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Thursday, October 22, 2015

A busy day in the garden



Planting seeds.

That's what I did today at the school where I work.

I planted seeds.

Students in the AP Government class were preparing for a presidential debate – Democrats vs Republicans. Same old boring, bland, and dry debate.

Wrong.

In an ironic twist, the teacher broke the class up into two groups: males vs females. The females chose to be Republicans (after all, ladies before gentlemen)  . That left the males to be Democrats. All but one of them are conservative Republicans.

I planted seeds.

They asked me about military spending and I spoke to them about cost over-runs, drone wars creating more enemies, and cuts to the Veterans Administration. All done or started by Republicans. All sorts of military waste. They did some research and found what I said to be true.  Iraq.  Afghanistan.  Somalia.  Syria.

Education – They all hate the excessive amounts of tests that have to take. I told them about A nation at risk and how Diane Ravitch, one of the authors, came out against the report. Why it was written and how it was written. All backed up by cooked up evidence. Blame Ronald Reagan. And all the Common Core tests have their roots in George W. Bush's No child left behind Act. All President Obama did was take Bush II's policies to the next level. More research by them. What I said was correct.  Imagine that.

Religion – What does the First Amendment say? Oh yeah – religion can't be imposed upon people. It's a personal issue. And the Pledge of Allegiance was written by a Baptist minister and it didn't have the words “under God” in it. That was added during cold war fear mongering.

Gay Marriage and Rights? First Amendment, again? What about “big government sticking it's nose into people's lives and telling them what to do?" Trying to micromanage everything. They were all opposed to that.  After all, a person has to have their personal freedoms and we need to reign big government in.

Abortion? What does the First Amendment say? And the fact that the Planned Parenthood videos were doctored? Checks out. Wait – 97% of what Planned Parenthood does has nothing to do with abortion. They deal with prenatal care, delivery, and post natal care. They also help with women's health issues (cancer, STDs, rape) and even birth control education. What's preferable – birth control or abortion? Well, that answer was obvious. And the 97% statistic holds up.

Immigration. Drop the word illegal. Look at the US drug war in Mexico, NAFTA and CAFTA. What about US wars in SE Asia, Central America, CIA operations in South America. Who was coming over and when? What was US foreign policy? Cause and effect. The misguided US policy is the cause. Immigration is the effect.  And don't get me started on the CIA drug smuggling.  Ever hear of Iran-Contra?  

And that went on all morning and part of the afternoon. Whatever the issue, I gave a socialist answer that checked out.  It went against the Democrats as well.

Global Warming – Anyone read that article about Exxon suppressing climate research? Yes – climate change is happening and it is being greatly affected by man and carbon emissions. Oh wow. Not on Fox? But look at where this story is on the American, Canadian, and international news. Must be something to this.

I planted seeds. The seeds of doubt in their minds about what the Republicans really believe and who the Democrats say they are. I painted it as facts versus fiction.

Did I win anyone over? Not yet. A person has to hear something six times before it gets into their mind enough for them to really adopt it. But they heard it once from me and a second time when they and their team mates checked into the research. They'll hear it a third time in the debate and, if they want to win, they have to defend it strongly against their adversaries. Very easy with the resources they are pulling up.

How many will become socialists? I don't know. Some of them were starting to sound like an article out of the Socialist Action newspaper though.

I was planting seeds. They told me what they were personally interested in researching and I spoke only about that. They went further on their own.

I planted seeds. 

Now to make sure they get watered and keep the ground weeded.

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