Belated Thoughts about Independence Day

I've been reading Bill Bryson's book, At Home: A Short History of Private Life -- highly recommend it, by the way. In relating the challenges that Jefferson and Washington had in building their beautiful estates -- Monticello, and Mt. Vernon, respectively -- he explains Britain's Navigation Acts.

This series of laws required that any product bound for the New World had to originate in Britain, or pass through Britain on the way there. Britain saw its colonies as raw material providers for manufacturing in the homeland. Though beaver pelts came from the colonies; they must be sent to Britain to be made into hats, and then imported back. If a product needed in the American colonies was made in the West Indies, it still had to be shipped to Britain before doubling back to the colonies for use.

This kept the colonies dependent on Britain, and constantly in lack of materials. Anything you needed had to be ordered through a distant agent and shipped over the ocean, a time-consuming and wholly inefficient process. If, after waiting a year for your fireplace to come from the British factory, you found that they have forgotten to pack the mantel with it -- well, you were just out of luck, or had to wait another year.

I say, those Brits sure had the drop on bureaucracy, didn't they.

And I can understand more thoroughly the frustration of the colonists. They were being used. I can't imagine the frustration of being dependent on people who didn't understand your situation, or care about your needs, who gave no opportunity for ingenuity and efficiency, and were primarily concerned with following rules that lined their own pockets.

And then again, maybe I can imagine it.

It doesn't take too long to think of codes, zoning, rules, and regulations today that create the same kind of frustrations...and the same consequences.

The American colonists were moved to revolt against the British government...a huge risk, as they began with no central government, no general fund, not even money to pay the soldiers they would so desperately need.

But they were willing to risk it because they had the vision of the opportunities it would create. There would be great cost involved -- danger, insecurity, perhaps a failed experiment in a new way of governing.  But they also saw what could be if men were free to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

So why are we not so moved? Have we become so inured to the erosion of our freedoms that we don't recognize it? Are we so comfortable as to have become complacent? Are we so distracted or deceived that we don't see the consequences of the path we are traveling? Are we cowardly for the confrontation required to maintain liberty? Perhaps we would rather have peace at any price...

It may be the backside of the American Experiment -- We are so busy pursuing our own happiness that we have little time to understand the principles that gave us the opportunity. We are so enamored of our own happiness that we expect it is our right. We accept degradation of opportunity in trade for what we believe is security. We demand outcomes, instead of opportunity.

I don't like to think about what it will take for us to become aware of what is at stake...How much will we have to lose to see the truth?

More than ever, I admire the patriots of the Revolution, and the high aims of the Founding Fathers...Unless we begin to acquire and display some of their better traits, we will find our selves needing another Revolution to buy back what they fought for.

I thought THAT was the problem...

I laughed out loud when I read this article in the Sunday Bellingham Herald...

Fear of more failing test scores sets off clash over No Child Left Behind - Local News - bellinghamherald.com

Not that it's so "ha-ha" funny...It's just so ironic, quintessentially so!

Apparently, so many public schools are failing to meet the standards of the "No Child Left Behind" law that 82% could be facing the loss of their federal aid.

Ouch -- that's a lot of schools, and students! In fact, it's truly a train wreck just waiting to happen.

So what are they going to do about it?

The Education Secretary, Arne Duncan, may use his executive authority to waive some requirements of the law, essentially allowing these schools to still make a passing grade...which will allow them to retain their federal aid, which will allow them to stay open, I guess.

I thought that was the kind of activity that got this whole education problem started...promoting people who were really not up to grade standards...Promotion without proficiency!

Hello? Anyone in the Education Department feeling at all embarrassed at this proposal? Hello? Remember that the point of going to school is LEARNING? -- It's not just keeping a seat warm for the required number of days...

But wait -- this is bureaucracy...It IS just a matter of keeping a seat warm so that there's a job for a bureaucrat...

I forgot.

Kids, prepare to be left behind.