I find myself fighting an ongoing but rather unexpected and frankly quite bizarre struggle with those of a mindset who feel it somehow inappropriate for a Board of Education trustee to fulfill due diligence in his role of providing the community with meaningful oversight of the specific content of text books and academic curriculum materials. As a Kingston Cardinal myself, Im perplexed at where this mentality might have arisen from in our culture, or why it is so prevalent in casual conversations with others as well. When I was a child I cant recall what grade I was in when I first became introduced to the concept that the communitys voters elect a school board. Regardless of how old I was at that time, Im quite certain that from the very start of that concept being introduced, I associated the term school board with the notion of them being the guys that makes sure there isnt anything undesirable in the text books on behalf of our moms and dads, and to make sure that their school was one that they would be proud of. Everything I learned over the years growing up since that time only served to add to and reinforce that basic idea. We went on to learn about there being differing branches of government and separation between local, state, and federal republics. We learned about taxes, funding, and grants--this one little wild card someone threw in our government a long time ago totally inconsistent with the rest. I dont know exactly how or when I had come to anchor that term to the notion of being basically a bribe, but I certainly grew up holding the view that this grant concept was just some wild card for political hacks to bribe one anothers projects while disrespecting the boundaries that were themselves the only defining quality of the system of checks and balances we were taught to believe as being the foundation of freedom itself. Now that system of checks and balances is greatly under attack. We see it all the time with federal tyranny. We now have a government that asserts the authority to indefinitely imprison American citizens without giving them a trial. We now have government surveillance of all of our emails, facebook private chats, txt messages, phone calls, and even tracks our movements via cellular GPS locations hidden behind an incomprehensible argument of sheer ignorance from on high that claims magical buzz words like metadata are somehow superior to the 4th amendment. We now have a government that even when and good and honest men run for higher offices of leadership, they are met with bribes and corruption at every corner, an influence that either corrupts themselves as well, or leaves the best among them going back home in utter disgust. I used to wonder how our nations government got so far off track from that of its constitution and founding principles. They say its suppose to be a reflection of ourselves, after all. But doesnt that draw a rather scary image in our collective mirror? Occasionally when I look out at the world around me I do catch glimpses of such a fright, even right here at home in the hearts of ourselves at times. Occasional glimpses peak through when I observe the absurdities such as in receiving hostility toward the idea of those on school boards actually taking a glance at school books. Its moments like these that I realize all doubt is removed and that mirror of terror is completely true for current fate of America.
Posted on: Thu, 30 Jan 2014 01:46:59 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015