February 13, 2017

Phil Beaver works to establish opinion when the-indisputable-facts-of-reality have not been discovered. He seeks to refine his opinion by learning other people’s experiences and observations. The comment box below invites sharing facts, opinion, or concern. (I read, write, and listen to establish my opinion as I pursue the-objective-truth.)
Note:  I often connect words in a phrase with the dash in order to represent an idea. For example, frank-objectivity represents the idea of candidly expressing the-objective-truth without addressing possible error or attempting to balance the expression.

The Advocate:

Once again, I am frustrated that The Advocate has not put online “Our Views.” I especially do not like seeming Alinsky-Marxist (increase insecurity, anxiety and uncertainty) reversal in, “This is a formula for the adults more than the children.” IMO, it is a formula to hold adults accountable to children, parents and the public. What if, after printing it, The Advocate realized how awful “A formula with drawbacks for kids,” is?

Our Views. Readers, especially children, parents and the public: Beware mendacity. Especially, the examples are false: Every student needs to be improving. The 25% credit for improvement can be exponential to adjust for existing performance level. In other words, the top student who improves performance 1% may warrant the 25% credit for the school, while a 7^th grader performing on 3^rd grade level needs to improve at 60% per year to catch up by 12^th grade and contribute to the school’s 25% credit. Adults can handle details like these.

Fundamentally, no matter how the student’s current grade level is measured, each student is a person who will face a future the teacher cannot imagine. The teacher’s role is to coach the person unto the intent and path for adulthood within the person’s lifetime; prepare the person to discover the unique perfection of his or her natural limits. In other words, the teacher helps the person rather than merely transfers information.

The teacher’s performance evaluation has two elements: 1) ability to inculcate the knowledge and 2) ability to coach the child. The first can be measured by standardized tests. The second can be measured by change in the student’s rate of learning, which should always be positive. There is so much to learn in this world, the school should not constrain the student. If the person’s rate of learning exceeds school performance, the person should be moved to a different school. Perhaps college.

In a civic education system, teachers may coach students to learn, comprehend, and apply the knowledge being taught. During chronological human development students may psychologically progress from appreciative detachment from home to personal autonomy at school to collaborative association at school to authentic intent to master civic understanding and intent to live a full life. I write “civic understanding” because “social understanding” is conformity to a way of living that is less than the typical human being demands. Society does not encourage each person to live a life comprised of the accumulation of real-no-harm personal choices: Either fidelity to the-objective-truth that is discovered and understood or personal risk-taking to discover the unknown.

Here’s some mendacity to consider. The existing grading system has components totally 100% of which a fraction of 7% dedicated to “struggling students,” perhaps half the population, so 4% goes to learning rate. To encourage teachers to coach persons to higher performance, Louisiana accountability to students proposes 25% of rating award to student learning rate, leaving 75% for current measures, perhaps test scores. That’s 3 for scores to 1 for improvement.

The Advocate labels it “triple the value of yearly growth.” In fact, it merely reduces test score factor by 21%. And here’s the egregious part: “In assigning a performance grade to schools, it would place more emphasis on a school’s progress in meeting basic standards rather than the achievement of the standards themselves.” A ratio of 1:3 represents appreciation rather than “more emphasis.” And achievement of standards should not be used to excuse holding an accomplished person, the student, back.

I don’t know The Advocate business plan. But their view is a formula for school administrators and teachers more than children, parents and the public.

Today’s thought. IMO, the-objective-truth compels a person to iteratively-collaborate for civic-justice throughout life. Civic justice demands a person to work, save, and invest for private financial security. The most menial occupation that is desired by the public may be rewarded with enough of the nation’s GDP to provide a living including saving and investing to provide financial security and perhaps family wealth. People who have physical or psychological problems that prevent individual-independence may be assisted either until they are freed from their limitations---have the liberty to pursue their hopes and dreams---or for life. These ideas seem reasonable rather than radical.

Clergymen do not seem physically or psychologically constrained, and people who give to them do so out of personal interest, much like a person pays to attend a music concert, a museum, or a sports vent. The wealth accumulated by the clergy is amazing.

Readers may consider the religion-government-partnership described by Chapter XI Machiavellianism. Ponder the first paragraph online at constitution.org/mac/prince11.htm .

No GOP replacement (Kocher). IMO, civic readers cannot argue: Trump failed this campaign promise, and anyone in the GOP who supported his claims failed Trump.

I was disappointed in Senator Cassidy’s suggestion.

A civic people may hope for administrative and GOP reform going forward. I wrote before the election that I thought it would take Trump three years, patterned after Abraham Lincoln’s time to discover that he was at war and needed generals that would fight.
 

Guillory’s First Amendment (Hale). America promises civic morality or civic justice, but the people have never delivered public-integrity. Greatness is yet to come.
 

Revise the religion clauses of the First Amendment so that they uphold the duty and inalienable right to think, a human condition, rather than religion, an institutional coercion. In the meantime, laws against harming people may be upheld without interference from religion. The injustice to civic morality works both ways, as in the constitutional defeat of DOMA and lack of civic response by Congress.

 

Only Christianity that conforms to civic morality is justifiable and only for citizens who want Christianity. The same is true for all religions. The First Amendment defends theistic morality rather than the civic morality promised by the preamble to the constitution for the USA. The First Amendment is thus unconstitutional. It reminds me of getting a log out of my eye before . . .

 

However, too many Muslims, for reasons they understand, do not intend to consider the preamble as a civic commitment that citizens here are obliged to trust. Commitment to the preamble may be a condition for vetting. 

 

America’s promise of greatness started with the freedom to think and struggle for civic justice the colonists experienced when they came to this land from oppressive countries. In personal struggle to survive, colonists experienced the liberty to live according to private wishes and abilities. Despite Bible interpretations that condone slavery, they observed the physics of slavery’s evil: chains, whips, guns, brutality and rape to slaves with physical and psychological burdens to masters. They perceived England was making slaves of them, and staked their lives, families and fortunes on independence. France, no a secular nation, helped them win 13 state independences. (Wonder why Abraham Lincoln, with his "four-score and seven years," didn't want you to read the treaty that way?)

 

Four years after thirteen states were declared independent in the Treaty of Paris, representatives met in Philadelphia and 2/3 of them created and signed the draft constitution for the USA. That left 1/3 dissidents for their reasons. The required 9 states ratified the draft under the condition that the first Congress would add a bill of rights. The consequence is regression from the individual-independence-with-public-integrity that the preamble offers. A liberal-democrat leaning judicial has exacerbated the deviation from greatness.

 

Establishing public-integrity won’t be easy. Quoting President Trump, “We will face challenges. We will confront hardships. But we will get the job done.” Quoting Trump does not lessen my appreciation of a civic people---those who trust and commit to the preamble, a civic sentence.

Tax relief to victims (Schneider). I agree.

Robert Samuelson column. Thank you for study and conclusions. 

 

“The trouble with investing in the future is that no one knows what the future holds. Whatever ails the U.S. economy, it’s a lot more complicated than selfish short-termism.”

 

I think the USA is in temporary regression due to five decades Alinsky-Marxist organization (AMO), topped by eight years under its major prince, Barack Obama. After a struggle following meeting Jeremiah Wright in February, 2015, I discovered yesterday, a scholarly, fairly complete explanation of my concern. See familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/saul-alinsky-and-the-rise-of-amorality-in-american-politics .

David Ignatius column. Thank you for insights to each Michael Flynn, Steve Bannon, and Trump.

 

I’m sure Flynn’s metaphor for Trump is shared by everyone in his administration. 

 

After this weekend’s attacks on Flynn, I am reassured that he will “build an orderly national security process,” despite the Democratic Party, who collectivly fight for the sake of fighting but have no civic-moral compass. 

Civic duty (Page 1B). I once was defrauded and the FBI called me in for interviews. I had to drive to their office, park, wait, and suffer painful witness. I recall the ordeal from door to door took about four hours. I think the criminal is still in jail perhaps two decades later. If I had wanted to sue anyone it would have been the criminal and his lawyer. 

The legal system is rigged by lawyers to line the pockets of lawyers and judges at the people’s and first-responders’ expense. A civic people, I think 2/3 of the citizens, may end the public abuse by the “justice” system.

Unsettled (Page 1A). I had my bad experiences with victims, both actual and pretense. But the delay on getting federal money delivered for buildings exacerbates human misery due to the losses. 

 

The family picture, together with my opinion about civic justice, caused the photo of the recent Vatican-Edwards-partnership-meeting (IMO) to flash in my person’s mind. What could justify such audacity against the people of Louisiana and the USA?

 

I had invited Edwards (assuming my message got through his organization) to take his one-time opportunity to personally act for separation of social morality from civic morality. The text is posted in the essay, which may be found by googling, “Imaginary inauguration of a Louisiana governor.” Look for the URL at A Civic People (ACP).

GOP questioned (Page 1A). LSU professorship is dominated by liberal democrats. I don't know about the persons named.

 

I hope the Legislators require state government to shrink and the federal government to stop enslaving Louisiana's poor. Recovery from regression will not be easy, but we can get the job done.

Education leaders? (Page 1A). Children are persons, but you could not tell that from the behavior of Gov. John Bel Edwards and his committees.

Flynn (Page 2A). It seems to me attacking Flynn is like shooting yourself in the thumb. We’ll see.

Adele sweeps (Page 6A). I don’t understand. How do you export American music when the stars are European?

Boycotts (Page 7A). Boycotts are a form of self-denial, but can be OK in privacy. 

 

I boycotted a restaurant for three decades without loss. A family event drew me back there and it was dirtier than ever. 

 

However, AMO recruits may think twice about boycotting for other people’s causes. See familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/saul-alinsky-and-the-rise-of-amorality-in-american-politics . 

These days, many minister coalitions use AMO methods.

Net-security (Page 8A). Don’t miss the information that a smart coffee pot could become your cyber problem.

 John C. Calhoun (Page 10A Feb 12). In Calhoun’s day, the physics of slavery was plain: chains, whips, guns, brutality and rape to slaves with physical and psychological burdens to masters. Bible interpretation and preaching fooled many people, but I doubt the same can be said for Calhoun. I hope to eventually get to study his legacy, but it is low on my list.

 

Connecticut abolished slavery in 1848. Calhoun, Senator for South Carolina wrote a speech for delivery in March, 1850. “Calhoun affirmed the right of the South to leave the Union in response to Northern subjugation. He warned that the day "the balance between the two sections" was destroyed would be a day not far removed from disunion, anarchy, and civil war.

Calhoun queried how the Union might be preserved in light of subjugation by the "stronger" party against the "weaker" one.” See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_C._Calhoun#Rejection_of_the_Compromise_of_1850 . In other words, when the constitution for the USA was ratified, the South was fairly represented. But by 1850, the non-slave states ratio had risen from 5:8 in 1787 to 14:15 in 1846 and could tip to a majority in 1850. It was a question of power.

Other dialogues:

https://www.quora.com/How-can-you-isolate-yourself-from-society-as-a-hobby-because-isolation-comforts-you/answer/Phil-Beaver-1

Social morality is not good, so isolating yourself from civilization as the other knows it is not bad. However, we owe it to ourselves to appreciate people, and therefore, it is good to go about daily life offering appreciation for people with whom your connections and transactions are worthy, and politely exiting when they are negative.

 

And when someone rejects you or your opinion, appreciate their viewpoint and if they are wrong, don’t press your opinion: Wait for the future, because people often psychologically progress with the march of time. If they want to exchange opinion, be politely blunt in every thing. If they can’t handle frank talk, back off, but if they can, it is the chance to share in the pursuit of the-objective-truth. In this way, you will be collaborating for civic morality.

 

When your mood is isolation, choose classical literature of your choice and study it, if you like. Record the author’s ideas that are important to you. When you oppose an opinion, record your opposition as completely as you like. If the author is living, and the issue is important, consider writing to him or her. Through reading and writing, I feel I have many dead friends, too: Plato, Chekhov, O’Connor, Faulkner, Einstein, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Emerson, and many more.

You might enjoy an answer I wrote today at https://www.quora.com/Why-is-being-unkind-a-norm-in-society/answer/Phil-Beaver-1 .

https://www.quora.com/Are-individuals-liberty-a-danger-for-society/answer/Phil-Beaver-1

I work to establish civic morality rather than social morality. In a civic culture there is public-integrity, which requires broadly-defined-civic-safety-and-security, hereafter Security. For example, not only is physical safety assured by most others, but the person collaborates by behaving for private safety. The civic person enjoys private-liberty-with-civic-morality.
 
A civic culture collaborates to discover the-objective-truth and understand how to benefit. By example, a civic people master fidelity to discovered-objective-truth and the theory built up on interrelated discoveries. The culture accepts that not all people collaborate for Security, so it maintains justice through statutory law and enforcement.
 
In a culture with a super-majority collaborating for Security, every real-no-harm association or society may flourish: arts, religions, sports, vocations, etc. Civic persons enjoy individual-liberty-with-public-integrity. Dissidents risk statutory law enforcement if they actually cause harm.
Some of the other answers mentioned the real-no-harm requirement. I agree, and this response suggests Security as necessary and sufficient for private-liberty.
 
This is the third “society” question I answered today. You might be interested in the other two, if my response to you is interesting. They are at https://www.quora.com/Why-is-being-unkind-a-norm-in-society/answer/Phil-Beaver-1 and at https://www.quora.com/How-can-you-isolate-yourself-from-society-as-a-hobby-because-isolation-comforts-you/answer/Phil-Beaver-1 .


http://www.libertylawsite.org/2017/02/12/an-ever-less-deliberative-body/#comment-1519985
I think I have been posting on this site for about 18 months, beginning with a proposal to use the preamble rather than merely referring to it. Discussions at our public libraries and elsewhere evolved a proposal to establish public-integrity using iterative-collaboration to discover the-objective-truth.

I expressed support for Donald Trump before he was elected. I recently expressed elsewhere that after writing for two decades about the insufficiency of honesty and the need for integrity to the-objective-truth, that Trump has taught me the idea (yet to be affirmed) that a person who offers integrity can confront dishonesty with dishonesty until the dishonest party concludes that he or she must resort to integrity to the-objective-truth in order to talk. (Einstein informed us civic people don't lie so they can communicate.)

President Obama promised President Elect Trump that he would help his transition as sincerely as President Bush helped President Obama. Perhaps Obama retired to Alinsky-Marxist organizer (AMO). I hear AMO in his farewell speech as well as his last press conference. It’s scary, but can be defeated with widespread awareness and frank discussion.

I just discovered D. L. Adams at http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/authors/detail/dl-adams . His essay, "Saul Alinsky and the Rise of Amorality in American Politics," 2010 suggests that Obama left to the USA AMO to replace the Democratic Party. The AMO party, following Saul Alinsky, intends a future of continuous battles with no particular end---no particular goal. Just constant conflict.

I so appreciate Adams's essays. Please read the one on Alinsky . . . amoralty and comment.

Phil Beaver does not “know”. Phil trusts and is committed to the-objective-truth of which most is undiscovered and some is understood. Phil Beaver is agent for A Civic People of the United States, a Louisiana, an education non-profit. See online at promotethepreamble.blogspot.com.