[1] Benjamin
Barber wrote an essay for Atlantic Monthly in March, 1992
entitled "Jihad vs. McWorld," (later expanded into a
book) which opens with this pronouncement, " Just beyond
the horizon of current events lie two possible political futures—both
bleak, neither democratic. The first is a retribalization
of large swaths of humankind by war and bloodshed: a threatened
Lebanonization of national states in which culture is pitted
against culture, people against people, tribe against tribe—a
Jihad in the name of a hundred narrowly conceived faiths against
every kind of interdependence, every kind of artificial social
cooperation and civic mutuality. The second is being borne
in on us by the onrush of economic and ecological forces that
demand integration and uniformity and that mesmerize the world
with fast music, fast computers, and fast food—with
MTV, Macintosh, and McDonald's, pressing nations into one
commercially homogenous global network: one McWorld tied together
by technology, ecology, communications, and commerce. The
planet is falling precipitantly apart AND coming reluctantly
together at the very same moment." See
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/prem/199203/barber
[2]
Americans
United for Separation of Church and State is a national organization
dedicated to keeping the two domains distinct. They describe
their reason for being: "Americans United for Separation
of Church and State was founded in 1947 by a broad coalition
of religious, educational and civic leaders. At that time,
proposals were pending in the U.S. Congress to extend government
aid to private religious schools. Many Americans opposed this
idea, insisting that government support for religious education
would violate church-state separation. The decision was made
to form a national organization to promote this point of view
and defend the separation principle. Americans United believes
that all Americans have the constitutional right to practice
the religion of their choice (or refrain from taking part
in religion) as individual conscience dictates. The government
must remain neutral on religious questions." Here's their
take on the why this barrier is so important to America:
"Separation of church and state is the only principle that
can ensure religious and philosophical freedom for all Americans.
Church-state separation does not mean hostility toward religion.
Rather, it means that the government will remain neutral on
religious questions, leaving decisions about God, faith and
house of worship attendance in the hands of its citizens.
The results of America’s policy of church-state separation
can be seen all around us: Thanks to separation of church
and state, Americans enjoy an unparalleled amount of religious
freedom. In some nations, churches remain dependent upon government
for support and aid. Religious life in these nations is often
devitalized, and many churches are near empty on Sundays.
Other countries merge religion and government into theocracies.
Religious liberty cannot flourish under that system either;
attempt by the government to enforce a version of religious
orthodoxy fosters only repression. By contrast, religious
liberty has flourished in America and separation of church
and state can take the credit."
[3] Congressional
Quarterly, The CQ Researcher, "Religion and Politics,"
July 30, 2004.
[4] From the Moral Majority website: "Following
the sweeping re-election of President Bush and a new generation
of conservative lawmakers nationwide, a new organization,
The
Moral Majority Coalition, has been launched. The group’s
central premise is to utilize the momentum of the November
2 elections to maintain an evangelical revolution of voters
who will continue to go to the polls to “vote Christian.”
Essentially, TMMC is a 21st century resurrection of the Moral
Majority. Our four-fold platform is: (1) TMMC will conduct
an intensive four-year "Voter Registration Campaign" through
America's conservative churches, para-church ministries, pro-life
and pro-family organizations. (2) TMMC will conduct well organized
"Get-Out-The-Vote Campaigns" in 2006 and 2008. (3) TMMC will
engage in the massive recruitment and mobilization of social
conservatives through television, radio, direct mail and public
rallies. (4) TMMC will encourage the promotion of continuous
private and corporate prayer for America's moral renaissance
based on 2 Chronicles 7:14."
2 Chronicles 7:14 (King James Version) -from
http://bible.gospelcom.net/passage/?search=2Ch%207:14&version=9;
"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves,
and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways;
then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin,
and will heal their land."
"I have a plastic-type TMMC billfold-sized charter membership
card for all who enlist at our website: www.faithandvalues.us.
There is no charge for membership. However, because we need
immediate funds to launch TMMC, I am asking readers to consider
making a secure-online credit card contribution of $25 or
more at www.faithandvalues.us. Your gift will assist us in
also launching a nationwide voter registration campaign designed
to bring millions more new “faith and values”
voters to the polls in 2006 and 2008. In appreciation for
your gift of $25 or more, we will send you the TMMC Charter
Membership Card, The Moral Majority Coalition Call-To-Action
Information Packet and two “I Vote Christian”
window statics."
[5] I can't keep up with the news around efforts
to displace the teaching of evolution in public schools or
to supplement science teaching with material on religious
explanations of life on Earth.
August 10, 2005 - The Kansas State Board of Education moved
closer to amending the state's science education standards
to allow for the teaching of "Intelligent Design" along side
evolution. See coverage in the
Kansas City Star and on the Board's
website.
August 15, 2005 - Time
Magazine cover story "Evolution Wars" covers growing challenges
to teaching evolution around the country. On August 2 President
Bush voiced support for teaching "Intelligent Design" in schools
saying "Both sides ought to be properly taught." Newsweek
ran this cartoon and this map:
[6] The
January 31, 2005 press release announcing the publication
of the study starts out on a grim note. "A new national study,
the largest of its kind, says America's high schools are leaving
the First Amendment behind. In particular, educators are failing
to give high school students an appreciation of the First
Amendment's guarantees of free speech and a free press...'These
results are not only disturbing; they are dangerous,' said
Knight Foundation President and CEO Hodding Carter III, 'Ignorance
about the basics of this free society is a danger to our nation's
future.'"
Among the key findings:
"Under
current law, do Americans have the legal right to burn the American
flag as a means of political protest?"
Students response:
(Correct answer is "Yes")
According to the website FirstAmendmentCenter.org,
"Without the First Amendment, religious minorities could be
persecuted, the government might well establish a national
religion, protesters could be silenced, the press could not
criticize government, and citizens could not mobilize for
social change...The First Amendment ensures that 'if there
is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it
is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall
be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or force citizens
to confess by word or act their faith therein,' as Justice
Robert Jackson wrote in the 1943 case West Virginia v.
Barnette. And as Justice William Brennan wrote in New
York Times v. Sullivan in 1964, the First Amendment provides
that 'debate on public issues ... [should be] ... uninhibited,
robust, and wide-open.'"
[7] From CEO Magazine, "Fixing
America's Future," April 2005:
[8] 
From
the Educational
Testing Service, "One-Third
of a Nation: Rising Dropout Rates and Declining Opportunities."
February 2005. Where does your state fall in this list? My
state, Illinois, saw 72% of the kids who started high school
finish in 2000. This was a decrease of 2.8% from 1990. What's
going on in Arizona - where only 55% of their students complete
high school - the worst rate of any state in the U.S. ??
[9] This chart shows what adults at Level 1 literacy
can and can't do:
For an explanation of the scores go to the document at
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2005/2005117.pdf
[10] The
Council on Competitiveness maintains extensive graphic
summaries of how America is doing with regards to innovation,
education and R+D.
[11] Full text of the Foreign
Affairs December 2004 article, "Is
America Losing Its Edge?" - "The real test for the United
States' future will be whether it can maintain and improve
its environment for innovation. For the last 30 years, U.S.
companies
have led in the invention of new products while Asian firms
have played a secondary role. lowering costs to manufacture
U.S. inventions. But Asian firms have begun to challenge that
division of labor and are no longer content to simply follow."
He concludes with this proscriptive, "With innovative capacity
rapidly spreading across the Pacific, the United States cannot
simply assume that it will remain the epicenter of scientific
research and technological innovation. Instead, it should
meet the challenge from Asia head-on. The United States must
actively engage with new centers of innovation and prepare
itself to integrate rapidly and build on new ideas emerging
from China, India, and South Korea. Above all, it must not
assume that future innovation will occur automatically. Only
through renewed attention to science funding, educational
reform, the health of labor and capital markets, and the vitality
of the business environment can the United States maintain
its edge -- and the most innovative economy in the world."
These charts are from Business Week, October 4, 2004, "Keeping
Out the Wrong People."
From the same issue of Business Week: Editorial
A Smarter Policy For Immigration The world's best
and brightest are being kept out of America by ill-conceived,
poorly implemented measures to thwart terrorism. Students
who want to study, scientists who want to do research, and
skilled legal immigrants who want to work can't get in. No
one can question America's right after September 11 to keep
potential terrorists from crossing the border. But any policymaker
trying to promote economic growth and any CEO attempting to
spur innovation and profits should be deeply concerned about
the downturn in the numbers of educated, skilled foreigners
moving to America. It's time for the U.S. to restructure its
visa and immigration policies
[12] From the 2004
U.S. Statistical Abstract.
[13] From "Academic
Atrophy: The Condition of the Liberal Arts in America's Public
Schools," March 2004.
[14} The horizontal axis plots the rates at
which countries are gaining or losing creative jobs, between
1995 and the latest available year for which data is available.
The vertical axis ranks selected countries by their current
“creativity index” -- a measure of cultural tolerance,
creative talent, economic and scientific innovations -- with
Sweden being ranked first and Portugal last. Source:
Richard Florida & Irene Tinagali, “Europe in the
Creative Age” (Jan. 2004) and elaborated from ILO, LABORSFA
Labour Statistics Database
[15] From "The
Flight of the Creative Class - The New Global Competition
for Talent." A detailed explanation for the measures
is found in the book's Appendix.
