A Thought on This Election Day

“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.”

—Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States.

Paul Ryan: "We will Reapply our founding principles"

Paul Ryan says he and Mitt Romney pledge they "will not duck the tough issues" and will "reapply our Founding Principles during his speech at the Republican National Convention in Tampa.

Obama Rally With Stevie Wonder Bombs in Ohio

"I just called to say I love you..."

Cleveland.com is reporting that fewer than 200 people attended a unique get-out-the-vote rally for President Obama featuring legendary Motown musician and entainer Stevie Wonder.  What a shame... 

Unfortunately for the president Beyoncé and J—Z were busy on  a well-deserved date night—you and the first lady know what that’s all about.

Signs, Signs, Everywhere Signs

Most families like businesses make decisions knowing that in the end they will have to pay for their decisions.  On the other hand governments, who have no so-called “skin” in the game and just take and take from the fruits of taxpayers’ labor, with little consequence for government failure.  That is not true for families or the business owner and his employees' families that rely on the business owner'success for their own livlihood.

I now notice that there are "Vote Yes 3X" yard signs strategically placed throughout the city.  I have not seen any of these signs on residents' lawns.  Who is paying for these signs?  I’m fairly confident that the school board members didn’t chip in and pay for these signs with their own money.  And I'm positive Kevin Fischer didn’t donate any money to the cause. ((Smile))

I would love to know which school board member came up with this harebrained idea and which ones voted in favor of it.

We can only hope the District didn't hire a consulting firm for that advice.

Yard signs to sell a $50 million referendum?  I’m sold! Where can I get one of these signs?  My neighbors aren't quite on board with this thing yet.

Consider this, with a population of 35,500—if passed by Franklin voters—this $50 million school expenditure equates to every one of those residents (not only taxpayers), on the hook for $1408.   In reality it will be the property tax payer who will foot the bill.

 In the FRANKLINNOW story “Area schools make the grade on state's report card,” Rick Romano wrote:

Franklin, Greendale and Oak Creek-Franklin Joint school districts this week reported results of state school report cards, signaling a new era in statewide accountability measuring school effectiveness as well as student achievement and progress.

The 2011-12 measurement reported on Oct. 22 showed all three districts achieving overall ratings ranging from "meets expectations" to "exceeds expectations."

Franklin's scores ranged from 76.7 to 81.5 and Greendale's scores ranged from 75.7 to 77.3, all within "exceeds expectation." Oak Creek-Franklin scores ranged from 65.5 to 77.1, with five schools rated "meets expectations and four rated "exceeds expectations."

 Imagine that—and FPS wanted a new high school in 2007.  It’s interesting to me that Greendale’s scores were below Franklin’s even though Greendale recently completed an enormous, shiny new expansion project at its high school;  suggesting that  teachers—not facilities and more than likely parents make the true difference when it comes to education.

RELATED STORIES

• The $50 Million Questions?
• Franklin School Board Approves $50 Million 2011-12 Budget Draft

Do We Still Hold These Truths?

“But a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever.”

—John Adams

In a world rife with moral confusion and corrupt, arbitrary and unlimited government, America's Founding Principles still remain our best access to permanent truths and the best ground from which to question the current direction of our nation. In this video, join Matt Spalding, author of “We Still Hold These Truths” and an authority on American political thought and religious liberty at The Heritage Foundation, as he highlights some everyday Americans on a journey to reclaim our future.

We The People - The Last Line of Defense

We, as citizens, are ultimately responsible for the survival of our republic.

The Future of Democracy in America

The Founding Fathers knew well the kind of government they were trying to avoid, but could only project what their own experiment in government would become. They based this projection on their analysis of governments in the past, on principles derived from natural rights, and on an assessment of the nature of man.  Thomas Jefferson always maintained a great faith in the American people and their capacity for self-government. The success of the Founding Fathers' experiment certainly attests to their wisdom and genius.

 "[When] corruption... has prevailed in those offices (of) government and (has) so familiarized itself as those men otherwise honest could look on it without horror... (then we must) be alive to the suppression of their odious practice and ...bring punishment and brand with eternal disgrace every man guilty of it, whatever his station."—Thomas Jefferson in a letter to W.C.C. Claiborne, 1804.

DO YOU STILL HOLD THESE TRUTHS?  THE TIME TO CHOOSE IS AT HAND.

The Gods Must Be Crazy

I never thought I would see this headline on the Opinion Pages of The Wisconsin State Journal:

"Our pick: Mitt Romney"

In the final hours of the presidential campaign, the largest endorsing newspaper in one of the country's important swing states has thrown its support to Republican presidental candidate Mitt Romney, well, kinda.

Thomas Jefferson's Wisdom Holds True Today

“To preserve ... independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our election between economy and liberty, or profusion and servitude."

—Thomas Jefferson in letter to Samuel Kercheval, June 12, 1816

Video of the Day: The Top 250 Movies of All Time in Less Than 3 Minutes

WARNING: Video contains a couple of F-bombs and is not suitable for young children.

The $50 Million Questions?

School Board Member DEBBIE LARSONBefore you vote on the School Referenda next Tuesday, ask yourself whether the intentions of the Franklin school board are really in the best interests of the students and FPS District taxpayers and can I be certain that this nearly  $50 million will be used as the District told a  FranklinNOW reporter in this article published on October 31?

That is “security, parking, traffic flow and so-called ‘right-sized educational space’ and other important elements...”

We raise these question because in 2007, another FPS refendum was put to voters "based on another FPS survey which voters were told supported building a new high school, when in fact the survey showed voters supported two middle schools.  The 2007 referendum failed.  This decite and maleficence on the part of certain school board members, including current member Debbie Larson (Term expires April 2013) a board member since 2003.

Emails obtained through an open records request revealed then-board vice president Jim Ward (not the state senate candidate) was also heavily involved in this betrayalof taxpayers.

Also, keep in mind that with new and larger facilities, etc., including new football practice fields, utilities and maintainence costs will likely increase.  Where are the estimates from the District for those ongoing expenses?  How can voters be expected to to make an informed decision without all the necessary information?  TRUST?!

Is Franklin Public School District unique to most school districts in America?

We present this qestion to readers because according to the findings in this 32-page, 2012 report on the surge in school staffing  by The Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and nonpartisan organization. 

The Friedman Foundation is solely dedicated to advancing Rose and Milton Friedman’s vision of school choice for all children.  The Friedman Foundation was first known as the Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation and was established in 1996 to promote school choice as the most effective and equitable way to improve the quality of K-12 education in America.  Teachers and their unions view school choice as the West Nile Virus of public education.  Competition is bad--monopolies are good, as long as they are the monopoly.

The Friedman Foundation is dedicated to research, education, and outreach on the vital issues and implications related to choice in K-12 education and in 2012 issued this 32-page report on school staffing.

In its Executive Summary this report begins:

America’s K-12 public education system has experienced tremendous historical growth in employment, according to the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics.  Between fiscal year (FY) 1950 and FY 2009, the number of K-12 public school students in the United States increased by 96 percent while the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) school employees grew 386 percent.

Public schools grew staffing at a rate four times faster than the increase in students over that time period.

Of those personnel, teachers’ numbers increased 252 percent while administrators and other staff experienced growth of 702 percent, more than seven times the increase in students.

That said, exactly who are taxpayers footing the bill to "right-size educational space" for?

Video of the Day: Taylor Swift performing We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together (66,164,390 hits)

Music video by Taylor Swift performing We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together. ©: 2012 Big Machine Records, LLC.

Opinions & Commentary From Around the Web: Week of October 25

• Paul Ryan: How Conservatism Helps the Poor (The Heritage Foundation)
• Looking Beyond Election Day: The Issues That Threaten to Derail the Nation (John W. Whitehead, The Rutherford Institute)
• Why Is Mexico Drug War Being Ignored? (CATO Institute)
• A Critical Look at Administrative Bloat in Public Schools (Heritage—Foundry)

Video of the Day: Little Girl Cries Over Bronco Bama and Mitt Romney

I can relate to this little sweetie.

“Branco Bama.” Cute…

Update on Tuesday, November 6, 2012 at 7:44 AM by Basil Ryan

It Ain’t Over Until January 6, 2013.

Video of the Day: Obama-Style Halloween

Even American kids know it’s wrong to “share the wealth" without the consent of the "sharer."  It's not so easy takin' candy from a baby--is it?

Hurricane Sandy’s Effect on Our National Treasures

We were concerned about the path of “Super Storm” Sandy and whether it might have damaged  or destroyed  irreplacable historical treasures on the east coast, especially those in the states that made up the 13 original colonies.

Today we received an email from the Thomas Jefferson Foundation which stated:

Some of you have asked how Monticello fared during Hurricane Sandy, so I thought I would send an update.

We didn't lose any of our old trees, and there was no damage to the house, which has withstood more than two hundred years of inclement weather.

We are in much better shape than expected, but our thoughts are with people who suffered serious damage and many of whom are still without power.

Thanks again for the good thoughts. We hope to see you up on the mountaintop soon!

Sincerely,

Leslie G. Bowman

 President and CEO of Monticello

Thanks again for the good thoughts. We hope to see you up on the mountaintop soon!

Stay Connected With Monticello

George Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate, Museum and Gardens has not released any information at this writing.

The press page at James Madison's Montpelier has not released any information at this writing, either.

John Adams’ estate, “Peace field,” in Quincy, MA—just outside Boston  had not released any information either at this writing.

President Obama’s Taxpayer-Backed Green Energy FAILURES

Picking Losers: Why Cronyism Isn't Capitalism

It's no secret that the Obama Administration is notorious for its cronyism especially when it comes to green energy projects—witness Solyndra and venture capitalist firm Vantage Point Venture Partners.

In this video award winning author, screenwriter and media commentator Andrew Klavan examines the differences between cronyism or crony-capitalism and real free market capitalism.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

This Halloween we’re happy to bring you Jon Carpenter’s 1978 horror classic about a psychotic murderer institutionalized since childhood for the murder of his sister, escapes and stalks a bookish teenage girl (Jamie Lee Curtis)  and her friends while the institution's psychiatrist chases his deranged patient through the streets of a small town on Halloween night.

Constitution 201: “Case Study: Religious Liberty in the Administrative State”

Welcome to part 9 of our 10-part lecture series produced by Hillsdale College entitled “Constitution 201.”

Each lecture lasts approximately 40 minutes. Lectures and other study materials will be included and are available to our readers. We expect to present all 10 parts before Election Day.

Each lecture lasts approximately 40 minutes. Lectures and other study materials will be included and are available to our readers. We expect to present all 10 parts before Election Day.

Overview

Post-1960s Progressivism has steadily eroded religious liberty and the freedom of association in America. Measures such as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) and many anti-discrimination laws express a new understanding of rights that rejects the Founders’ view of religious liberty and the freedom of private associations to govern themselves. Recent Progressivism follows the early Progressive belief that effective freedom requires government to redistribute resources in order to provide equal access to the goods that promote mental development and that make life comfortable. This redistributive agenda is combined with a new emphasis on the empowerment of victim groups, sexual liberation, and an aversion to traditional Christianity and Judaism that requires government intervention in the internal affairs of private organizations. Religious liberty today is divorced from the freedom of association and the free exercise of religion, which the Founders understood to be essential for a free society.

Study Guide—“ Case Study: Religious Liberty in the Administrative State"

 Today's Lecturer

Thomas G. West is the Paul and Dawn Potter Professor of Politics at Hillsdale College, where he has taught since 2011. Dr. West teaches courses in American politics, with a focus on the U.S. Constitution, civil rights, foreign policy, and the political thought of the American founding. He also teaches course in political philosophy, with particular emphasis on Thomas Aquinas, Thomas Hobbes, and John Locke.

Prior to joining the faculty at Hillsdale, Dr. West was Professor of Politics at the University of Dallas, where he taught from 1974 to 2011. Formerly a visiting scholar at the Heritage Foundation and at Claremont McKenna College, Dr. West is a senior fellow of the Claremont Institute, where he teaches in the Institute’s Publius and Lincoln Fellows summer programs. He is the author of the best-selling "Vindicating the Founders": Race, Sex, Class, and Justice in the Origins of America, and co-translator of Four Texts on Socrates: Plato’s Euthyphro, Apology, and Crito, and Aristophanes’ Clouds, of which there are more than 180,000 copies in print. He received his B.A. from Cornell University and his Ph.D. from the Claremont Graduate University.

SUGGESTED READINGS

NOTE: all readings link to Hillsdale's online Constitution Reader, also available at ConstitutionReader.com.

REQUIRED READINGS

1. "The Northwest Ordinance" – Article I
2. "The Northwest Ordinance" – Article III
3. Thomas Jefferson - "Notes on the State of Virginia" - Query XVIII: Manners
4. George Washington - "Farewell Address" (Excerpt)

Next week we will bring you “Restoring Constitutional Government,” the tenth and final lecture in Hillsdale College’s “Constitution 201, “Restoring Constitutional Government,” presented by Hillsdale College president, Dr. Larry P. Arnn.  Your comments on this series are welcome.

Alexander Hamilton: The Nation’s Founding Blogger

ALEXANDER HAMILTONToday marks the 225th anniversary of The Federalist—the series of essays that helped make our Constitution a reality. Historians generally agree that the Federalist’s likely chief architect was founder Alexander Hamilton, thereby making Hamilton our “founding blogger” along with coauthors James Madison, and John Jay.

Better known today as The Federalist Papers, these essays caused a sensation when they started appearing in October 1787, as a response to a rival set of essays.

Opinions & Commentary From Around the Web: Week of October 21

We pick em you click em…

• How Might The National Park System Fare Under A "President Romney"?  (National Parks Traveler)
• Capitalizing on the “99 Percent” (Heritage Foundation)
• How Escalating Education Spending Is Killing Crucial Reform (Heritage Foundation)
• Is America Exceptional? (Imprimis (Hillsdale College)

The Genesis of Negative Campaigning in America

JOHN ADAMS & THOMAS JEFFERSONNegative campaigning in America was fathered by two lifelong friends, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.   In 1776, the dynamic duo combined powers to help claim America's independence, and they had nothing but love and respect for one another. But by 1800, party politics had so distanced the men that, for the first and only time in U.S. history, a president (Adams) found himself running against his vice president.

Things got ugly very quickly when Jefferson's camp accused President Adams of having a "hideous hermaphroditical character, which has neither the force nor firmness of neither a man or the gentleness and sensibility of a woman."

 Thomas Jefferson and John Adams are said to have thrown the first mud at each other in the presidential election of 1800.

Jefferson accused his old pal — of being a fool, a hypocrite, a criminal and a tyrant.

Adams returned fire, calling his vice president and challenger Jefferson “a mean-spirited, low-lived fellow, the son of a half-breed Indian squaw, sired by a Virginia mulatto father.”

One wonders what the average citizen of 1800 thought about those lies and name-calling, which have become an ugly fixture of our politics ever since.

RELATED STORY

• The American Debate: When politics were truly ugly (Philly.com)