Houston Democrats

It might help if more of us understood WHY the fascist party wants to destroy public education. It's not simply a question of tax dollars, that's largely a short-term smoke screen.


While getting my degree in Psychology I learned that when people are better educated, or perhaps I should say 'when people have a more broad (liberal) education', they are less likely to conform to an authoritarian hierarchy, less likely to do what they think is expected or allowed and more likely to make their own decisions independant of dogmatic ideology.


For this reason, better educated people are less likely to attend church compulsively and less likely to believe everything their preachers tell them unquestioningly. They are more likely to understand the constitution and laws of the land, and know when they are getting screwed around. Better educated people are more likely to question authority.

And, from an economic perspective, better educated people are less likely to remain dependant on their feudal overlords and more likely to seek other opportunities to advance in a competitive economy, thus undermining the labor-base and allowing more upward mobility.


Thus, education outside of a parochial environment is intolerable, both to a theocratic dictatorship, and to a medieval virtually-slave-holding society - not to dwell on the decreasing tithes to a church institution that is addicted to money and dependant on the offering plate (which also partially explains the so-called "faith-based intitatives").

Thanks for that post, Randy. I agree with it wholeheartedly. In fact, Ron and I were discussing the benefits of a broad "liberal arts" education as opposed to a more narrow streamlined education. I definitely believe the more education one receives the less likely he/she is to depend upon authority figures to define what is right and wrong or what is true or false.

Ron taught his daughters and also, taught me along the way, to ALWAYS question authority, especially if that "authority figure" says he/she has all the answers, never makes a mistake or gets his/her authority directly from God or a higher power.

With regard to fundamentalism, in my own experience, I was taught as a teenager to never question the Bible and the "spoken word of God" as written in the Bible. In my younger years, I believed everything in the Bible was the spoken word of God in written form. I have come a long way since then, and I give the credit to my husband. We have had numerous discussions over the years regarding the Bible, the existence of God, interpretation of the Bible etc. I believe it is his wealth of education, as well as a load of common sense, that have enabled him to peel back layers of dogma and ideology and misinformation and seek answers based upon sound scientific research. Ron has a double major in History and Political Science with a minor in Biology. He also holds a Masters Degree in Counseling Psychology. No individual can be correct in all his/her assertions, however, I do agree with Randy that access to higher education and a more liberal education would certainly go a long way toward loosening the chains that bind so many Americans to religious dogma, misinformation and a life of poverty and ignorance.

Kris, you're exactly right. When I was a kid I was told Sunday School that questioning what I was taught there was an unpardonable sin. That scared the crap out of me until I was old enough to understand that it was a nasty, mean-spirited trick. As Americans, it's out DUTY to question authority, even if we think they're right, if no other reason than to keep them on notice that we're watching!

The best kind of education isn't the kind that gets you ready to work, it's the kind that teaches you how to learn. There If you aren't learning every day of your life you might as well be a machine. Is that ultimately what the anti-education forces want? A society of machine-people who don't think, don't ask, and don't speak up, just do what they're told?

It took over two-hundred years for this country to build up the greatest system of public education the world has ever seen, and these pseudo-educated Right Wing SOBs can't tear it down fast enough! They attack public education on PRINCIPLE! That's as un-American as undermining the right to free speech! And yet they hide behind the stars-and-stripes and call themselves PATRIOTS! How can the sleep?

I have asked that question numerous times, and Ron tells me the same thing every time: sociopaths have no conscience; therefore, they can lay their heads on their pillows at night and sleep like babies. They don't think and feel the same way you and I and other "normal" people do.