The Senate’s failure to constitutionally prohibit the desecration of Old Glory through a 28th amendment did not make for a banner week in the great deliberative body. Liberal interest groups fiercely defended flag burning as one of our most fundamental rights guaranteed by the 1st amendment. Leave it to those who hate the imperialistic country we have to defend the right to unintelligent and non-persuasive speech forms.
While the Senate may have failed to protect patriotic values of reverence for those who fought under Old Glory, it was about more than flag burning. The vote on the 28th amendment was a crossroads in the battle between spiritualism, which acknowledges a sovereign power unaccountable to mankind, and secularism, which denies that anything is sacred, such as the Flag, or sex, or marriage.
The vote on the 28th amendment last week was a continuation of confrontation between the waxing red state America, and the waning blue state America. While blue states are very few in number, it doesn’t stop their representatives from imposing their contract with San Francisco on the traditionally conservative heartland of America. Sen. Barbara Boxer has been one of the most outspoken opponents of traditional values, acting as though she has a mission to educate those religious stiffs in Provo, Utah, the reddest town in America.
As the arguments raged in the Senate, red state America took action in their state legislatures. The North Carolina General Assembly passed with near unanimity a bill requiring that students in North Carolina public schools be provided time each day to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Additionally, the bill requires that every classroom in North Carolina display both Old Glory and the state flag. The bill passed unanimously in the state Senate, and had the support of all but one member of the state House. A victory was won for patriotism in the NC legislature.
North Carolina’s Pledge and flag bill has intriguing origins. The bill was the brainchild of 17-year old high school student Julian Quesada of Apex, NC. The son of Latino immigrants, Quesada recently told the Raleigh News & Observer, “It’s important that students all over the state say the Pledge for the moral and cultural self preservation of the country. The younger generation is suffering from a lack of it.” Quesada worked with Wake County Republicans Sen. Neal Hunt and Rep. Russell Capps, who steered the bill through the legislature. Remarkably, with the help of a campaign blitz, the bill enjoyed broad bipartisan support. Sadly, only immigrants still love and see the same America Ronald Reagan saw when he was President.
While red state North Carolina was voting to instill values of heritage and national pride in schoolchildren, blue state California is debating several bills designed to normalize homosexuality, after the 9th District Circus Court of Appeals ruled that parents may not object to curriculum taught in school. One bill is designed to make sure California textbooks mention which important historical figures were homosexual, while another devotes $250,000 of a bankrupt budget to “tolerance education” in grades K-12. The tolerance education initiative will “educate California students about the positive aspects of homosexuality and instill respect for and acceptance of the homosexual, bisexual and transgendered lifestyle in California students.” Still another bill would withhold up toe two-thirds of a district’s funding if the school system did not implement the program. As a person with special needs, I hope the textbooks also emphasize FDR’s battle with polio and JFK’s severe back pain as their defining qualities.
Ironically, California students lack in the achievement department. Low test scores in math and reading have plagued the state. Instead of addressing issues that might affect future success for California students, legislators in Sacramento want to be sure that America’s know the sexual preferences of historical figures. Next Pat Nixon’s alcoholism will be cited as a remarkable challenge to her being First Lady.
Instead of classifying people’s achievements according to their sleeping preferences, schoolchildren across America should be learning about America’s great heritage, along with grammar, math, and reading. If we are to continue as a great nation, American schoolchildren must be taught subjects of real value in life, not about sleeping preferences and disabilities as the thing which defines historical figures. Unfortunately, it looks as though in ten years, California students will have no idea that 11 times 10 is 121, but they’ll certainly know that the important thing is not that Ellen DeGeneres made America laugh, but that she was gay. Meanwhile, North Carolina students will continue to learn math and reading skills, all while reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
