The Fight for American Values

            While many seem to be jumping off the Bush bandwagon as it hurls down the proverbial slippery slop, others are jumping on along with the other willful blind that can’t or won’t see the clash they are about the have with TRUE American values.  This past Tuesday (Nov. 8^th) two events, which show the striking difference between those who say they stand for American values and those who know what true American values are, transpired in two distinct parts of the country.  In a small sleepy town of southern Pennsylvania voters rebuked the attempts of a school board to take back American school children to a pre-1925 era mentality, when teaching evolution was a crime.  On the other hand, in Kansas, those who profess patriotism out of every pore took back American school children to that pre-1925 era mentality, telling voters in their state that they know best.

            Just a few years ago the Kansas state Board of Education went against the recommendations of a 27-member state committee of scientists that spent a year drafting standards for Kansas public school science classes.[1]  The scientists (I stress SCIENTISTS) on the state committee proposed the teaching of the theory of evolution in biology classes, as it is the wildly accepted theory of how we came to be.  The school board, I’m sure in its more infinite wisdom which is way beyond me, decided to override the committee of SCIENTISTS.  The school board decided to completely delete the probable fact that one species can evolve into another, known as macro-evolution.  There intention was to give teachers more freedom deciding what to teach regarding the origins of life.¹ In other words, when it came to the origins of life teachers could teach intelligent design, the theory that life is so complex that a higher power had to have created the universe.  Not long after this decision several of the school board members were ousted by voters and replaced by a more liberal school board who overturned the ruling and reinstated the theory of evolution into school books.  Tuesday, a new more conservative board which took hold in 2004 went further by not only undermining the theory of evolution but also redefined science itself by allowing supernatural explanations.[2] I guess these school board members know better then the whole electorate in Kansas.

            Miles away in Pennsylvania, a somewhat more liberal state then Kansas, another school board decided to take similar steps.  The board required a statement to be made at the start of the “semester stating there were “gaps” in the theory of evolution, that intelligent design was an alternative and that students could learn more about it by reading the textbook “Of Pandas and People,” available in the high school library.”[3] 

While I would be the last to hinder any move to promote the critical analysis of any subject by a student, a school should not point students to, as Brown University Professor Kenneth Miller described it, “a collection of half-truths, distortions, and outright falsehoods that attempts to misrepresent biology and mislead students as to the scientific status of evolutionary biology.”[4]  Professor Kenneth Miller also points out that his criticisms are not unique.  There have been several reviews describing the books misrepresentations in several noteworthy publications including Scientific American. 

Well this Tuesday all eight members of the Pennsylvania school board who were up for reelection were ousted by voters for introducing politically motivated dishonesty into school as supposed hard facts.

            Indeed this is the true difference between Americans today.  Republicans have use McCarthyistic like tactics to destroy what are true American values while wrapping themselves in the American flag.  Slowly true Americans are starting to see the clandestine agenda which Republicans have been pushing.  For example while Republicans profess family values, they are trying to pass their fiscal year 2006 budget which would cut Medicaid, cut food stamps, and cut student loans, all to fund a war which everyone was misled and bullied into supporting.  Are these true American values?  While Republicans profess liberty and freedom for all, we are given treats against self determination and privacy rights, and the Patriot Act, which cuts off free speech, and endangers civil rights and the Constitution.  Are these true American values?

            It would be obvious to those who know and understand how this nation came to throw off its shackles of the old world that Republicans are professing anything but true American values.  What are these true American values?  It’s an understanding that the Constitution has set up a structure which relays on its citizenry to work open, transparent institutions with limits.  Those limits, while at times grey, are simple; the rights of the majority can never trample those of the minority.[5]  Since the Bush “election” it seems Republicans have willfully forgotten this most important American value.  A frightening example was seen on June 10^th during a hearing in front of the House Judiciary Committee on civil rights and civil liberties abuses resulting from the Patriot Act.  The committee was taking testimony from groups like Amnesty International, when the Republican chairman, Rep. James Sensenbrenner, cut the microphones off, closed the hearing down and walked off.[6] [7]  Why would a Republican shut down a hearing on civil rights?  It can only be from a lack of respect or a total misunderstanding of the same thing they so are ‘trying’ to ‘protect,’ American values.

            While this administration, and several of its supporters, may not have respect for true American values, the average person across America does.  He/she understands it, and does not underestimate the true importance of it in our everyday life.  California State Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger says he received the message from voters “loud and clear.”[8]    He hopefully now understands that he can not subvert institutions in an attempt at a power grab, and try to silence his opponents.  I’m sure the ousted school board members in Pennsylvania now understand this message as well.  However, there are still some out there like those in Kansas who hate what America stands for.  They, like Pat Robertson who use their own, singular version of god to bully those who do not agree with them, are the enemies of what are true American values.[9]  American values are the rights to self determination, the right to think freely and with objective facts, the right to choose.  American values are gay marriage, truth in government, true and equal representation, and a free vote for all.  American values are making sure a person’s rights come before that of a corporation, protecting our environment, and standing up for the poor.  These are all things this Republican administration and its supporters have stood against, and they have trampled on our true American values for two long.  However, their time is up.