He’s said a lot of dumb things, but one of the worst was when he answered a question about the most important functions of the federal government. He included education as a top federal priority. This is the kind of thing you’d expect from a college sophomore, not a potential President. I suspect, as in so many things, Trump had never really thought it through, and just assumed an important government function like education was in part the province of the national government. Apparently, the concepts of federalism, the separation of powers, and the restrictions on the power and scope of the federal government are alien to him, even though they’re the essence of the Constitution.
Since he’s got a one in five chance of getting elected, someone needs to explain a few of these things to him. The reason most college students are as dumb as a Trump is because of the radical leftist teacher’s unions, and their stranglehold on American education. Abolishing the Department of Education would be a mighty blow against these unions. It would begin the process of restoring local control of the schools.
But that’s just the first step. Getting control of education in this country has got to come from the bottom up. Local school boards should be taken over, and if that’s not possible responsible parents need to get their kids into another learning environment, whether at home or in a charter or private school.
These are the thoughts that occur on our 240th birthday. I shudder when I think of what an average college student knows about the Declaration of Independence. In many cases it’s virtually nothing. In others, it’s the anti-American Howard Zinn’s take on things.
It was, in fact, and always will be, the greatest day in all our history. What an exciting time to be alive! By collectively placing their necks in a traitor’s noose, the Founders sent out a challenge to their fellow colonists. Are you, too, willing to die for your freedom, and for that of your posterity? When enough said yes, the war would be won, eventually. Even if not on a battlefield, it would eventually be won. Conquering three million armed people three thousand miles away was too much for the British. As long as the American will to freedom was intact, they could never lose.
Smart Brits, like Edmund Burke, understood that. I believe the British commander in America, Gen. William Howe, knew it as well. He was convinced of it even before the Declaration, at Bunker Hill. The British thought they were facing an unruly mob, that would run when assaulted by professional redcoats. But it wasn’t a mob, it was a militia of Minutemen, and they didn’t run. Far from it, they killed so many British troops that the British recoiled from ever challenging them again.
I think Howe admired them. They were his cousins. After the French and Indian War the citizens of some colony paid for the erection of a statue in London of Gage’s older brother who had died in fighting near Ticonderoga in the French and Indian War. He was inordinately proud of his family, and felt kindly toward a people who honored it. Later in the war Gage missed a number of opportunities to destroy Washington. It’s almost as though he didn’t want to. They’d served together in the same war as his brother, at the Battle of Monongahela in 1755.
And then there’as the story of Patrick Ferguson, the finest sniper in the British Army, who had demonstrated his skills to the King. He had a rifle of his own design, a breech loader, and it was deadly. Not knowing who he was, he had a clear shot at Washington, but he passed it up. Later, he said that he just didn’t have the stomach to kill such a fine looking man.
So, after 240 years of separation, I say let’s join back up with the Brits, who are, in fact, our cousins. You start with a free trade zone between us, just like the old Zollverein in early 19th century Germany. It led to German unification, and who can say what form our renewal of bonds with the mother country will take? That’s up to us, and them.
Do the English want the American Bill of Rights? Since it’s got the Second Amendment, probably not. So actual Union is off the table. But complete freedom of passage is possible, allowing citizens of each flow freely back and forth.
If you’re British, you’ve got a lot to think about right now. Good luck, mates.
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