Necessary Roughness

No blogging for me tomorrow, so here’s my entry in advance:

It seems David Limbaugh has another case to cite, should he prepare another book on religious freedom. Laurel Lundstrom of Fox News reports that in Maryland public school districts, students are Free to Thank Anybody, Except God. The best part:

“Schools don’t want to do anything that would influence or act against the religious preferences of their students,” said Lissa Brown, Maryland State Teacher’s Association assistant executive director. “But the whole subject of religious toleration is a part of our history and needs to be taught.”

If God is not religion, what do we call Him? Fact? This is academically poisonous. Schoolteachers have taught plenty of other subjects without subscribing to the religious philosophies of those discoverers and founders. Teaching Algebra and the history of it does not make one Muslim. Giving an honest report as to the reaction of Pilgrims in their second year in the New World does not make one a Pilgrim.

If you’ve already gone through my freerepublic.com profile, you’ve already read this next part. In addition to the identification of God as something worshipped in America on several holidays, we find in William Bradford’s 1650 account, History of Plymouth Plantation, another item that drives statists crazy. We have known since the 17^th Century that socialism doesn’t work. Embedded in their experimentations with communal farming, we find:

• People working for themselves are more productive than people working for a common wealth:
  

  At length, after much debate of things, the Governor (with the advice of the chiefest amongst them) gave way that they should set corn every man for his own particular, and in that regard trust to themselves; in all other thing to go on in the general way as before…This had very good success, for it made all hands very industrious, so as much more corn was planted than otherwise would have been by any means the Governor or any other could use, and saved him a great deal of trouble, and gave far better content.

• Furthermore, when equal results are given for different amounts of effort, the superior performers will deem the result unfair, and the inferior performers will deem the duty inappropriate for them:
  

  For the young men, that were most able and fit for labor and service, did repine that they should spend their time and strength to work for other men’s wives and children without any recompense. The strong, or man of parts, had no more in division of victuals and clothes than he that was weak and not able to do a quarter the other could; this was thought injustice. The aged and graver men to be ranked and equalized in labors and victuals, clothes etc., with the meaner and younger sort, thought it some indignity and disrespect unto them. And for men’s wives to be commanded to do service for other men, as dressing their meat, washing their clothes, etc., they deemed it a kind of slavery, neither could many husbands well brook it.

He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. Romans 14:6

I wish you all a festive Thanksgiving.