Please identify the differences between the 'True Left' and the Faux Left.  The true Left were the socialists on the left side of the aisle of the French National Assembly.  How are the American Left NOT socialists?  Also, if you would, please define real socialism as you have also said that socialist countries like Venezuela are not real socialists.  My argument is that this is exactly what socialism is and is the epitome of the policies of the Left.

When the curriculum is Statism 101 and Serfdom 102, the children are primed to be obedient proletariats — either a good follower or good leader in the indoctrination.  It is a monopoly — the program must be followed, it is compulsory to all.  American History is not even required study any more.  This is 'socialization' not education.

Doubtful, Warren, the education system furthers the authoritarianism that Democrats worship.  How do you think it got this way?  Collectivism is taught exclusively.

Not any more.  Government employees now make more than their private sector counter-parts.  Six-figure salaries are common in public schools for the higher ups.

“Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.”  ;-)  Love it!!

I imagine that Agatha Christie compares education with her own experience and schooling.  A British education was considered to be one of the best in the world.  But ever since public education became a labor movement, the focus has been on funding for teachers' unions.  When schools no longer had to compete to attract students, their services were compelled upon the populace and could not be refused.  This soon became a racket for cultural indoctrination in authoritarianism to promote government dependency and encourage debt. 

There was no compulsory education in Jefferson's day, and yet we have not seen such wisdom in statesmen from today's products of government schooling.  Evidence points to an intentional dumbing down of education programs for various excuses (the cost keeps going up though) the result being ignorant and gullible adults that must indenture themselves in order to grab the next rung on the ladder.  Servitude is still the biggest racket in the Western world.

'Education' is a racket now — people acquiring a house-sized debt to get a 'degree' so that they can earn enough to buy a house some day.  They spend the entirety of their lives in debt — that's what is taught and encouraged.  We spend our lives paying rent for our 'credit.'  At the end of life, 95% of one's labors have been spent paying inflationary interest and taxes on perpetual debt.  This is called freedom.  ;-)

Public school teachers and administrators can have 6 figure salaries, higher than their private school counter-parts.  Why should these people be rewarded for delivering crappy service?  I believe that the liberals need victims, so rather than heal the disease, they'll just treat it perpetually — a racket to keep the sick just enough alive to illicit an emotional response from a political class.  Compulsory state education is a Marxist plank — that alone should cause alarm.

I went to several schools in the 60's & 70's, public, parochial, private.  The greatest shift was from a Catholic elementary school in the north east to a public school in the deep south.  History was taught differently — I hadn't learned until then that it was the South that was fighting for their sovereignty and that the North had been the aggressor.  There was indeed more emphasis on the Constitution than in the northern schools.  But the rest of the education system in the South was abysmal.  Schooling in the 80's & 90's took a noticeable turn and by the year 2000, George Orwell's 1984 couldn't have predicted it any better.  'Education' is liberalism almost exclusively now.

I later switched to a private prep school for a more formal education in the 'classics.'  Of course, we had to pay for those programs and facilities.  Most every graduate would continue to university, where they would pay much more.  But times have changed, and most private schools receive subsidies from government in exchange for promoting the government's interests.  As with any good idea eventually, education has become a racket.  The truth is not broadcast, it must be sought after.

Love it!

Good point, Mike.  Groupisms like 'government' and 'we' and 'society' are rarely equated with the individuals that make up them.  These group archetypes are conceptual and treated almost  like deities endowed with a consciousness, will and power of their own.  In this context, the individual is subservient to the group in which he/she empowers. 

'Civilization' is the collective use of force, from temple building to agriculture, industry — and war.  To command armies, to rule, all has been built on the backs of the common people — that is civilization.  It continues to be built every day in collective fashion.  To even question one's place in all this is to invite rebuke from the 'faithful' zealots of the dominant creed.  The worshippers of power are ever tirelessly working 'for the people' and other collective archetypes over which they endeavor to control.  The defenders of 'government' are almost always well connected in the hierarchy with some benefit and influence of the group.  They repeat slogans, perceive people in classes and project their biases upon them accordingly never individually examining oneself, one's motives and one's prejudices.  Identity politics is such the rage these days because an individual cannot be a group and vice versa.  It's a mind-f*ck to identify with something one is not, and even worse is to be enabled in a delusion by a group.

Look what's coming out of government schools these days — yikes!  Social engineering at its worst and in full gear.  What a real waste of 12 years.

What ever happened to Civics class?  One of the only real reasons to 'go to school' is to learn what civics taught — what are your rights, what is due process, what is the difference between American individualism and European authoritarianism?  History is not even a required subject any more — social studies are merely socialism studies.

Rings true for me as a student and as a 'teacher' when home-schooling our children.  "What shall we learn today?"  I certainly don't think I can teach anyone anything, unless they ask for it — there is no changing a fixed mind.

How free is a week old baby?  Is she not dependent upon her mother from minute one?  What choices does she have?  Can she exercise her will?  Will her cries be answered in the way she wants?  We are born with needs and desires — none of which can be fulfilled independently from those upon whom we are dependent.  With time and LEARNING, we 'realize' what is happening.  The baby has inherent 'rights' to life and liberty, but she is dependent.  Can you be free and be dependent upon another? 

We have the right to be free, but the responsibility for independence is acquired — it's one of life's rites of passage, from childhood to adulthood.  Liberty and liberation are constant processes.  Look at all the folks in debt and disempowered due to their free choices.  Look at the unconscious dependents taxing the rest of us — are they free, are we?  They have the right to be free, but their choices have bound them. 

When were the colonies 'free' from English rule? When they declared it.  Their assertion was that all people are born with the inherent rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, not granted from the Crown.  Just because we are born with unalienable rights, doesn't mean that we are free — asks the slaves.  I cannot abide the definition of 'freedom' as one who is dependent.  Americans do indeed think they are free, but most are as dependent, indentured, and indebted as any serf.  We certainly are not free from that delusion.  If the truth sets us free, then when exactly did/does that happen?  Not at birth.  ;-)

Schools and teachers should be facilitators in learning, not 'preachers.'  I have questions for elders with relevant experience.  I am willing to compensate them for their time and consultation as it has inherent value to me.  I will remember their lessons because their teaching was the answer to my questions.  Should they try to teach me something else, give me answers to questions I am not asking, I am less likely to accept or remember it because it does not answer the question.  Getting at the truth is the ONLY purpose of enrolling into a program taught by others — if that is not the purpose, then what is it?  Church and state all too often attempt to form the aspirant into their image, rather than to facilitate self-discovery and the uncovering of truth (and untruth).  Let the Truth stand on its own — should I reject it, there will be consequences, perhaps I will learn from them, maybe they will destroy me.  Or the truth will set me free from the false notion of who I thought I was.  'Teachers' that have helped me move through these realizations are the ones I will never forget and always hold in high-esteem.

In fact, Christians have been serving the poor for eons, before socialism became popular.  They have been providing food, water, shelter, health care, education VOLUNTARILY while the authoritarians have pushed compulsory progressive indoctrination and forced 'charity' for the common good (which apparently makes the politicians extremely rich in the process.)  "We as a society" is not as important as "we as individuals"  — my duty is MINE, not society's, and society has no authority over me or you.  Society has NEVER been needed to provide for the basics of life, every individual does that.  We drive ourselves, walk ourselves, eat ourselves, work ourselves, we do not need to be commanded to do good.  Liberty means responsibility, and it cannot be traded for security without losing it. 

Better that people are educated in being self-sufficient, not dependent upon 'society.'  Note Americans are the most charitable people in the world, and never has a cause gone unsupported — your charity is voluntary and you invite others to do the same.  Just know that many are answering their own calling.  It's the difference between service and servitude.

I like your take, Mike.  A lie is like a debt that compounds at interest.  A lie is counterfeit money.  It's giving credit where credit isn't due.  It has the purchasing power of the truth without any backing.  Reminds me of the dollar bill, now inflated 95% in lost purchasing power since its issuance.

It's not capitalism that centralizes power but socialism (statism/authoritarianism).  True capitalism is simply 'commerce' based upon the honest exchange of capital and labor.  The word capitalism was not in common usage until Marx used it to symbolize 'the enemy' of communism.  To be anti-commerce is to be pro-totalitarian — either the people are self-directed or they must be regulated (servitude).  Today's 'capitalists' are 'debtors,'  they have no capital, only promises to pay (IOU's). 

To conquer a nation, take over the issuance of money, and turn it inside out so that the currency no longer is backed by real capital but by a debt. That is the work of globalism (UN, IMF, World Bank, WHO, etc.) All the nations of the UN have been conned out of their capital (power) in exchange for interest-bearing debt. One by one they fall, never throwing off the yokes that put them there. Will there be another renaissance? Will the consciousness of the people of the world awaken to the responsibility before them?

To deviate from the truth is to give life to a lie.  Nature's laws cannot be broken, but they can be bent, and they will spring back.  Everyone is putting on the act that works best for them — we buy the best act, and strive for it.  ;-)  But the laws of Nature have limits, and when treating falsehood as reality, there are bound to be some barriers that come up due to ignorance. The only true path to the Truth is to always tell it, even if the answer is "I don't know."  Once a lie is revealed, it has no more power.

Crime does pay — lawyers.  Everybody wants in on the racket.

Theft is the business of politics, pure and simple.  And they will never be satisfied.

The quote is applicable whether under the thumb of Bush or Obama.  In the Trump era, broadcast media is all in for the supremacy of leftist thought, any dissent is grounds for censorship in order to 'protect the community.'  Communist propaganda is preferred nowadays. 

Absolutely!  This is the very premise of the American ideal.  It all begins with the Rights of Man, inherent at birth, and unalienable.  In any voluntary association people enter into, they give up no rights, nor can they grant themselves rights.  The purpose of their association is for their mutual protection — should the association assume powers not agreed to, the members have no obligation to obey and can leave the association or disband it altogether. 

A county's statutes apply only to the county that agreed to them — they cannot dictate to other counties or states.  The individual is the true sovereign and comes in an infinite number of combinations of race, sex, age, abilities, size, knowledge, religion, tastes, desires, etc.. 

All ideas are individual, all acts are individual, all choices are individual.  The attempt to group people into political classes in order to oppress a minority is pure statism, supremacy of the state.  It is individualism vs statism (not right vs. left).

"The things that are up for vote shall be decided by the majority..."  That means that a vote decides what can be voted on.  Might makes right, pure and simple.  American Independence is based on the premise that people have inherent rights that can not be voted away — ever.  The only things up for vote are established by agreement by representatives of the people.  They have no power greater than the people themselves, and cannot dictate to the people AT ALL.  It is the Commerce Clause that has subjected the people to government dictates treating them as commercial 'persons' thus subject to the Uniform Commercial Code.  The government can only command its employees and commercial entities.  The con job is that we the people are subject to the UCC and thus all the reams and reams of statutes that apply.  The limited 'jurisdiction' of our servant government is only limited by how much power they can take from the people.  The bureaucrats in DC were originally confined to their swamp — now they lay claim to every state and person in the US (and beyond).

Socialism IS Puritanism!  The same premise, the same tactics, the same self-righteousness.  It never ceases to amaze me to see rabid leftists professing the same virtues as Christianity all the while trying to tear down religious association.  Russel is right, it is power they all seek, for moral reasons.  5 stars for the truth of it.