If anyone has been kind of thinking that there has been a bit of a socialist agenda creeping into our society, I can assure you that it's not paranoia. The trend toward socialism has become increasingly apparent and is similar to something that might be included in a movie about Adolf Hitler's rise to power in Germany in the 1930s, his deliberate and progressive overthrow of anyone with contrary beliefs, and an infiltration of the educational system that will train children from birth in the government-approved worldview.
Some might wonder how I could make such a leap, but if you look at the facts, the leap is nothing but a small step for the observant mind.
In regards to a rise in power of socialists in the United States, all you have to do is take a look at the Democratic Party’s deliberate trend away from concerns about an individual freedoms and rights toward feminism, universal healthcare, universal childcare, and a one-world economy. In 1992, I believe Bill Clinton was elected because the average citizen didn’t really understand that the Clintons are socialists and socialism typically leads to communism, but now – 16 years later - there is no excuse. Hillary and Barack have both made it clear that they believe that the government should be in control of our money, our children, and our choices.
Concerning the deliberate and progressive overthrow of anyone with contrary beliefs, have you noticed that science used to be a, well, a science? This included testing of ideas, contradicting conclusions that proved to be false, and a constant search for new truths. It is through this type of science that we discovered that great scientists such as Hippocrates, Galileo, and Einstein made their greatest discoveries.
Today in our society, our children are trained not to question scientific ideas such as those proposed by Charles Darwin. Throughout human history, scientists have been the one group of people who absolutely insisted on testing theories to prove them correct or disprove them (even though they sometimes died for their findings). Today scientists are insulted and often lose their jobs for being brave enough to question the Darwinian theories. And yes, they are theories; Darwin’s ideas are not based on the principles of good science set forth in the scientific method – observe, collect data, hypothesize, test. He did do the first three, but without the fourth step, it is still a theory. Regardless of what you think about evolution, religion, etc., you have to admit that there is definitely an opposition to any mindset not willing to accept evolutionary ideas.
Now, for the real test of whether or not we are headed toward a downfall of our democratic system of government, just take a look at our education system. This is where it really starts to get interesting!
From 1990 – 1991, Hillary Clinton, then first lady of Arkansas, was paid $102,000 for her work as a consultant to the National Center on Education and the Economy (NCEE), an organization subsidized by taxpayers. During this time, she and Bill worked with a man named Marc Tucker and to devise a plan for educational reform. When Bill was elected in 1992, Tucker sent Hillary a letter (now known as “Hillary’s Letter”) that reviewed some of the educational initiatives they had planned, such as:
- an educational system that "literally extends from cradle to grave and is the same system for everyone" and is a “seamless web.” Anyone notice the push for children to be in “educational programs” at younger and younger ages? Ever heard of public-funded daycare, indoctrination into liberal worldviews of homosexuality in kindergarten, or states trying to increase homeschool regulation? All of these are part of the “web.”
- encouragement for the Clintons to act quickly and "move like lightning" to implement the agenda set forth in this educational plan, further stating that "major parts of the whole system would be in operation in a majority of the states within three years from the passage of the initial legislation." This did in fact happen.
- Government controlled education linked directly to the marketplace with "rewards [for] students who meet the national standards with further education and good jobs” What about a free-market society and incentive to do well because work in itself is a reward? Since the government decides who gets the rewards, what about non-public school students? (Remember the incident at the Washington County Library when the mayor didn’t want a homeschool program there because we weren’t a government school? Don’t kid yourself – rewards (and jobs!) would go to students educated in government schools.
- Free college to everyone who meets minimum requirements. Are you ready for higher taxes again – to benefit the masses of society?
- Students are referred to throughout the letter as “human resources.” These “human resources” would be trained in specific job-related skills, which would be selected based on the students’ background, family information, educational performance, etc. Let’s see, how many ways can I say this is wrong?!? Privacy invasion? We’re already allowing unborn babies to be aborted and children born with severe handicaps to be denied nutrition and care until they die. If children do not perform to standard, what will be our “solution” for them – euthanasia based on lack of performance?
If you think this was just a letter and I am exaggerating, think again. Do you remember Goals 2000, the Educate America Act, the School-to-Work Opportunities Act, and the Improving America's Schools Act? These were all put into place in 1994 and are a direct product of the NCEE initiatives.
One of the scariest points of the NCEE’s educational reform agenda is to require that "All available front-line jobs - whether public or private – must be listed in [the government run employment system] by law." Furthermore, employers would have to pay the government for this service of providing the “human resources” for these jobs. When surveyed, employers adamantly opposed this idea so the NCEE had a slick recommendation:
“We propose that Bill [Clinton] take a leaf out of the German book. One of the most important reasons that large German employers offer apprenticeship slots to German youngsters is that they fear, with good reason, that if they don't volunteer to do so, the law will require it. Bill could gather a group of leading executives and business organization leaders, and tell them straight out that he will hold back on submitting legislation to require a training levy, provided that they commit themselves to a drive to get employers to get their average expenditures on front-line employee training up to 2% of front-line employee salaries and wages within two years. If they have not done so within that time, then he will expect their support when he submits legislation requiring the training levy.”
Now that’s just scary! This is not social fiction, people! Are you aware of increasing government control of personal property (ever heard of eminent domain?), a loss of personal freedoms (ever heard of required DNA testing for jobs, mandatory immunizations to attend school, or case workers visiting homes without revealing any charges against the parents?), denial of religious freedom (do I even need to give examples for this one?). These things are happening and now that the ball is rolling, I fear that it is going to be very difficult to stop.
In a speech in May 2007, Hillary made the following comments:
"It’s time for a new beginning, for an end to government of the few, by the few and for the few, time to reject the idea of an ’on your own’ society and to replace it with shared responsibility for shared prosperity. I prefer a ’we’re all in it together’ society."
Does this not sound like socialism to anyone but me?
Lest it look like I’m solely picking on Hillary, Barack Obama has been involved with the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) since 1996. His campaign is not only receiving financial support from socialist groups, but also DSA supporters are helping Obama’s campaign in other ways.
His comments are no less frightening than Hillary’s either, but he has simply been a bit more subtle. When recently explaining the issue of universal healthcare to a group in North Carolina, Obama told a five-year-old, “We've got to make sure that people who have more money help the people who have less money.” He then asked "If you had a whole pizza, and your friend had no pizza, would you give him a slice?" While this sounds like a nice thing to do and YES, I encourage my children to share, don’t you think it is kind of ironic that Obama has a salary of $162,100 per year and the median income for average American families is $46,326. Perhaps Obama would be the first to offer us a piece of his pizza?
The fact that Obama makes a salary almost four times that of the “average” American family. In 2005, Bill Clinton made $7.5 million giving speeches. He and Hillary have a reported owning assets worth between $10 and $50 billion. OK, now while I’d really like to have a piece of that pie, there are many questions that should be asked, but there is one that demands to be asked. Would the Clintons truly be willing to give up all their assets to benefit the “village” of which she is so fond of speaking? If not (and I seriously doubt anyone would), then this is just an example of why we will still always have a gap between rich and poor in our country or, in this case, a gap between the poor and the stinking, filthy rich.
Our founding fathers were so wise in their decisions and I am eternally grateful that they established our country with the freedoms we have enjoyed for over 200 years. I love my country, our Constitution, my Lord, and my family. I will NOT teach my children anything that is mandated by the state that contradicts the truth of the Bible. You do not have to be a Christian to agree with me. You do not have to homeschool to agree with me. As a matter of fact, you do not have to agree with me at all. That is part of the beauty of our country. If you don’t agree with me, though, then it may not be long before Big Brother is telling you exactly with whom you must agree!
Comments
Mar. 9, 2008 - Well Stated
Posted by Char5
Good for you, this was a wonderful post. Well researched and well stated. What can we do to get it out to more people. Remember, despite recent misinformation by the media, Ron Paul is still in the running for President. We can write him into office if we have to. I am going to post a link to this post on my blog.
Love and prayers,
Char
Mar. 29, 2008 - I agree 99%
Posted by friend
I agree with virtuallly everything that you said (and it echoes what I have been saying for the past three or four years to everyone who will listen and many who would not) -- with one small, tiny exception.
Regarding Darwin -- in Darwin's day, and even through the greater part of the twentieth century, evolution was a theory largely untested supported only by observation; however, today we now know (through albeit unintentional and unfortunate methods) the basic principles of evolution are being seen right before our eyes in the agricultural, microbiological, and health sciences world. The simplest and most well known of these is MRSA -- drug resistance -- which was NEVER seen prior to the latter half of the twentieth century.
Much of the antievolution debate centers not on the validity of its science; rather, it is the difficulty in the concepts reconciliation with traditional religious beliefs. Religion and science have never made good bedfellows, and today is no different. I am a devout man and I sincerely believe that God endowed us with intelligence for a reason -- and conflict will arise from time to time as a result of this.
We are losing our way one personal freedom at a time. I sincerely believe that, when our forefathers look down, they are ashamed and disgusted of what the government has become... and they would probably lead another revolution.
Mar. 30, 2008 - The cat is out of the bag.
Posted by MichelleL
I know that most Republicans realize that Democrats are in fact socialists. In fact if you type in Socialists and Democrats and do a google search, you will find there is no difference.
Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity are two Talk show Hosts that are trying to get this information out to the public. The problem is -that those that are following Hillary and Barak are being lulled to sleep. (Sort of like the frog in the hot water-before he knows it he has been boiled.)
Many people don't want personal responsibility-they want to government to fix it all.
Just one thing to add. Hillary, Barak and John McCain all have the same goal of a one world government in mind.
They just take different stands on how to go about it.
(They are all members of the Council for Foreign Relations-and their ultimate goal is to unite the world into a new world order.)
No matter what-I personally I would never vote for anyone that thinks that Partial Birth abortion is okay or voted against a ban on it.
I'm glad you took the time to make others more aware.
Blessings
Apr. 13, 2008 - wow
Posted by K
it is really disappointing to see someone who sees care of all in our country as "communism". this makes me so sad...that so called "conservatives" and "christians" could be so closed-minded that they see those who support universal healthcare, in a society where millions go without adequate care, as communists. i'm sure you'd be singing a different tune if you didn't have adequate health care for your family. while obama and clinton are not perfect, or even close to it, obama's message in particular at least offers hope that our money would be spent on something beyond warfare, corporate padding, and that tax breaks may go to those who need them, not the rich.
how sad this post is.
Apr. 13, 2008 - response to comment
Posted by Sonya Haskins
I never said I wasn't for providing health care to those to need it. What I said was that when the GOVERNMENT requires higher and higher taxes of people in order to provide universal services (whether that be health care, education, food, whatever), that IS socialism and typically socialist governments lead to communism. So I stand by what I said in the essay. I would also like to say that those "conservatives" and "Christians" you mentioned are the people who traditionally, throughout history, have been the people who have cared for people in need. Christians DO believe in universal health care, but that it should be provided as an outreach of the church, NOT the government. Our Constitution never guarantees the right to "healthcare" (which is being promoted), but it does ensure our freedoms of religion and speech, for example (which are being gradually taken away). As a side note, my husband and I have given every last penny some months to make sure foster children had clothes or an elderly person had their electric bill paid. Ironically, I don't see the Clintons or Obamas giving their MILLIONS to those in need, but yet they convince people that we need to "share" everything - it still just doesn't apply to them. I agree that McCain seems to be not much better than Clinton and Obama in his policies, but at least he doesn't support the murder of innocent unborn children and immoral "marriages" between people of the same sex. By the way, who do you think is paying for abortions and health care for people when they get AIDS under the Clinton and Obama plans? It will be you and me. Educate yourself about what is really going on and you will see that the points in my essay are not only valid, but if we continue along the path we're headed, America is surely doomed to a completely different future than that envisioned by our forefathers.
Jun. 8, 2008 - third party choices
Posted by Faith
May I suggest an even more up and coming 3rd party for those who wish for truer Christian values than the Libertarian group offers? Please check out www.constitutionparty.com and see if you don't agree! Whatever we do, we've GOT to send a message and by jumping party lines it tells your leader you are FED UP with the status quo! I have jumped from Republican as I can no longer see a line dividing them from their ruthessly liberal counterparts. I cannot in good faith continue voting for "the lesser of two evils" when I see there is another choice that truly does stand up for my Christian heritage and values. Thank you! www.constitutionparty.com
Sep. 18, 2008 - You are rationalizing a personal agenda.
Posted by Nick
Theism, Science and Politics
Politics:
I suppose that you think that the governmental bailouts of various private banking giants is NOT socialist? How does the current administration not constitute "big government"? Where is their accountability? Let's be accurate here, we live under "corporate socialism"; we as US citizens are beholden to large corporations and their lobbyists; these privileged entities have infiltrated and supplanted our democracy, which we no longer have.
It is worth pointing out several things here:
1) The democratic party has become increasingly more corporatized in order to compete with the power of Reaganite neo-conservatives who bear almost no resemblance to traditional conservatism.
2)You deform the usage of the already vague term "socialism" to fit your agenda. In forcing the everything under the banner of this term, you are able to carelessly conflate the authoritarian/libertarian economic scale with the right/left social scale, which allows you to avoid a fruitful, full-spectrum analysis.
This full-spectrum political system can be quantified using the cartesian coordinate system where the abscissa maps economic ideology and travels from left to right wing (- to +), and the ordinate maps social iodeology, spanning libertarianism to authoritarianism (- to +).
3) The progressive movement in the US advocates for the defense of individualism, whereas our neo-conservative movement wants to use the government to interfere in that individualism, apart from the ability to profit regardless of who it hurts. One of the ways this is done is by legislating the commingling of theism in a public arena, which is expressly prohibited by the laws of our land. Our country was founded on the principle "freedom from religion", as our English forebears were trying to escape the tyranny of legislated theism in their homeland.
4) Hitler was a social authoritarian and economically right wing (Quadrant 1), as are ALL of the democrats and republicans who ran for the 2008 US Presidency bar Mike Gravel (Quadrant 4), Ralph Nader and Dennis Kucinich (Quadrant 3) and Ron Paul (Quadrant 1 but almost Quadrant 4).
The US is very authoritarian/right-wing by geopolitical standards.
The EU is "socialized" and they still manage to profit, have free health care, longer paid vacations. free market capitalism, stronger currency, more anthropological views on culture, more wide-spread intellectualism, longer life expectancy and a lower infant mortality rate, and they have managed this without spiralling forever into political extremism, esp. communism.
It's nice to see you trying to defend ignorance and profit over intellect and a qualitative (vs quantitative)human existence. Nice tradition to cling to.
------
Theism vs Science:
5) When you say "there is definitely an opposition to any mindset not willing to accept evolutionary ideas", you are missing the mark. These people are ridiculed because they advocate NON-FALSIFIABLE religious hypotheses in direct contradiction to the scientific notion of falsifiability!
As you pointed out (much to the detriment of your argument), a cogent scientific theory is inherently falsifiable (as well as somehting that makes specific claims/predictions), and so you know, creationism is NOT FALSIFIABLE. It does not even come close to being methodological, let alone scientifically methodological.
(FYI- Lamarckian evolutionary theory is not widely accepted but it IS falsifiable and makes specific predictions, so it is not cast aside so easily.)
As if this was not enough you go on to say:
"I will NOT teach my children anything ... that contradicts the truth of the Bible"..
Let's juxtapose with your previous comment:
"there is definitely an opposition to any mindset not willing to accept evolutionary ideas"
So you expect everyone to be open-minded enough to respect your dogmatic metaphysical beliefs, yet you categorically refuse to respect anything that contradicts your beliefs for better or for worse? Wow, you are a hypocrite.
----
Sep. 18, 2008 - **Edit
Posted by Nick
authoritarian/libertarian economic scale with the right/left social scale =
authoritarian/libertarian social scale with the right/left economic scale.
Sep. 25, 2008 - Who is being dogmatic?
Posted by sonyahaskins
In response to Nick's very energetic comments, I offer the following:
First off, one of the main reasons we homeschool is to ensure that our children receive a well-balanced education that is based on historically accurate information. Seeing as Nick cannot quote the First Ammendment correctly, which states "Freedom OF religion," NOT "Freedom FROM religion," my guess is that he did not receive an education that included use of the actual historical documents, but instead was probably taught by a teacher with religious prejudices that he/she brought into the classroom.
Nick also wrote: "Our country was founded on the principle 'freedom from religion', as our English forebears were trying to escape the tyranny of legislated theism in their homeland." While they were escaping legislated religion, the first settlers of this country very much wanted a land where they could worship God.
In responding to my essay, Nick also wrote: "So you expect everyone to be open-minded enough to respect your dogmatic metaphysical beliefs, yet you categorically refuse to respect anything that contradicts your beliefs for better or for worse? Wow, you are a hypocrite."
First off, I didn't realize that this was a forum to call people names and be rude, but when you don't have a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, it is easy to justify the attacking sort of language used in the comment. And my relationship with the Lord is not by my own doing, but through grace and mercy so I am very thankful for this wonderful blessing. Now in response to the actual comments, I never said I didn't RESPECT other beliefs. There is a HUGE difference in disagreeing with someone and not respecting them. I greatly respect scientists such as Darwin and others even today who promote evolutionary theory. I even respect the theories themselves. You are the one taking it out of context. What I did say was that I will not teach it as fact when they cannot prove it. That is a personal decision - just as it sounds like your personal decision is not to share my same religious beliefs.
In a society based on religious freedoms, I completely agree that you should have the freedom to worship (or not) as you choose, but you simply reaffirmed the points I brought out in the essay ... There are people today who have no desire to allow religious freedom. Most of the Christians I know wholeheartedly agree that people should be able to worship or not worship or even not believe in God. The problem is that people like you are the ones who are dogmatic - you want us to either agree with evolution and deny our faith or else you attack.
Sonya Haskins
P.S. Also, I definitely think the government bailouts of banking institutions is exactly what I'm talking about. Although I did talk more about democrats in the essay, I definitely did not say that republicans aren't also at fault. I think anything that leads to more "big brother" is socialist. On that hopefully we all can agree. And I have no idea what your title means. I have no personal agenda here except to help others think about these issues. If that's the accusation, then I'm definitely guilty. : )
Sep. 30, 2008 - Again, wow.
Posted by Nick
Sonya -
1) "Freedom of" versus "Freedom From" -
You cannot have "freedom of religion" without "freedom from religion". Our forbears were escaping forced adherence to a government sanctioned church, which is widely accepted by scholars. This is an example of "freedom from religion, specifically from the Church of England. As a counterexample, the Puritans, who held their membership and allegiance to the C of E, did not have "freedom of religion" as they did not have "freedom from religion".
Citing text and offering no historically relevant interpretation of said text is meaningless; you have to look at the impetus of those who penned the text in the first place.
2) The term "hypocrite" -
I hate to do this but I have to, seeing as how you think this term constitutes ad hominem.
Quoted from Merriam-Webster:
1 : a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion
2 : a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings.
I did not call you names,attack you, nor was I rude when I applied the term "hypocrite" to you in my previous post. Let's try and be accurate here.
3) Respect -
You: "I even respect the theories themselves." Really? What about your behavior or statements on science from your opening post suggests that to me?
I was basing what I said on your posted comments; demanding that highly subjective, non-falsifiable, non-testable, non-methodological, non-empirical religious dogma be taken seriously within the falsifiable, objectively accessible and methodological domain of productive science represents a gross lack of understanding of the sciences in general. This does not constitute respect.
Simply saying that you have respect for something after the fact is both effortless and meaningless.
4) You: " What I did say was that I will not teach it as fact when they cannot prove it."
Umm, not exactly. What you wrote was:
"I will NOT teach my children anything that is mandated by the state that contradicts the truth of the Bible."
Theistic "truth" is self-referential, and thus not falsifiable or mutually experienceable.
The Bible cannot prove itself.
The Bible is also inherently contradictory, especially if you are a biblical literalist or if you believe that it is the inerrant word of God.
If you are not a literalist, then you are forced to cherry-pick allegory and literalism on a human whim and then to parade it around as absolute truth, when there is no such thing.
Science is mutually experienceable, and perhaps most importantly is falsifiable. Any scientific theory can always be called into question and falsified.
Nothing in reality can be absolutely proven true, and if you think that it can, provide me with a single example. The best we have (with regard to interpreting the physical world) is science, as it uses every human tool at our disposal to arrive at highly specific and probable truth interpretations.
---
I agree with you about curbing governmental intervention, though I think organized religion is a crutch for unoriginal and uncritical people who refuse to question anything that they can be scared into believing in the first place. I'd be willing to bet dollars to doughnuts you were raised in a religious home, or rather that you didn't arrive at religion as a panacea to your metaphysical questions of your own accord.
Please acknowledge my counterpoints from the previous post.
It would also be great if you could explain to me why you even have to acknowledge personal choices like homosexuality, feminism etc..if your faith is so strong. These are people who obviously don't believe the same things as you, so you should "turn the other cheek" or even "forgive them", like Christ would do. Better yet, leave them alone and stop pretending that you have any real answers to probelms that you don't even remotely understand outside of the context of your own subjective belief system.
One last thing: wasn't Jesus Christ supposed to be both poor and compassionate? How do you reconcile the fact that you are railing against things like universal healthcare and free college in favor of lower taxes with your alleged Christ-like, excuse me, Christian values? That seems rather selfish to me. Ohhh wait, you only care about adherents to *your* religion. Heh, how foolish of me.
Sep. 30, 2008 - Thank you...
Posted by sonyahaskins
Fortunately, since I do believe in a free society, I appreciate the fact that you have taken the time to share your thoughts and I will leave those here for other to read. I don't agree with much of what you've said and even where I do agree with you, it appears to me that you're simply looking for a "fight." I've found that people who "hate" religious people tend to argue without being willing to see the other point of view, which is exactly what the point of the original essay. I respect your freedoms/opinion, but you cannot seem to see beyond your limited world-view. I will not engage in any further discussion with you on this matter. Have a great Fall. Sonya
Sep. 30, 2008 - P.S....
Posted by sonyahaskins
I did want to add one more thing. I was NOT raised in a religious home. My mother had me when she was a teenager. I do not know who my father is. My grandfather molested and raped my mom from the time she was very young and he had affairs with many different women. I was raised around alcohol, lots of screaming, fighting, cursing, running from the law, running to the law for protection, trying to find a safe place to sleep for a night, and eventually I went to live with my grandparents when I was 13 because that was better than the abusive stepfathers. I moved out when I was 17. Someone invited me to church when I was 15 and I was saved by the GRACE of the Lord. I was not taught to be religious, nor did I just "develop" into a Christian. It is a miraculous, wonderful experience and I pray that you would ask the Lord to come into your heart as well. It really does change your life - for eternity.
Sonya
Oct. 1, 2008 - Avoidance and Manipulation
Posted by Nick
Sonya -
Let us be crystal clear:
I never said that I "hate" religious people, nor am I looking for a "fight". I was challenging you to show the rationale behind your vitriolic opinions in a debate/productive public argument. It is anti-intellectual and disingenuous to try and thwart productive arguments by conflating them with fighting. The fact that you failed to rise to this challenge of your world-view through argumentation hints at the amount of insight (or lack thereof) that went into the development of said world-view.
Bear in mind that you invited an argument/debate when you broadcasted your personal opinions to everyone with internet access. To make things worse, you opine a lot about other people's lifestyle choices and concepts of freedom. This needs to be challenged and you should be capable and willing to rise to that challenge.
If you are overly-sensitive about your beliefs, then don't broadcast them over the internet, because sooner or later you are going to have to account for those beliefs.
Given your background, I am curious as to whether or not you are pro-choice when it comes to abortion.
Also, I'd like to ask you what kind of god would continually feed the rich while the poor starve en masse?
I'll ask you again to respond to actual arguments that I made in previous posts.
My world-view is limited only by the pusuit of understanding, truth and freedom, thus not very limited.
Your world-view is limited to a single book that was written thousands of years ago by uneducated, violent and churlish people. Did you ever read the Old Testament? It is one of the most violent books ever written!
VTY,
Nick
Oct. 1, 2008 - response for Nick
Posted by sonyahaskins
My response to all your comments, as you requested, is located here: http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/homemakerscottage/598566/
Dec. 2, 2008 - Well done :)
Posted by Anonymous
Well done Sonya. Keep up the great work and God bless you :)
Feb. 2, 2009 - sad
Posted by Anonymous
sad that 80% of homeschoolers are poor, paranoid and religous fanatics afraid to let their kids out of their sights for fear. Get therapy. Kids need to be around their peers, not under your apron strings. Bet your on nfood stamps, welfare and every other "social" service there is.
Feb. 2, 2009 - Response to Anonymous
Posted by Anonymous
I sure wish you had the courage to let us know your REAL name and contact information rather than "anonymous." It would be nice to have a real debate then.
First off, as for keeping children under the apron strings, no homeschool parent has to apologize for keeping their children sheltered from the evils of this world. The reason one in four girls is sexually abused, teen pregnancy is rampant, drug abuse and weapons are all over schools is because parents do NOT shelter their children. Children need love, shelter, training, and guidance from people more knowledgeable than them.
As far as homeschoolers getting food stamps and other sorts of government aid, I don't know of a single homeschool family who is receiving government aid. There are many who qualify, but they refuse to take it. Homeschool families usually have one working parent, yet they MAKE their finances work by using hand-me-downs, living in small homes, growing much of their own food, etc.
Concerning your response to the article, it's great to see people reading and responses are always welcome, but if you want to have meaningful discourse, post appropriate messages, not attacks.
By the way, I'm not sure why some people are so opposed to homeschooling and parents "sheltering" their children or training them in the Lord OR people trying to avoid socialism. If you want to live in a socialist country, move. As for me, I would like for America to remember the principles under which it was founded. I support your right to disagree with me, but it's funny how those like yourself want YOUR freedoms, but you want to deny freedom to others.
Sonya Haskins
www.thehomeschooladvocate.com
Sep. 4, 2009 - This Essay is Great !
Posted by Anonymous
This is a great essay. I am 20 years old in college and have a research essay of my choice to complete. I really would like to talk about the socialistic slide of the U.S. government and came across this essay. I was wondering if you could perhaps send me some information as to which you came across these great points so that I may also put them into my essay. I feel that if I research this topic I may get an "A" but it would really touch my heart if I could convince some of the other classmates to listen to my point of view and research things themselves. I feel as if our society and young adults these days don't put much effort into finding out things for themselves and listen to the media which I feel is corrupt. Anything you can send me would be great my email is Gisela0704@yahoo.com
Oct. 30, 2009 - Well Written
Posted by Anonymous
I cannot agree anymore!