NewsWithViews.com
NewsWithViews on Pinterest NewsWithViews on Google+



Additional Titles

Other
Eakman
Articles:

The Virtues of Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide

 

More
Eakman
Articles

 

 

 

 

 

 

BOLD, NEW IDEAS FROM REPUBLICANS
PART 2 of 2


by Beverly Eakman

March 7, 2014
NewsWithViews.com

Part 2: How to Create Plans That Galvanize Americans

Can Republicans and Tea-Partiers create and promote bold new ideas, or even just positive ones — plans that will energize the public?

First, think: Just how did the Left manage to co-opt our nation’s institutions and the media, corrupt the culture, the schools and the criminal justice system?

They did it through second- and third-parties. They underwrote their agenda using every available means. More important than the grooming of candidates (think Bill Clinton and Barack Obama), was the deculturization of our society on every level — a tactic perfected by Josef Stalin, who placed his own indelible mark on the process initiated by his Marxist predecessors.

Conservatives shoot themselves in the foot by imagining they are too good to underwrite an agenda, even when they are, in fact, losing the country. Contrary to popular belief, we did not win the Cold War. We lost it. It was, in effect, “death by a thousand cuts,” as the saying goes, otherwise known as “slow dicing” — which is to say, institutionalizing small, ultimately negative, changes incrementally, some not perceived as particularly objectionable at the time.

Remember, for example, when all homosexuals said they wanted was to be left alone? When the black singers of Motown fame showed respect for their audiences; acknowledged applause graciously; and only craved full assimilation into the American Dream?

So, when did “gays” manage to impose graphic, homosexual lessons on grade-school classrooms, give the boot to concepts about traditional marriage, and arrange for houses of worship to go broke defending themselves from conducting same-sex“marriage” ceremonies?

And just how did a long-overdue civil rights movement devolve into a cultural morass awash in vulgarity and a 75-percent illegitimacy rate?

Even civil rights advocate Bill Cosby — one of America’s greatest comedians and African-American success stories — was moved to comment on the irony in a speech to the NAACP in 2004.“This is not what we marched for,” he said.

What happened is that leftist organizers established shell organizations, infiltrated existing institutions, and bought management companies — all with the idea of paying people to purvey its agenda.

The old Soviet Union may have imploded, technically, but the Marxist Left is alive and well, and did its damage well before Barack Obama came on the scene.

If Republicans expect to undo the mess created by its leftist adversaries, conservatives and traditionalists will have to underwrite projects of their own, quietly lifting up the culture instead of tearing it down. The days of throwing celebratory parties and writing letters to the editor are gone.

How to Reverse Culture Rot

Happily, there exists a healthy variety of worthy talents representative of all races and ethnic groups. With far less help than the radical Left gave to the transmission of rap lyrics, bathroom-humorists, “put-down” sit-coms, radical feminist plot lines and violent films, talented artists like those named below pull in stadium-sized audiences and bring audiences to their feet — even when“popular” stations and networks barely give them the time of day.

To name just a few: Josh Grobin, Sarah Brightman, Denyce Graves, the Rolling Thunder and Celtic Woman ensembles, Audra McDonald, Michael Bublé, Billy Gilman, Karen Akers, Patti LuPone, Jackie Evancho, Renée Fleming, child prodigies like Alma Deutsch and Jay "Bluejay" Greenberg,Scotland’s Susan Boyle, Australian tenor Mark Vincent, Italian tenor Andrea Boccelli, and, of course, the incredibly nimble cast of Irish step-dancers of the Riverdance cast. And this list doesn’t include the plethora of painters, photographers, sculptors and instrumentalists, or the screenwriters, playwrights, producers, authors and budding political satirists whom Hollywood avoids like the plague unless they can a pole-dance somewhere.

It does not matter whether you think one or more of the above-named artists are really the “best of the best” in their genre. Some are not, in fact. But they serve to uplift the culture and have won broad appeal. The point is,many young people will never get to make a choice if they never hear or see their works. Must we doom young Americans to Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian?

The real censors are on the left. There is no dearth of either young or older talents;nor will most media flatly refuse to air any of them — as long as there is something in it for them.

Talented individuals must have benefactors in today’s left-leaning environment. Conservatives should be seeking out these talents and offering scholarships to top-tier schools and mentors. Conservatives should be launching talent agencies, sponsoring literary agents, and creating foundations set up to promote outstanding talent.

We will not get a revamped culture by whining about rap lyrics and bias. Forget it. Maybe the Miley Cyruses of this country would not have resorted to compromising photos had more aggressive conservatives been more concerned with channeling her efforts in a positive direction. Too many aspiring young entertainers, especially females, are finding they have no choice but to accept personas and performances that demean them if they expect to make it in showbiz.

If conservative-traditionalists are really concerned about the cultural imbalance, then why not launch a no-holds-barred effort to underwrite programs, agencies and artists — not via a government agency, but by serving as private benefactors promoting worthy American “idols”.

How to Reverse Educational Decline

Good schools are not rocket science. There are four things to consider in turning education around: (1) creating an environment in which teachers are once again respected (which entails shifting opinion against counterproductive teacher unions); (2) making use of both tried-and-true teaching methodologies and new research techniques that impact learning; (3) franchising schools without benefit of federal or state funding; and (4) settling on a reasonable, short list of K-12 goals that do not attempt to replace parents or to make up for all of society’s ills.

Here is what we have at present in a country where some 90 percent of children attend public schools:

Sustained frustration levels caused by a combination of faulty teaching methods, lax discipline and inconsistent structure. This stew leads either to hyper-aggressiveness or intellectual apathy.
A school day with non-stop distractions and interruptions that is not conducive to concentration or focus, that lacks continuity in learning tasks, and contributes to perceived “disorders” such as attention-deficit disorders or hyperactivity.
Low teacher morale, in which educators waste time (and money) on courses aimed at advancing their careers and salaries—course work that does nothing to help them in their classrooms.
Very bright kids who learn in spite of system, then are skimmed off the top to“mentor” slower students. One result is the view among lower socio-economic demographics that excellence in school is “un-cool.”
Responsible parents of all religious and ethnic stripes who increasingly flee public schools, leaving them as virtual detention centers.
Teacher unions desperate to harness tax dollars and indoctrinate kids into a socialist mentality, alienating parents and ensuring dwindling support.
Classrooms steeped in relativism and chaos, leaving pupils with the impression that no standards, academic or otherwise, exist that cannot be bent or broken.

The culminating result is a “Lord of the Flies” school environment that plays out as delinquency, cynicism, unemployability and alienation — leading inexorably to a national security crisis that invites a police-state and provides a breeding ground for terrorist recruitment. Obvious features include:

brutal popularity contests that lead to school violence.
primping, jockeying for position that increasingly dominates a pupil’s school day
intransigent peer pressure that trumps adult authority
lack of respect for school and for learning
inability to get and keep good teachers
waning parental interest, patience and support for schools and teachers
continuous parent-teacher-administrator confrontations
mixed messages to kids

What should conservatives do?

First of all, teachers are being asked to do way too much. What teachers should be doing needs to be boiled down to a concise, finite set of goals aimed at uniquely American schooling.

These should be built around just four things:

creating a literate citizenry (to increase the chances of self-government actually working);
ensuring financial independence for that free citizenry (because being career-worthy helps ensure political stability);
enhancing the level of the general culture and reversing its present decline, via the mandatory inclusion of art, music, sculpture and philosophy (as doing so creates a natural and non-destructive outlet for creativity and helps youngsters circumvent today’s “emotional overload” by focusing on the complex interplay of their five senses); and
bolstering moral standards consistent with the Founders’ unique—and Judeo-Christian-based—concepts about democracy (life, pursuit of happiness, national sovereignty, property rights, and free speech).

Any activity or expenditure that does not fall under one of these four goals should be shelved, particularly in a tax-supported environment. In the case of private facilities, activities outside of these goals should be electives for which additional payment in excess of basic tuition is expected.

The second thing conservatives should do is launch a project to underwrite a system of franchised schools based on rigorous academics, including long-ignored classical requirements such as logic, philosophy, rhetoric and physiology.

The franchise arrangement provides wiggle room to accommodate both children who fare better under a more structured routine and those who thrive with a more creative atmosphere. All children have unique personalities and do not learn in the same way.

But franchising anything, from a restaurant chain to a set of news outlets to a school system, is an enormous undertaking. Conservatives can no longer afford to dodge this bullet if the country is to retain the Founders’ vision. Consequently, precious funds must be harnessed and channeled for this purpose. It is up to conservative leaders to locate the benefactors who will ultimately sit on the boards of these institutions.

A third necessity is creating and disseminating seed money for a truly “professional” association for teachers that is both voluntary and does not involve collective bargaining. What it should do is offer benefits such as life and health insurance, as well as classes that educators want, but can no longer find, in the colleges of teacher preparation — such as systematic, intensive phonics (as opposed to a “bastardized” version), and units on the reproductive system without exposing young children to graphic sexual gymnastics.

Fourth, conservatives should set up a foundation that provides grant monies to universities that will revamp their programs of teacher education by focusing on transmitting skills that all children actually require to succeed, such as spatial and abstract reasoning; visual identification; visual and auditory memory; perceptual speed; mental stamina; hand-eye coordination; and thought-expression synchronization. (Never heard of these? Well, don’t feel badly; neither have most educators, save for those in some pricey remedial learning centers.)

On the legislative front, conservatives need to channel all that Internal Revenue Service vigor used to delay Tea Party groups’ tax exemptions by insisting that Congress enforce the tax codes on teacher unions that are blatantly pursuing one-sided political activism — such as Uniserv, a project of the National Education Association. This entity rushes to the aid of state and local candidates facing serious challenges from conservatives and other concerned citizens who run for school board or do battle against liberal district policies or controversial curricular programs.

There is much more, of course, that conservatives can do in the way of bold initiatives that would change education — like defunding the self-serving Department of Education — but suffice it to say that the initiatives outlined above require a lion’s share of available resources.

How to Revamp Immigration Policy

A workable immigration policy today is key not only to America’s economic well-being, but it is vital to keeping America safe from rogue terrorists. The 2013 Boston Marathon bombing stands as a stark reminder of the horror we incurred by failing to place limitations on asylum and entry to our country.

New immigrants have generally been a good thing for America. They keep us “fresh,” and remind us of our blessings and the benefits of a “work ethic.”
In the present climate of terrorism, however, no new citizen should be over here without a sponsor—that is, a full citizen with a spotless record who will take responsibility for the applicant. This isn’t the time to be straining our resources and accommodating immigrants, especially if a prospective immigrant has no skills, no sponsor and no intention of assimilating or becoming “Americanized.”

So, the first thing is to have Congress declare a moratorium on all new immigration until we pen and pass an actual policy. We simply cannot afford unchecked immigration. Undocumented foreigners who commit crimes must be deported at once or incarcerated. Those with no criminal record,who can prove they have a job and who can present an American citizen in good standing to vouch (take responsibility) for them can stay.

Meanwhile, we need to write an updated version of sponsorship laws. A visa should be denied to certain applicants who:

have a communicable disease, or a dangerous physical condition
have committed serious criminal act(s)
are known terrorists, subversives, members of a totalitarian party, or former war criminals
use illegal means to enter the U.S.

An applicable government website already states: “If you do not have a college degree or skills that are in demand…you must have a job offer with a U.S. company that is willing to sponsor you for a labor certification. This process … leaves you with a green card.”


Subscribe to NewsWithViews Daily E-Mail Alerts!



In Summary

The foregoing encompasses just three critical areas that require bold, new thinking if Republicans are to remain relevant. Other good cases can be made, say, for mitigating power outages during inclement weather by launching a national project — in the mode of Dwight Eisenhower’s national highway system — to place all power lines underground, at curb level, using the new technology of robotic arms and tiny trap doors placed every few yards to allow for repairs.

So, to the revelers at this year’s CPAC: Yes, your mentors are right — in so far as they go: We do need well-articulated, bold new ideas.

Just don’t forget to listen to someone besides the familiar face sitting at the head table.

Click here for part -----> 1,

© 2014 Beverly Eakman - All Rights Reserved

Share This Article

Click Here For Mass E-mailing



Beverly K. Eakman’s 8th book, PUSH BACK! How to Take a Stand Against Groupthink, Bullies, Agitators and Professional Manipulators (Skyhorse Publishing), was released January 2014. Mrs. Eakman began her career as a teacher, left to become a scientific writer for a NASA contractor, and went on to serve as a speech writer for the head of the Voice of America and for the chairman(a former U.S. Supreme Court Justice) of the Commission on the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution. She was a writer for the U.S. Dept. of Justice before retiring from federal government. Her first book in 1991 blew the whistle on misrepresented standardized testing of schoolchildren. She specializes in covering education policy, mental-health fraud, data-trafficking, privacy and political agitation strategies.

Her website is: beverlyeakman.com

E-Mail: BKEakman@gmail.com


 

Home

We will not get a revamped culture by whining about rap lyrics and bias. Forget it. Maybe the Miley Cyruses of this country would not have resorted to compromising photos had more aggressive conservatives been more concerned with channeling her efforts in a positive direction.