Trust: Strong Arguments Require Strong Thinkers

I've been trying to encapsulate the arguments of the Left. Then I came across a link entitled "Why I'm Voting Republican." After viewing the link, I decided that since school is out, one of our kids' teachers decided to get cute. The link refered to is posted below.

I've been able to identify three arguments of the Radical Leftist: the Industrial-Military Complex, American Imperialism and Victimhood. I know that these arguments are vague. What is, after all, the Industrial-Military Complex? How would you describe American Imperialism? How can you tell if you're a Victim of Society? If you're a regular reader here, perhaps you remember my conversation with Friend Anonymous. He tried to explain the three tenants of Radical Leftism. But ended up fizzling out. There are no rational descriptions available for the beliefs of the Radical Left.

He was reduced to name calling. Red-herrings. Attempts to point out that Republicans were corrupt because some Republicans were corrupt.

In fact, between the all/some fallacy, the tu quoque fallacy, the ad hominem fallacy, and others...really, he didn't know how to argue persuasively...all I got from Friend Anonymous was that he was poorly educated and didn't know how to convey meaning persuasively.

But how to demonstrate the lack of intellectual integrity of the Left?

A couple of posts ago, I share with you a lecture from a doctor of philosophy on the nature of science. You may have to scroll down a little to get to that post. In most of my posts, when I refer to fallacious arguments, I include links describing the nature of the fallacy. So, this is a test.

Go to this link.

And then share your comments on how many fallacious arguments you were given.

And ask yourself, "what is the point?" If the Radical Left is going to rely on innuendo and fallacy, why should we listen? Why should we care? Because the fallacious narrative of the Radical Left is the only narrative being offered in public. It isn't smart. It isn't accurate. It isn't informed.

It is slander.

We on the Right have been and are slandered by Radical Leftists every day. They feel it is their right. To speak truth to power. But I don't have any power. Any more than anyone else. So why do they try to make me out to be the Man?

Because my ideas are stronger than theirs? Because I don't need intellectual "brownshirt thugs" enforcing the value of my ideas? The Left screams louder because their ideas are empty. They have replaced argument with volume. And repetition. And fallacy.

And the NEA and the OEA are responsible for teaching our most precious asset: our children.

Spend some time talking to your children. Find out what they have been taught. It isn't going to help you sleep any easier.

Oh. And I did a little digging. Who was responsible for this wonderfully lucid video? You can find out here. The Democrat Party, MoveOndotOrg, Public Interest Research Group, the Nature Conservancy, the Sierra Club, the Natural Resource Defense Council and Habitat for Humanity...all supported with billions of state and federal tax dollars.

Pretty cool, huh? Their hanging us, and we're paying for the rope!

Those Who Can...

Do.

Those who can't?

I'm finally done with what passes for education in our public schools. I watched my sons' class pass, unprepared, into their own future with exhortation to Change!

There are three teachers at the high school for whom I have any regard. One has retired (math). One is new, and a dandy chem teacher. One has been shanghaied into administration (history).

Going through the process of applying to college was eye opening. As a senior in high school--and an honors english student--my son didn't know how to write a short essay. In applying to three schools and then applying for admission into three professional programs, my son had to write twelve separate essays that dealt with his experiences and his goals.

By the time we were done he was able to organize his thoughts in a meaningful way. You know, thesis, statement, statement, statement, conclusion? It seems such a small thing. Learning to write. And yet I think the time I spent with my son teaching him how ideas and arguments flow from each other to a reasonable conclusion was time well spent.

So, why do schools, especially teachers, do such a poor job of preparing our kids?

This post was prompted by a news release from the Oregon Council for the Humanities. This group receives tax dollars from the Oregon Cultural Trust to do something "unique":

"The Oregon Cultural Trust is a unique organization because we are an example of direct legislative democracy in action. By taking advantage of the Oregon Cultural Trust tax credit citizens are in a sense placing a vote for the support of culture in Oregon. The Oregon Cultural Trust tax credit is a result of progressive history and enabling legislation here in Oregon that allows citizens to support culture in Oregon in a meaningful way." (Oregon Cultural Trust.)

So what is this group doing with teachers? Well, helping them "decode class".

"Class, or social status, is one of the least discussed but most significant forces at work in American culture today. Class shapes our identities and our institutions in profound ways, is closely tied to success in school, and unites and divides us within our communities and as a nation. What lies behind the terms we use when we talk about class (e.g., blue collar, ghetto, working class, cultured, elite), and why is it so difficult to talk candidly about how class shapes our shared culture?" (Oregon Council for the Humanities.)

So why, you ask, do our students get their minds filled with socialist/communitarian claptrap? An inability to write and think critically?

Could a thesis be written that, given enough tax dollars to support progressive--read socialist/communitarian--beliefs, that those beliefs will be the taught beliefs in our schools? Could a thesis be written that our kids are taught less how to be individually successful than successful as a member of a group?

And what are the lessons taught by such a curriculum? That when the group fails, the individual fails?

Education has turned itself on its head.

Not only do we have to pay too much, due to unreasonably high minimum wage rates established by our state legislature, to hire one of these bright, new citizens, but we also have to project the cost of training this new hire to function usefully on his own. To be responsible for his own efforts. To be worth his salt as it were.

Given the neglect current teaching systems put on individual performance it is no wonder to me that hiring a recent high school graduate is a radioactive experience. Introducing the concept of individual responsibility to the newly graduated is a terrifically harsh experience. They have ideas. They have an agenda. They want (C)hange(!).

Fortunately, for this new generation of Wunderkind, as the State of Oregon increases the regulation of any and all activities, personal and business, the demand for authoritarians to enforce the new vision will require additional cadres of enforcers. Do you want to build low-cost housing for folks looking for affordable housing?

We'll need environmental specialists to make sure that during the building of these homes that silt doesn't get into the water run-off systems. We'll need various inspectors to make sure the designs don't offend anyone. That the construction is Green. That the labour is appropriately shielded from rigourous employers. That land-use restrictions are fully in place and fully enforced.

No one will be asked to determine if their job actually contributes to a low-cost home. If, it is reasonable.

We've moved far beyond the reasonable. Congratulations Class of '08.