Obama speech to K-12 kids

lundbaek · Profuse Pontificator

Obama speech to K-12 kids

Wonder Boy · Member

Why not go to the school and listen to the message with your child? I am sure if you don't go do a "town hall shout-down" that the school would welcome you and your input. Perhaps the message will be different than your friends think it will be.

It seems to me that this would be sending a stronger message to children that you are actually open to listening to people who don't think exactly like you do. And are also willing to get involved with their education.

Who knows? There may even be cookies involved.

Fregramis · Senior Member

From what I heard, he will be talking about finishing school, working hard and valuing an education. Pretty harmless stuff. We home school our kids but I wouldn't keep my kids home for his speech. If it did wax political, (which I don't think it will)then I would be concerned. My prediction is that the people most likely to politicize it are the teachers themselves, right or left.

To be fair to those who are against it, they see this as encroachment into their lives by the federal government, this time into the public schools by Obama. Truth is, education has been manhandled by the federal government for years. Most recently was the "No Child Left Behind" act: noble in it's intentions, obnoxious in its application.
And Bush II was the daddy of that. So the real question is does the federal govt. have any say in the education of its citizens and we for the most part have said yes it does. How much say and what kind of say, that's another matter and therein lies the difference of opinion.

-- Edited by Fregramis on Thursday 3rd of September 2009 06:51:49 AM

lundbaek · Profuse Pontificator

Between Article 1, Section 8 of the US Constitution, and the 10^th Amendment, the FedGov is prohibited from involvement in public education. According to the 10^th, public education is one of those things that "are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people." But I dont think that alone should prohibit the President or any member of Congress from addressing public school students with concurrence of the responsible state officials. But of course with the Constitution hanging by a thread as it is, few there be that think of that anymore.

From my observations, the real objections to this president speaking to young children is that Mr. Obama's intrusion as a liberal one-world / global governance mind on our children is very objectionable to many people, including many LDSs, whose leaders put out this statement, asserting in part, that our philosophical enemies are "using a technique that is as old as the human race a fervid, but false solicitude for the unfortunate, over whom they thus gain mastery, and then enslave them. They suit their approaches to the particular group they seek to deceive." (First Presidency, Conference Report, April 1942, p. 90, quoted by Ezra Taft Benson in General Conference, Sept. 29, 1967.) Sometimes it's hard to see these things coming because they are subtle, although it's getting more blatant with time. Obama is seen my many, including myself, as having a hatred of America and its constitutional republic form of government, and having a desire to participate in its destruction and incorporation into a global government. And on top of that is the elligibility to be president issue, which he could easily resolve but steadfastly refuses to do so.

-- Edited by lundbaek on Thursday 3rd of September 2009 12:43:22 PM

arbilad · Head Chef

There are many fires to put out. While I don't like Obama talking to the school kids, it's not the most serious problem that needs to be addressed. Sometimes I think that, as right thinking people, we diminish our effort by trying to solve all the problems that crop up. Solve the root problems, and the others will resolve themselves. But if we try to solve everything, we diminish our effort.

lundbaek · Profuse Pontificator

I believe Arbi is right about identifying and solving the root problems first. In a talk I gave recently in church I stated that "I believe that the current challenging situations many of us fear, or are facing already, have been brought about largely by failure or refusal to heed a very important commandment of the Lord; by our collective, general disobedience to, or neglect of that commandment found in Verse 6 of the 98^th Section of the D&C. Thats the commandment that tells us "The Saints are to befriend the constitutional law of the land." I had always treated that as the root problem. I think I was wrong.

In re-reading the book "The 5000 Year Leap" and talking about it in a weekly group discussion, I noted the statement that "A Free People Cannot Survive Under a Republican Constitution Unless They Remain Virtuous and Morally Strong.", followed later by "The Most Promising Method of Securing a Virtuous and Morally Stable People is to Elect Virtuous Leaders." and "Without Religion the Government of a Free People Cannot be Maintained." So it appears morality and virtue have to come first.

In a recent chat with our bishop about the lack of attention given in church to the commandment to "befriend the constitutional law of the land", he stated "We have bigger problems right now." I note that our stake presidency, our bishopric, and the assigned talks (my talk was not an assigned topic) are clearly focused on the more basic fundamentals of the Gospel. It appears that temple readiness, temple work, honesty, charity, faith, tithing, service, family values, etc. need considerable attention and improvement. As a people, our virtue and morality need to be strengthened before we can hope to be a free people.

I hesitate to discuss examples of immoral and unvirtuous influence on our government. Suffice it to say that voters and elected leaders who promote and/or support homosexual (gay) interests, legislation and programs that redistribute wealth (socialism), fiscal policies that lower the purchasing power of our dollars, pre-emptive and undeclared wars and wars for other than national defense, abortion, are probably our biggest problems.