“If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.”—Thomas Jefferson
That Democrats and other Leftists hate America’s Founding Fathers and the country’s Judeo-Christian heritage is a fact I’m not going to waste time in the article attempting to prove. Everything the Left does is designed to uproot and destroy the principles our Founders tried to build the nation upon. One of those principes, a very vital one, is a correctly educated populace. We have been complaining for many years now, and rightly so, what the Left has done to America’s education system since getting control of it about a century ago. Our Founders warned us about it, but, of course, Americans in general have paid no attention to them on this as on most matters they taught us.
Let me provide a few quotes on education, mostly from our Founders. Some of them, in general, the Left would say they approve of (but not in practice). Saying and doing, of course, are two different things. The quotes below are all from Thomas Jefferson, unless otherwise noted.
1. “A well informed citizen is the best defense against tyranny.”
Obviously, people who don’t know what “tyranny” is will never be able to defend against it. Leftism, because of its belief in totalitarian government, has a vested interest in preventing people from knowing what tyranny is.
2. “The cornerstone of democracy rests on the foundation of an educated electorate.”
The people, in a representative democracy (a republic) must have wisdom and virtue in order to elect people of wisdom and virtue. James Madison said almost those exact words.
3. “If we are to guard against ignorance and remain free, it is the responsibility of every American to be informed.”
Notice the contrast here that Jefferson makes between “ignorance” and “freedom.” The idea being an ignorant people will lose their freedom. Marxists believe that as a foundation principle, as I will show later in this essay.
4. “Educate and inform the whole mass of the people...They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.”
So far, Democrats (Leftists) might give lip service of agreement to what Jefferson said. The sage of Monticello’s general dictums on education and freedom are broad enough to allow acquiescence by nearly all classes of people. But when Jefferson gets specific, he will lose the Left.
5. “The Bible is the cornerstone of liberty.”
The Left would absolutely disagree with this, of course, and here is where definitions of freedom diverge; here is where the true difference between our Founders and modern Leftism resides. The Left’s definition of “freedom” is basically licentiousness and promiscuity, the freedom to enjoy as much sensual pleasure as one wishes, with no sense of responsibility and no suffering of consequences. The Bible, of course, condemns abortion, adultery, all forms of fornication, transgenderism, and a host of other “freedoms” that the Left wishes to enjoy. To Jefferson and America’s Founders, there can be no liberty without virtue and righteousness. Jefferson was not a Christian; he did not believe in the resurrection of Christ. Neither did Benjamin Franklin. But Franklin said, "Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters." Our Founders understood that a wicked, licentious, promiscuous people would infringe upon, and take away, the rights of others. And thus more government—tyranny—would be necessary to control such godless behavior. Only when people freely choose to be virtuous can there be true freedom in a nation. And to Jefferson and our Founders, the Bible was the best source of moral teaching and virtue in existence.
6. “The Christian Religion, when divested of the rags in which they [priests] have enveloped it, and brought to the original purity and simplicity of its benevolent institutor, is a religion of all others most friendly to liberty, science, and the free expansion of the human mind.” “I hold the precepts of Jesus as delivered by Himself, to be the most pure, benevolent and sublime which have ever been preached to man.” “The Bible makes the best people in the world.” (Jefferson)
This, obviously, is NOT what the Left believes. And they have been able to convince most Americans, including probably most “conservatives,” that they are right, and Jefferson is wrong, about this. But the Founders view on education was succinctly stated by Noah Webster: “Education is useless without the Bible.” Humans absolutely need virtuous, moral teaching. Benjamin Franklin stated, "Man will ultimately be governed by God or by tyrants." Can you say “communism”?
And speaking of communism, let’s see what the Left believes about education.
Vladimir Lenin: “Give me four years to teach the children and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted.” Grooming and child mutilation, anyone?
But Karl Marx himself nailed it: “Keep people from their history and they are easily controlled.” “Take away a nation’s heritage and they are more easily persuaded.” Here is exactly what the Left is trying to do. Do you think Democrats want Americans to know what Jefferson, Franklin, et al said about true education and freedom? Of course not. Believe me, the don’t quote Thomas Jefferson on freedom in Communist China. Or in American Leftist educational institutions.
One more from Marx that the Left would love: “The education of all children, from the moment that they can get along without a mother’s care, shall be in state institutions.” Yeah. Let the government education our children. What do you think government will teach them? Does government have a vested interest in freedom or in power?
It’s pretty obvious indeed why the Left hates America’s Founding Fathers. Anybody who believes in totalitarian tyranny would hate them.
“There is no liberty without morality,” Edmund Burke said. It cannot be done. God won’t allow it.
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