ROAR’s “Year of Education”

In today’s world, there is a great deal of information available through advances in technology such as the Internet, social media, cell phones, etc. However, having more information at our fingertips does  not automatically guarantee the quality of that information. For instance, we have the spectacle of the traditional media and their corrupt practices, i.e,. “fake news” being exposed by James O’Keefe and his organization, Project Veritas, among others. To assess what is and what is not good information requires knowledge and reasoning skills that, unfortunately, are in somewhat short supply in our culture due to deficiencies in our education system. As a result, ROAR will be expending a significant amount of energy in the coming year on filling this deficiency and will be kicking off that effort with: “The Year Of Education.”

We will be presenting what we believe to be positive alternatives to the status quo rather than simply criticizing current practices. Positive alternatives to be discussed will include:

•    The Art of Reasoning,  by Dr. David Kelley. Dr. Kelley’s book contains many useful, practical exercises to develop better thinking methods.

•    Return of the Vinetropes, a children’s book by Sherry Ross. Rational thinking, values, creative thinking/planning, and more are integrated into a story that both children and adults can enjoy and benefit from.

•    To Love Wisdom: A Gateway to the Heroic for the Young, by Olivia Pierson. Wonderful advice and perspective for children from 10 to 15 from a talented and insightful writer who has children of her own.

•   We will be studying the methods, curriculum, and extraordinary success of The VanDamme Academy  (vandammeacademy.com).            From the academy’s founder, Lisa VanDamme:

“From those early days of the one-room school-house to the present-day VanDamme Academy, my colleagues and I have devoted ourselves to the goal of producing students who emerge deeply educated and who love school.”

Further developments on ROAR’s “Year of Education” will be presented in future newsletters.

Parkland Florida and the debate over gun control

17 people were killed in Parkland, FL on Feb 14^th when Nikolas Cruz, a young student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School opened fire on the students and faculty. This tragedy has once again brought us face to face with the horrific actions of disaffected, alienated youths in our society. The known facts in this case include:

Cruz was a heavily medicated, profoundly alienated youth who was obsessed with ISIS. A number of tips to the FBI and local law enforcement regarding erratic, violent behavior of Cruz prior to the shooting were ignored.     Beyond the issue of the guns vs. gun control argument that is now raging across America is a deeper issue: the increasing numbers of profoundly disaffected, alienated people—especially the young—in the U.S. and the effect it is having on our culture. We recognize that it is not possible for most people to quit their jobs and way of life and take on a crusade to “fix” our culture. Nevertheless, the rank-and-file, grassroots that make up America and societies beyond our shores urgently need to become involved in the ongoing attempts to revive our degraded culture. Thankfully, there is much that can be done with a very small investment of time each week, (e.g., 1 to 3 hours per week). For those looking to get started in taking effective actions to counteract our culture-wide decay, I recommend beginning with the following actions:

•    Gain an overview of the problem by reading Alexandra York’s 800 word essay: “Culture at the Crossroads: What you can do to save America.” (https://www.newsmax.com/alexandrayork/constitution-collectivism-political-correctness-books/2017/11/29/id/828840/)

•      At the end of York’s essay, are a list of recommendations. The most important of these is a longer essay expanding on her thesis: “Lying as a Way of Life: Corruption and Collectivism Come to America.”  That essay contains several dozen action items to choose from to help interested parties start taking effective actions to save America. It is available at Amazon for $1 and can be read with a 1 to 2 hour investment of time.

•    To gain some understanding of the ideas causing the proliferation of disaffected, alienated youth in our world, please see York’s most recent Newmax essay: “Be Wary of Cause Junkies.” (https://www.newsmax.com/alexandrayork/cause-junkies-collectivism-identity-politics-individualism/2018/01/31/id/840639/)

After reading these selections, please DO begin taking some sort of action to help initiate the reforms desperately needed in our world.

ROAR’s first publication is now available!

   Solving America’s Greatest Conflict: The Public Interest vs. Private Rights is now available. If subscribers, or others receiving this newsletter, know of anyone who might find it of interest, please forward this announcement to them. The publication is free (until May 1, 2018) and interested parties can obtain a free copy by subscribing on the ROAR home page (RestoreOurAmericanRepublic.org). There is no cost or obligation for subscribing. Some comments from one of the book’s reviewers:

“I believe that were this simple pamphlet to be read by the average freedom loving, apolitical American, the creeping collectivism that has undermined so much of what our founding Fathers intended in the American Constitution could begin to be overturned. . . . I lecture to thousands of men and women across America every year. I would love the opportunity to put this pamphlet message into all of their hands.”

Jay Lehr, Ph.D.
Science Director
The Heartland Institute