Alarms didn't go off. They all stayed in bed and took the day off. The kids were excited, “No school!” they exclaimed. They took more time off. Mom continued her chores, the children played games, Dad went to work. But the children grew bored and restless. They missed their school friends. Dad worried they weren't getting any education at all. Mom grew frustrated with the lack of help around the house.

To change the scenery one day they went to the park. They stumbled upon a small group of children playing with their parents nearby. “Day off from school?” asked the Mom. “No! We homeschool and this is our recess!” Mom talked to them all afternoon and gathered advice about wht they do to ease boredom and keep the kids in line. “Go online and buy curriculum. Your kids need structure and lessons to keep them busy.” said one Mom. “Take karate and dance!” said another. “Join our co-op to learn Shakespeare.” said another. And Mom followed ALL their advice.

Soon their days were so full there was no time for boredom, no time for games, or even family dinner. Brokeand exhausted from all the running, the family finally made time to return to the park for some fun. Mom told the homeschoolers about her troubles and they felt her pain. Several new families were attending now and spread the news of the relief they had found. “Join a public charter school.” they said. “All the fun of homeschooling but free resources and classes.” Mom joined up right away. What could go wrong? In exchange for the money she was told her children must complete a set number of hours at the computer, take annual tests, and meet with a “teacher”once a week. “Ok.” she thought, “That seems fair.”

But weeks later she realized how much had changed. The children were chained to their computers and text books. The famiy was no longer in control of the lessons or their timing. No breaks were allowed. The children must pass the tests. The kids were grumbling, “This is worse than school. All of the work with out the friends and recess!” Mom couldn't watch. Her kids were miserable and Dad was annoyed because nothing had changed.

Back to school they went, books in hand. Mom was sad. She felt she had failed. “They were right. It does take a teacher and school to handle the children.”, she thought. Dad was sad too. He worried if he were doing the right thing. The fledglings must leave the nest, but so young? “Toughen them up for the real world” he'd heard. “But school sure doesn't look like the real world to me.”

The moral of the story is that homeschooling can be great, but it takes time and patience, a lot of research, trust, and love. So many of us switch from one philosophy or system to another without giving one enough time to show results. Rome wasn't build in a day and education doesn't get “done” ever!

Book Review - Alas, Babylon

I finished "Alas, Babylon" by Pat Frank last night. It was assigned for my Classic Moms class. I ordered the book along with others at the beginning of the class so it was around the house a while before I got to it. When I saw the words "The classic apocalyptic novel that stunned the world." on the cover, I knew Dan would want to read it and he did. Then he read it to the boys and then I got to it.

Tom and I agree we didn't really like the end. It was a little anti-climatic. Just the words "Not that it matters." stuck out for me. We won the war, but does it matter? When the whole world is destroyed, sent back to the dark ages? The novel is about nuclear war in the 50's. The threat that loomed over everyone for several decades. Growing up in the 70's and 80's, I missed this part of our history and the book does bring that forward into reality for me. I've decided that nuclear war is just something that is not allowed. :))

There were several little pieces that I thought were funny in an odd way. The main character's nephew is happy that he doesn't have to go to school but the uncle assures him that he will as soon as possible. But they don't set up a school. They decided that educating children will have to fall to the parents responsibility for the time being, as if it's a huge burden. Seriously, because the world has been blown to kingdom come and parents will have to keep up to the state standards until...well, until there is a state to make standards again. I know, people try to continue down the path of normalcy especially during a crisis but this is just silly. There were others too, like breastfeeding being so old fashioned but they will just have to do it.

There were interesting things to think about like how would you cook anything and where would you get things like salt! I'm rethinking some of my emergency supplies now. And communication! Wow! No radio, telephone, or even mail. Word of mouth only and that would be severely limited since people were not traveling between areas at all, no cars, just horses and after a nuclear attack? You just don't know when you would be getting radiation. The book gave me anxiety attacks at times, hence the decision against nuclear war. I just can't wrap my mind around preparing or surviving that.

This book brought up "bread and circuses" which I keep reading and seeing and being reminded of, which gives me the creeps!

Anyway, the book is good and I enjoyed reading about the relationships that continue, the segregation that had to be overcome, the restoring of order. I highly recommend it!

Federalist 62

"A good government implies two things: first, fidelity to the object of government, which is the happiness of the people; secondly, a knowledge of the means by which that object can be best attained. Some governments are deficient in both these qualities; most governments are deficient in the first. I scruple not to assert, that in American governments too little attention has been paid to the last. The federal Constitution avoids this error; and what merits particular notice, it provides for the last in a mode which increases the security for the first."

I'm thinking maybe it didn't work because I don't think the federal government has either.

"The mutability in the public councils arising from a rapid succession of new members, however qualified they may be, points out, in the strongest manner, the necessity of some stable institution in the government. Every new election in the States is found to change one half of the representatives. From this change of men must proceed a change of opinions; and from a change of opinions, a change of measures. But a continual change even of good measures is inconsistent with every rule of prudence and every prospect of success. The remark is verified in private life, and becomes more just, as well as more important, in national transactions.
To trace the mischievous effects of a mutable government would fill a volume. I will hint a few only, each of which will be perceived to be a source of innumerable others.
In the first place, it forfeits the respect and confidence of other nations, and all the advantages connected with national character. An individual who is observed to be inconstant to his plans, or perhaps to carry on his affairs without any plan at all, is marked at once, by all prudent people, as a speedy victim to his own unsteadiness and folly. His more friendly neighbors may pity him, but all will decline to connect their fortunes with his; and not a few will seize the opportunity of making their fortunes out of his. One nation is to another what one individual is to another; with this melancholy distinction perhaps, that the former, with fewer of the benevolent emotions than the latter, are under fewer restraints also from taking undue advantage from the indiscretions of each other. Every nation, consequently, whose affairs betray a want of wisdom and stability, may calculate on every loss which can be sustained from the more systematic policy of their wiser neighbors. But the best instruction on this subject is unhappily conveyed to America by the example of her own situation. She finds that she is held in no respect by her friends; that she is the derision of her enemies; and that she is a prey to every nation which has an interest in speculating on her fluctuating councils and embarrassed affairs."

There's your problem! Ill made laws and the changes to fix them, only show other countries that we don't really know what we are doing. And not only that, Madison goes on to say why it is not good for our own people that we do this. Business people cannot make plans to spend and invest their money. Farmers cannot plant crops. And inventors cannot create. No one knows what will be legal next year, or how much it cost them in taxes. No one can make any intelligent decisions about their future when anything and everything can change in the next congressional session. Sound familiar? Yep! What's going on in our country is not new. The only thing new, in my opinion, is that there is increased ignorance on the people's part about history, government, and economics. And that only leads to the increased influence of tyrants.

Finished Another Book Today

It's amazing how much you actually use the tip of your right thumb! I cut it bad yesterday trying to open a latch at Tom's baseball game yesterday. Score keeping can be dangerous! Well...for me anyway.

I finished reading "Easy Lessons on the Constitution" this morning. It's a great little book, but it was written in 1891, so some of the questions are a little dated. It does give a pretty good explanation of how our Constitution works and it's written for kids, so it's right up my alley! I'm thinking most adults today would have trouble keeping up with this book though. And I know they don't teach any of this in depth in our modern high schools, which is a sad state of affairs really. How do we keep our liberty if so few understand how our system is supposed to work?

One quote for you from the very end of the book. "These lessons have failed entirely of their purpose if they have not excited a desire to know much more of our system of government and to become better prepared to assume these responsibilities. If the great experiment in free government now trying in our country is to be successful, the masses of her citizens must be intelligent as well as virtuous. They must understand her institutions and glory in their citizenship."

I don't think the book failed. I want more and I want to do more.

Federalist #48

If you have never read the Federalist Papers, you should. They are not hard to read really. I'm not saying they are light or easy, but they are a wealth of information and give you a sense of perspective. Many of the arguments that you hear on the news and in papers are the same ones our country has been hearing 200 years ago.

So #47 was pointing out that the three branches of government cannot be effective at all if they are completely separate and autonomous. This one, #48, points out why and specifically talks about the judiciary branch. Here are two quotes that will make you think.

Regarding Virginia and its constitution, "A great number of laws had been passed, violating the rule requiring that all bills of a public nature shall be previously printed for the consideration of the people." Sound familiar? That's in our Federal Constitution as well and has been effectively kept as a rule until recently. You would think it would be easier to have the bills printed and read by the people in this day. It is written that way so that we know how to influence our representatives to vote. But our population has been so dumbed down and cowed that we can't understand why we need to read them. And our bills are purposely being written lengthy and confusing so that we will give up on it and let the professionals handle it. If I were my areas representative, I'm thinking that if I can't read the bill and understand it, I'm voting no until it is written in a concise and clear manner.

Another one, in regard to a large body of legislators, "being at once exempt from the restraint of an individual responsibility for the acts of the body, and deriving confidence from mutual example and joint influence, unauthorised measures would, of course, be more freely hazarded than where the executive department is administered by a single hand, or by a few hands." Mob mentality? It's much easier to do wrong things in a group. You are less likely to be punished for your indiscretion.

Do I argue or debate?

I was reading "The Student Whisper" by Tiffany Earl yesterday while I was waiting for Tom at baseball practice and came a across an important question. Do I argue or debate when talking with friends and family? Here are the definitions:

argue = to give reasons for or against something
When you argue, you are attempting to persuade someone to your opinion or way of thinking.

debate = a contention by words or arguments as a regulated discussion of a proposition between two matched sides
When you debate, you are attempting to find the truth.

When having a conversation with my friends, am I trying to find the truth or am I only interested in convincing someone that I am right? I know one person that I talk with often who I feel really is trying to seek truth. I don't think I usually am. I think in my heart, finding truth is what I want but in practice I'm not much of a listener and need to work on that.

Then I look at the recent presidential "debates" and think maybe those were more like arguments that debates. Not much of the "search for truth" there at all.

Electoral College

No, it's not somewhere you go!

So, today's page of Easy Lesson on the Constitution was about the Electoral College. I'm so confused. The Constitution says this:

Article 2, Section1, Clause 2
"Each State shall appoint, in such manner as the legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors, equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress; but no Senator or Representative, or person holding an office of trust or profit under the United States, shall be appointed an elector."

Why would we not just let the people vote for president? Because states with very small populations would not have any voice in the election. Small states have at least three votes in the Electoral College system.

But! The States choose the electors and tell them how to vote. Not sure how that is just yet. I'm working on it. But California gives all 55 of its votes to the winner of the popular election. I'm not really sure how that is right though. If 55% votes for one candidate and 45% votes for another, the electoral votes are not split up accordingly, they are all given to the majority winner. Hmm...

There is a call to get rid of the Electoral College all together, but I'm thinking that the guys that came up with the system had a lot more historical/philosophical knowledge than all of our current Congress combined, so until one of them can come up with a sound reason why it was made up in the first place and how human nature and history have changed so much in the last few years that we have to throw it out and go with another system, I'm not even going to consider it.

Shouldn't everyone be doing this?

I don't consider myself an expert, or even aspire to be an expert, on our system of government or economics. I do love history, but even on that I only hope to be moderately knowledgeable. My point is that I'm trying to have a basic understanding of these things so that I can participate in the world instead of sitting on the sidelines and letting life happen to me. I wish I could have gotten that basic knowledge earlier, say at school where they say that is what it is for. I really wish everyone in our country would have this working knowledge. Maybe things would be even better for our country and the economy. I believe that was what the founding fathers were attempting to create, a country with an educated population that would actively live life, protect freedom, and pursue their own happiness.

Once someone asked me what my schools graduation requirements would be. As a private school in California, I am supposed to create my own. I think this is what it will be. My students must show, in writing and speech, that they understand the basic workings of Austrian AND Keynesian economics, the history of different types of government, and the background of our country's founding and constitution. A voting citizen NEEDS to understand how our government works and why it was set up the way it is. It's not a matter of whether or not you like history, economics, or government. It wouldn't matter if we had a king or dictator. But if you like having choices to make and the freedom to live the way you wish, you better know how or someone will take it from you.

Learn it or lose it! It's not rocket science. If it were, our founding fathers would not have expected farmers and merchants to understand and use it.

Constitution 101 - Week 3

Just finished the listening to the lecture from Week 3 of Hillsdale College's FREE Constitution 101 class. It's title was "The Problem of Majority Tyranny". I can't help but relate what our Constitution says and the founding of our country to the problems I see in our country today.

Madison talked about "factions" large and small. A faction can take control of our government and wield power over the rest of the country. When you think of factions though, you probably think of a small group that somehow grabs power and controls everyone else. But it can be the majority as well, consider slavery. But our constitution attempts to control majority rule as well, to protect the minority from the abuses of the masses.

I have often heard people complain that a new law is "what the people want".  Or that our government cannot serve the people if it doesn't do what the majority has voted to do. But think on this. What about the minority? What that undeclared war? What if I don't want my son drafted into a military that is fighting for something that I don't believe in? You know, the draft still exists. We just aren't using it. But your son still has to register. Draft! The ultimate offence to liberty.

My questions today.
Why were the Federalist papers published anonymously? When the people were reading them in their newspapers and pamphlets, did they know that the authors were part of the group writing and discussing the new constitution? Did you know there were ANTI-Federalist papers? And that in them, all many of the problems we are having now in our own time were foreseen?

I'm reading Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card again, and it it two characters write in all the debates, chat rooms, and blogs (equivalent of newspapers) to influence the people to start a war and change the world government. They are brilliant children, posing as adults, and one of them wants to rule this new world. It sounded like the Federalist papers to me. I don't consider those, or the anti-federalist papers, to be malicious, only a way to get people to think about the ideas they were presenting. But in Ender's Game, I'm getting the vibe of meanness. That Peter is doing this to get control of people's mind. I can see, however, how people today could think of our founding as a similar situation. Lot's to think about. And so much more to learn.

"Law of the Wall" Lecture

Just finished listening in on the lecture I was supposed to be online for last week. I couldn't go. Jake's first baseball practice was that night at the same time and I was just too nervous for him and HAD to be there. Jake loves baseball so much and he's such a sensitive soul and well...he's just not that good at it yet. He's made amazing progress over the years though, even though he's OUR kid. :)) So I've been nervous about what kind of coach he will have this year, as I am every year. This year we found out he was on a team that won a lot last year and it's the same coach, so I was worried he would be mean to my baby and I would have kill him with evil looks all season. It wasn't the case so he's off the hook. He's an amazing coach. So calm and confident. He has great drills for the boys and when they make a mistake he re-does the play so that they can do it right and learn from their mistake. Jake's already better. The sigh of contentment as we drove home pretty much said it all. So I'm glad I was there and missed my class.

Today I listened to the recording and I'm glad I did. Again about mentoring. That keeps coming up! Yikes! So what is "the wall"? It's the roadblock after you feel your calling to do whatever it is you need to do. What do you do when you hit that wall? You think, you pray, you look around you. What is stopping you from going forward? Mine is fear. Fear that I won't be good enough, that I can't learn. But I know that is bogus. I'm not stupid, just out of practice. What do you do when you think you know what the problem is? You find the next step, make a list of what you need to do, and actually do them. Sounds so simple. But the sit and think, long and quiet, about the situation is what gets me every time. I'm a reacting type, not a ponderer. Gonna have to work on this one.

This was my biggest take away today. "When you are ready a mentor will appear." It sounds so dumb but it's true. Dan has a philosophy on trying new things and it's usually about a gadget or program, but it applies here too. Always get the free or cheapest one. If you use it regularly and like it, then get the bigger and more expensive one. Pretty cool, huh? I need to be doing the work I'm doing and then some. I need to make plans and stick to it. The mentor I need will come to me when I'm ready to move up the the "bigger and more expensive one".

So, the plan? I've already started. My built in study time in the morning has done wonders. I have several things I work on every day that I got for free, i.e. the constitution class, seminary lectures, and such. My next step is to take the writing class I've been looking at. I spent money on it! I'm in! When I finish that, I think I will be ready for the class I've been aching to take, Introduction to the Great Books at Monticello College. In addition to that, I'm going to get A History of Israel by Walter Kaiser and read that when I'm done with my "Year Through the Torah".

Big plans! I'll keep you posted.

Constitution Study

So, I'm reading my "Easy Lessons on the Constitution" and the point they are making in part of this chapter is why the Capitol of the United States in in a district not associated with any state. The reason being that the states argued over which state should have the honor of being the home of the seat of our government. Which state should have that priviledge? I'm looking into the debate about that right now and I first go to D.C.'s website which has a link to "DC Statehood". So even D.C. itself doesn't know why it was so important to not be within the bounds of a state.

This continues my belief that we, as a country, have become illiterate in our own founding. There is so much work to do.

Here are two links to get you started.
http://technidigm.org/cons_dc.htm
http://dc.gov/DC/Government/Data+&+Transparency/DC+Statehood

Ahh...Discussion Questions

This one comes from Week 2 of my Constitution 101 class at Hillsdale College.

"Why is education necessary for the existence of a free government? What kind of education is required for a free society?"

It's kind of obvious that education is "necessary", but a particular kind of education is required. It's not just the ability to read and write that is needed in a free society, it is an education that requires the individual to think beyond himself and his immediate needs. Logic, history, and philosophy should be a huge part of it.

Imagine if, instead of our current system of compulsory education, it was the parents' responsibility to get the children to a particular level of learning. They were in charge of the children's core and love of learning stages, as the Thomas Jefferson Education people put it. This can happen at any age. It would be up to the parents how they could get that child there, be it a school or at home, early or late. Then around high school age, when young adults are really open to new learning and study (if their core and love of learning has been nurtured) they test to attend a high school where they begin to learn the real founding of our system of government, where it came from, who the Founders studied, etc. They learn history, rhetoric, and logic to the point where they can make informed decisions about laws and elected leaders. This would be something each student would work through with a mentor, at their own pace, to get to a place that the student and mentor have agreed upon at the beginning. And you can't vote until you have proven that you have this basic understanding.

I'm dreaming. I'm seeing this begin in my oldest son, but people don't believe me. He has begun to have enough play and is setting his sights higher. He behaves well in public because he is respected at home not bullied and directed.

I think we set our kids in these public institutions which cram them and bore them to death with reading, writing, and arithmetic. They are so bored and dumbed down and defeated by the time they get to high school that all they want to do is escape. When they finally do, they flee from any kind of learning at all, leave the running of the country to those who are ambitious enough to take control and sit back and beg for someone to take care of them.

I'm just now starting to love learning again after all the schools did. I'm finally learning some of what I should have been deep in studying from the start. And I didn't do poorly in school. I did pretty darn well actually. But it never prepared me to make an educated vote. I didn't learn about our economy, our system of government, or why either are important. I just learned who the authority was and to respect it. By the time I left high school, I believed I was done. I had jumped the hoops and was ready to join the work force, never to think again. That isn't how our country works though.

Our republican style of government sets us free to govern ourselves. If we don't understand that, we can't vote to keep it. We can't expect someone else to guard our freedoms. They are unalienable rights, but we give them up voluntarily when we refuse to understand our history, use our logic and reason, and know what our priorities are.

Week One of Hillsdale College's "Constitution 101"

Please forgive my "stream of consciousness" style of writing. I've got to get these ideas out, but haven't had the discipline to create a coherent essay just yet.

My favorite part of this week's reading was from Calvin Coolidge in 1926 about the Declaration of Independence.

"It is often asserted that the world has made a great deal of progress since 1776, that we have had new thoughts and new experiences which have given us a great advance over the people of that day, and that we may therefore very well discard their conclusions for something more modern. But that reasoning can not be applied to this great charter. If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions."

I'm also going through "Easy Lessons on the Constitution". Our Constitution is supposed to be simple. Our laws are not supposed to be so long and confusing so that only a specialist can understand them. The idea was that an educated and independent population could rule itself.

How can a population continue these ideals if it is not thoroughly educated in how these documents were created and how it operates? Why is it that now, when I'm almost 40 years old, I'm just sitting down to learn this? How can a person make an educated decision about how to vote if they are completely unaware of how the system works and why?

Oh! And there was a question from a viewer (of the class) that asked if these ideas of liberty and freedom are so natural why didn't they just explode across the middle east when we invaded them. My answer is that you can't spread these ideas by force. It has to come from within. If another country had come to the colonies and told the founding fathers that King George was a tyrant and we had to overthrow him and start our own democracy, the ideas would not have taken hold either. It has to filter in through the people and they have to take the responsibility.

Man, that's completely wild. I really need to work on writing an essay to get my point across. Ugg..more work to do.

Finished "The Prince"

I have to say I wasn't excited to read Machiavelli, but it proved to be a great read. The Prince reads much like political commentary today. Even though I was lost with the names and places of his time, the political schemes and reasoning were something you would hear on the political news channels and blogs today. I wouldn't say I loved reading it, but it is comforting to know that these things were going on 600 years ago and that the world will probably go marching along to a similar beat for many years to come.

The next book on the list is something I've never heard of, "Gargantua and Pantagruel" by Francois Rabelais. French guy. Obviously. Written about the same time as "The Prince". We shall see...