"Scrooge and Marley, Inc" go to school in Minneapolis. The Neo-con attack on labor and education is manifest in the effort to destroy teacher's unions and to financially starve our public school systems at the same time.
Check out Thom Hartmann's essay "Scrooge & Marley, Inc. -- The True Conservative Agenda" for a good historic overview of the effort to destroy the middle class and public education as an effort to thwart democracy in the United States. Note especially: >>>> The cons had first launched their attack on labor in 1947, and Reagan brought it to full fruition: education was next. Today, although there are still some educational benefits to GI's (Jessica Lynch joined the army to get financial aid to go to college to become an elementary school teacher, for example), they're minimal and hard to both accumulate, track, and take advantage of (and must be paid for in most cases). Although Jefferson started the University of Virginia with the notion that part of building a middle class (necessary to a democracy, he said) would require people with some education, and advocated a national program of free education up to and including university levels, the last state to fall from that ideal was when Governor Ronald Reagan ended free enrollment in the University of California system. Jefferson said, in an 1824 letter: "This degree of [free] education would ... give us a body of yeomanry, too, of substantial information, well prepared to become a firm and steady support to the government." <<<< http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0618-03.htm A middle class is essential to democracy, and education is essential to maintaining a middle class. As Hartmann points out, Neo-cons demand a Walmartized America of poor people in wage-slaves jobs, fearful of getting sick or losing even one paycheck. Alan Greenspan is afraid that if workers (including teachers) are not fearful, they will demand a fair share in America's wealth and a fair voice in America's government. Current news reports are geared to fifth and sixth grade level consumers; "sound bytes" and simplistic slogans manipulate of the masses of "producer-consumers." Educated people search out facts, analyze and evaluate public policy, and demand political, economic, and social justice. Poorly educated or indoctrinated people can be manipulated and seduced into behaving as a docile herd. Destruction of the middle class (teachers, in this case) here in Minneapolis and the destruction of our educational system are ways of concentrating power and undermining democracy. An educated middle class makes for democracy. A vast population of poorly educated, desperate people is easily intimidated with brute force; easily taught that it is inferior and to know its place. Only a well-educated people, as Jefferson stated (see above) can sustain democracy. A poorly educated urban population is a vast field of disposable "human resources" to be harvested, used up, and discarded at a whim. The Minneapolis School Board seems to be made up of compliant functionaries of the corporate and political elite, and the options they consider and decisions they make reflect this. Those who are captive to the "free market" Gospel of Bondage are undermining democracy by attacking labor and education at the same time. Our children will inherit incredible debt to pay for stadiums for tiny rich clubs of millionares and billionaires and will be saddled with a decaying local road infrastructure designed for a time gone by -- the time our culture was intoxicated on cheap gas. Ironically, when our American Empire implodes of its own corrupt weight, they will be poorly prepared to survive, let alone create a world worth living in out of the ashes. But what am I thinking: they can always join the military -- the only true equal opportunity employer, where poor kids of all colors are always welcome. Do we need a regime change at the Minneapolis School Board? -- Gary Hoover....Kingfield REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
