I am not proud that the State Board of Education of Texas has acted in such a way as to give rise to the belief that the entire population of this state is, to put it gently, loco
Note: Wimberleyite Mickey Trent forwarded this letter. Apparently, the recent actions of the Texas Board of Education are unsettling to a lot of folks with a different take on what our schools' history books should properly teach our kids. Here, Ms. Trent is calling on the remaining sane States of our Union to resist purchasing textbooks with the SBOE's version of history.
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Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.
I must begin this statement by establishing my identity and background. I was born in Texas, and but for a few years just after college, have lived in this state for all of my life. I was educated in the public school systems of three progressively larger Texas cities and graduated from a university in Texas. This is by way of announcing that I am proud of my state, but I am not at all proud of the current state of my state.
I am, first of all, not proud that we have a sitting governor who, if justice were done, should have been removed from office under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States which states: No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
The Governor of Texas who now asks to be elected to yet another term did just that – gave aid or comfort to those who proclaim their enmity toward our country when he stood before an anti-government rally and suggested secession of this state from the union. He has continued to suggest secession without cessation and has aligned himself with those in at least one other state who also speak of secession.
Second of all, I am not proud that the State Board of Education of Texas has acted in such a way as to give rise to the belief that the entire population of this state is, to put it gently, loco. Here is a suggestion for correcting the undue influence the 10 uber-conservative members of that body apparently have regarding the adoption of information to be contained in textbooks that will serve the nation’s schools.
Texas has always been very proud of its Alamo defenders. The story of Colonel Travis’s line in the sand is one Texans learn early on. It is time to draw another line in the sand and to ask our sister states to cross over and stand with us to defend facts that should be available to students who deserve unbiased information. Those who are the future of this nation should receive education not indoctrination.
I call upon the other 49 states to join those of us in Texas who deplore the actions of this board. I suggest that they can do this by telling publishers of textbooks that they will not buy any materials that incorporate the omissions and/or misstatements demanded by the Texas Ten. The only thing that works in the country today seems to be monetary pressure. If there is a blanket refusal to spend state money on the incomplete, slanted material proposed by the Texas Ten, we might see some reason returned to this process. Within our own state, I call for a serious effort to discover a way to rid this board of those who would pervert the facts in order to promote political and religious views. George Orwell warned us 62 years ago that tyranny through force is but one form of tyranny. Tyranny through control of information is another more insidious form.
M.M. Trent
Wimberley, Texas
4 comments:
Someone has to say something here, so I will.
Right on, Mickey.
Mickey,
I enjoyed your letter about as much as I disagreed with its content. Your diatribe against our Governor is just disingenuous regarding his acts of giving “aid or comfort to those who proclaim their enmity toward our country”. The group he was speaking to was the “Tea Party” patriots who have enmity toward our Government (Obama and Congress) not our country. They, as well as he, were exercising their first amendment right to free speech. Your reference to the 14th Amendment to the Constitution was ludicrous and I must believe it was just your failed attempt at humor. Liberals are just not very funny, pathetic maybe, but just not funny.
I liked the cartoon but your charges about the Board of Education should have included the entire failed Government Education System and called for its immediate disbandment. Your statement that “George Orwell warned us 62 years ago that tyranny through force is but one form of tyranny. Tyranny through control of information is another more insidious form.” would better be directed at Chairman Obama and his minions in Washington.
KILL the BILL
Dear Bill,
I appreciate your comment. It reminded me of my grandpa. He was a dirt farmer and not a well educated man, but he gave me these words to live by and they have served me well all my days. "Never approach a bull from the front, a horse from the rear, nor a fool from any direction".
VFL:
Good ol' Bill is the perfect example of the continued existence of the "Know Nothing" mind set. This information from Wikipedia should sound most familiar. It fits Mr. Bill and his ilk to a, you should excuse the expression, "t". Your point is well made, but I have to doubt that this modern day know nothing would have any idea who Klaus Barbie might be.
"The Know Nothing movement was a nativist American political movement of the 1840s and 1850s. It was empowered by popular fears that the country was being overwhelmed by German and Irish Catholic immigrants, who were often regarded as hostile to U.S. values and controlled by the Pope in Rome. Mainly active from 1854 to 1856, it strove to curb immigration and naturalization, though its efforts met with little success. There were few prominent leaders, and the largely middle-class and entirely Protestant membership fragmented over the issue of slavery. Most ended up joining the Republican Party by the time of the 1860 presidential election.
The movement originated in New York in 1843 as the American Republican Party. It spread to other states as the Native American Party and became a national party in 1845. In 1855 it renamed itself the American Party. The origin of the "Know Nothing" term was in the semi-secret organization of the party. When a member was asked about its activities, he was supposed to reply, 'I know nothing'."
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