A Project. Anyone Interested?

Mr. Weld This idea would be a lighting rod for the liberal teachers (0.00 / 0)

who run the public school system. The only way you can wedge such a conservative book club idea is to have the students themselves organize along fellow traveling lines. Coming in from the outside you would be flagged by the bureaucrats. I would include more libertarian works like Ayn Rand's Anthem and Hayek's the Intellectuals and Socialism.  

"Work is the essence of Man."

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by: Karl Marx @ Mon Nov 19, 2012 at 20:50:04 PM UTC

You're right of course, (5.00 / 1)

but I did meet a young man who held signs with us on election day. He could be one of whom you speak.

Perhaps I need to find a teacher with an open mind (he said, thinking of pretty unicorns).

G.O.P. Growth. Opportunity. Prosperity. For all Americans.

Karl (TLC)Weld

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by: TLCWeld @ Mon Nov 19, 2012 at 21:11:16 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

There are always encouraging signs when you see young people (0.00 / 0)

tack to the right, although they have a learning curve that allows them to tack to the left (see culture.) I have little faith in finding a teacher with an open mind, the costs for the free-thinking teachers (shunning from the teachers union, etc.) are high.

This election season I was perturbed to learn that my son's mock election found support for Sen. Brown at variance with the announced preferences of the teacher who, to my dismay, said she was going to vote for Obama, Warren and TIERNEY. F*ck*ng TIERNEY. A sense of doom hovered when my son told me about it.


"Work is the essence of Man."

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by: Karl Marx @ Mon Nov 19, 2012 at 22:12:31 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

By way of the website Daily Speculations, a suggested reading list (0.00 / 0)

on liberty http://www.dailyspeculations.c...

(Scroll down for the liberty reading list)


"Work is the essence of Man."

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by: Karl Marx @ Mon Nov 19, 2012 at 22:18:26 PM UTC

Check Out the Hillsdale Academy Curriculum (5.00 / 1)

I am a public school teacher here in Massachusetts who also is conservative.  I use the Hillsdale Academy Curriculum guide in conjunction with other sources when planning my lessons.  It is a very useful guide in creating a fair and balanced US History program.

Hillsdale Academy is at the campus of Hillsdale College...yes that Hillsdale College in Michigan that publishes Imprimus.  

I would be more than glad to consult an overall extra credit curriculum in Reading.  There are many great materials devoid of the left-wing garbage that is spewed in many of our textbooks and materials provided to students. I have referenced Liberty and Tyranny quite a bit and I did read Liberal Fascism and I do teach the fact that fascism is basically an offshoot of socialism, not conservatism.

You need to tell students that most history books are liberally biased, but you must put it in a context of the overall history profession.  Most historians (those who write books) are liberals, so students must understand and identify the bias that exists.  I tell students that there are competing interpretations of history (economic, social, political, Marxist, etc..), and the ability to identify and sift through the biases still makes many of the sources relevant and useful.  I can tell you that my Freshmen Honors US History classes are intrigued by my teaching approach.

In my class students are expected to conduct their research like professional historians.  They are expected to analyze, criticize, and evaluate sources for relevance, accuracy, bias, and usefulness.  When they formulate a thesis on a particular topic, they can have any bias or opinion they choose, but they must utilize and acknowledge different points of view (historical interpretations) within their paper, essay, project, or presentation.

Different interpretations are discussed in the Socratic Seminar setting, where competing or differing viewpoints are introduced, discussed, and a meaningful dialogue is conducted.  Sometimes that discussion will evolve in a debate in a future class in a different forum.

I believe students must be provided with different viewpoints and interpretations of history in order to study it an intellectually honest manner.   My students ate fascinated by this approach, because their opinions are being developed in an open and honest environment that acknowledges all perspectives.  That's how history is supposed to be studied.

I will be more than glad to help in this endeavor.  

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by: phoog88 @ Mon Nov 19, 2012 at 23:04:25 PM UTC

A fatal flaw. (0.00 / 0)

How will you rap it so that the kid's can understand?

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"That it ceased to exist, I'll grant you, but whether or not it failed cannot be definitively said." - Metropolitan (1990)

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by: Patrick @ Tue Nov 20, 2012 at 01:35:13 AM UTC

This is absurd. (5.00 / 1)

Would you be welcoming to an extra-credit program that used Susan Jacoby and Michael Moore? Of course not, and neither would I. These reading suggestions are just conservative answers to that kind of writing.

Teaching kids in school that a political affiliation in America that is relatively common is comparable to Mussolini and Franco is ludicrous and offensive. Much like I wouldn't support teaching kids that American conservatives are of the same vein as these people, I can't believe anyone on this site would be serious about this kind of propaganda masquerading as education.

...And now you're mad at me.
http://thegreatoutthere.blogsp...

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by: MattTheLefty @ Tue Nov 20, 2012 at 17:21:34 PM UTC

Modern Liberalism (2.50 / 2)

is built on Woodrow Wilson's Progressivism. That is a fact. What is also fact is that at the turn of the last century, there was, as Goldberg posits, an international "fascist moment". If you've read the book, you will know that many of the same philosophers and thinkers that influenced the Wilson administration were instrumental in the intellectual foundations of Mussolini's Italy and Hitler's Germany. The American version of this fascist moment was not genocidal like Hitler but were every bit as militaristic and imperialistic as Mussolini. Goldberg calls it "maternal" fascism as opposed to the "paternal" fascism of Europe. But it is still fascism. "Everything in the state. Nothing outside the state. Everything for the state." Individuals have no meaning except as a part of the collective whole. If you think that's not what modern Liberalism is about than you haven't been paying very close attention to recent history and Liberal rhetoric with their emphasis on "fairness" and all the "I am my brother's keeper" talk.

The fact that you call this propaganda demonstrates perfectly the need for this type of stuff to be taught to our future generations. Because it challenges the very foundations of what Liberalism is. If fascism is "everything that is bad" then modern Liberalism is bad. And we can't have people believing that can we?

G.O.P. Growth. Opportunity. Prosperity. For all Americans.

Karl (TLC)Weld

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by: TLCWeld @ Mon Nov 26, 2012 at 17:19:55 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Interesting... (5.00 / 1)

You write/cite Goldberg, "The American version of this fascist moment was not genocidal like Hitler but were every bit as militaristic and imperialistic as Mussolini. Goldberg calls it "maternal" fascism as opposed to the "paternal" fascism of Europe. But it is still fascism. "Everything in the state. Nothing outside the state. Everything for the state."

So when JFK said..."Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country"...that would fit your view of fascism.  

Also, you also write, "Liberal rhetoric with their emphasis on "fairness" and all the "I am my brother's keeper" talk."  This is another example of fascism.  Based on your view, then the basic teaching Jesus Christ represents fascism.  Interesting, very interesting.

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by: Simple J. Malarkey @ Thu Nov 29, 2012 at 00:12:47 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Not a "fact." (5.00 / 1)

That modern liberalism is "built" on Wilson's progressivism, for starters, totally ignores that Wilson didn't end implementing his ideas, so much as he implemented his opponent, Teddy Roosevelt's.

Most liberals (and actual historians)would argue that modern liberalism, if anything, is built on FDR's New Deal, which if memory serves, did quite a bit to fight fascism. While some ideas were certainly attached to Wilson and the modern left, saying that modern liberalism's roots are Wilsonian is like saying modern conservative ideology is based in the Coolidge or Hoover administrations. That's sort of true in that they came first, but the modern conservative movements roots are more in line with the Goldwater/Reagan era.

Additionally to the influence of the New Deal, you're also ignoring the influences of socialism and communism (which you can't seriously compare to fascism) and the entire New Left movement of the 1960s.

In closing, trying to make the argument that modern liberals are lock-step with the Wilson Administration is a lot like saying southern conservativism is still in lock-step with Strom Thurmond.  

...And now you're mad at me.
http://thegreatoutthere.blogsp...

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by: MattTheLefty @ Wed Nov 28, 2012 at 15:19:47 PM UTC

Fascism is socialism! (0.00 / 1)

Mussolini was a socialist!  

G.O.P. Growth. Opportunity. Prosperity. For all Americans.

Karl (TLC)Weld

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by: TLCWeld @ Wed Nov 28, 2012 at 16:43:34 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Complete BS... (3.00 / 1)

...Goldberg has certainly figured out how to sell books to folks liek you with his revisionist retelling on 20th Century history.  I have a basic understanding of Goldberg's thesis (did not read the book, but read a review and heard an extended Goldberg interview).  But Goldberg does not have the true intellectual heft to rewrite history.

If Goldberg was remotely correct and fascism and communism are rooted in the same idealogical roots (the same roots that he conveniently pin to  the center left in America), then explain why fascists and communist were brutal enemies.  

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by: Simple J. Malarkey @ Thu Nov 29, 2012 at 00:20:04 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Oh! You don't know what fascism is! (0.00 / 0)

That makes this easier to understand. Since you don't know that fascism is a nationalist movement, which is fundamentally opposed to socialism, and in fact Italians who supported Mussolini advocated for him with slogans like "he saved Italy from Communism" and "he saved us from socialism," it's understandable that you'd confuse a totalitarian nationalist-corporatist state with an internationalist, class-based system in which workers own the means of production.

Now as far as Mussolini being a socialist, it is true that he was, at one time, a socialist. But Reagan was, at one time, pro-union, and Bill O'Reilly was, at one time, a liberal. Like Reagan and O'Reilly, Mussolini flipped, and did a good amount of denouncing socialism in his career.

That you don't understand that there's a difference between socialism and fascism is a pretty good indicator that you shouldn't be responsible for any education program involving history, political science, or philosophy. In fact, let's just avoid nuance altogether, shall we?

...And now you're mad at me.
http://thegreatoutthere.blogsp...

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by: MattTheLefty @ Sun Dec 02, 2012 at 13:40:20 PM UTC

[ Parent ]