Government itself is not above the follies of human nature that Waffler describes. Government will not hesitate to kill, steal, and rob us given the opportunity. In each and everyone of the financial scandals that has happened in the last forty years (at least) you will find government and so-called "private" business are in collusion. Corporations and politicians have one hand in the others' pocket and the other hand around their throat. They are both bribing and extorting each other at the same time. If us lowly peons want to control them, stop buying what the hucksters are selling and stop electing the thieves.

The corollary of course is that if enough of the butcher's, the brewer's, or the baker's labor is taken from them that they will decide it is not in their interest to keep butchering, brewing, or baking: then nobody has any dinner.

Liberty is a state of mind that you are free to choose or reject. It is not given to you, it is yours to take without regard to chance, fate, or a government goodwill. No one bestows liberty, you simply live it. Security is an emotional state that some try to find in a protector, when in fact it can only be found in individual liberty.

I long for the day when politicians will once again not find a Congressional office so comfortable and maybe even fear it again, rather than treat it like lottery winnings.

I sometimes wonder if there ever has been a free, fair, virtuous, and independent election. I remember stories from my long deceased grandfather about votes being bought and sold for a dollar and jug of 'shine. Voting has always been an illusion designed to keep the peasants under control. I just wonder where my jug of 'shine is. I could use it right about now.

I'm with Washington on this one: I'm don't have "a firm confidence in the durability of our government" either.

Illusions carry men into the Presidency. It doesn't take long for the illusion to fade once the magic show is over. Men who are thought to be golden turn out to be brass, or even worse fool's gold which has no use at all.

I find it interesting that Jefferson called politics a passion. Science is by nature passionless. It is based on reason. Politics, much like religion, by nature is emotional. If there ought to be separation of anything, it should be separation of science and politics. Gore and Jefferson in the same sentence; I'd only believe it if lunatic and sane were in that sentence as well. The fact is glowbull warming is entirely political, i.e. redistrubutionist Marxism. Here an interesting article I ran across this morning as a matter of fact: How the world was bullied into silence... http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/7710

The seat of learning begins with the board of education (and I don't mean a committee of PTA members). Education took a major turn for the worse when corporal punishment was taken out of the equation. Educators with a bright idea thought that unruly children can be reasoned with, and they sold that idea to parents. Children are basically uncivilized and it is the parents responsibility to civilize them. The problem is the uncivilized cannot be reasoned with, whether they are children, barbarians, or terrorists. They do understand physical force and punishment, however. Nothing focuses the mind like a swat on the behind. It is much more effective than Rytalin as a matter of fact. Because both parents and teachers have abdicated their duty and had rather be the friend of the child rather than the authority figure they have failed to civilize the children. The lack of real learning is the fault of a failed social policy that too many have bought into.

Mr. Snerd in drag? I guess that makes me a liberal. I thought we liberals celebrated perversity.

I don't blame public schools for anything. I blame the parents who abdicate their responsibility and send their children to them. Amoral, disrespectful, irresponsible parents breed amoral, disrespectful, and irresponsible children. Nobody should expect amoral, secular schools to teach morality, in the same manner that nobody should expect teachers who are barely literate to teach their children to read. Logan, very good exposition of the boundaries and capabilities of science, morality and religion. Those are much my own thoughts on the subject.

Golden Apple Awards? Is that where the incompetent give awards to the marginally competent? I went to a university known for producing teachers. Even there the college of education was known as where those who could not make it the colleges of arts and sciences went to get their degrees. Tenure is a wonderful thing (for the mediocre).

Regurgitation and parroting words are just fine for fowl but not for human beings. One can see the results of government education; mindless, thoughtless drones hysterical about global warming, or genetically modified "Franken-food," or any other number of other scientifically baseless propaganda that happen to be the flavor of the day. Government, and its schools as a subset, must always inspire fear in its citizens, inspiring dependency on our politician masters. Students are simply fearful citizens in training. Those who can think and formulate solutions have no need to fear or depend on government.

The National Education Association believes that home schooling programs based on parental choice will not provide the union with sufficient funding to maintain their power and the status quo of unaccountable, incompetent 'educators'. There. Fixed it.

I wonder, was there a "viable social order" before there was universal public education? Did an orderly society suddenly pop into existence in the 19th century? Is our society more civilized than 18th century society? I doubt it.

Spoken like a true progressive. It gives me hope that I didn't see rows of little yellow stars following the quote.

All of these little stars certainly makes it easy to spot the Nazis and Fascists among us.

Actually it's much worse than that. You can write about government, politics, religion or anything else. The problem is there's no one who will read it, and if they do they're not likely to understand it. It's easy, popular, even faddish to criticize Israel, Archer. I see marches of several hundred pro-Hamas demonstrations moving down local streets with a few lonely pro-Israel demonstrators standing on the sidelines. It's almost a knee jerk reaction. All of Europe is calling for a proportional response. What they really want is no response. A proportional response would be for Israel to launch 6000 randomly aimed missiles into civilian populated areas in Gaza. I'm sure that would be popular. Hamas is an Iranian controlled and supplied client. Russia supplies weapons to Iran; Iran supplies weapons to Hamas; Hamas lobs missiles at Israel to provoke a response. Unrest means higher oil prices for both Russia and Iran: the real goal.

I have come to believe that modern public schools are neither places of education, or even re-education. They have become places of de-education. When students enter school more knowledgeable than they leave it, then one can only conclude that the goal of the school is to create ignorance. Of course the ignorant are easy to manipulate. Pliable, manipulable people are the product of public education.

"Free" education is worth every penny you pay for it. Pseudo-science promulgated by so-called scientists bought and paid for by the watermelon environmental lobby/Marxist re-distributionists is no more science than perpetual motion machines, i.e. they always promise but never deliver, and they always end up duping the gullible into handing over their money. There really is a sucker born every minute if not more often, and currently the suckers buy the glow bull warming lie. What's worse is they really don't plan on handing over their own money but, like the true Marxists they are, they plan on handing over someone else's money.

It is human nature to learn what is not known and to look for patterns to explain why things are the way they are. People learn like fish swim. Anyone who would deny knowledge to a man denies him his natural existence.

It is various forms of self-deception that go in and out of favor. We exchange one lie for another and declare, "Oh, Happy Day! All is well again." Truth is very rarely in favor.

Anyone who has ever read Toynbee's "A Study of History" knows that civilizations keep repeating the same mistakes that lead to their own decay and destruction. Every 'brilliant' new politician just knows that this time it will be different. Nobody ever listens to those who know better. So it goes. If you are wise you will expect the stupidity and plan accordingly and be pleasantly surprised if they actually do something intelligent for a change. The only problem is there never is any real change.

Even a tyrant can get one right. Clothes don't make the man and neither does religion, but I wouldn't want to walk around in public without either (and no one else would want me to either). If religion helps cause good personal behavior, whether it is old or new, I'm all for it. If an aberrant religion/ideology calls for destruction and murder, then I'm not.

I don't think many people revere anything anymore besides themselves. What is religion but respect for a supreme being; what is morality besides respect for society; and what is liberty but respect for your fellow man? We've become a nation of self-centered narcissists unwilling to allow anything or anyone to intrude on our petty desires.