Principles of Freedom Forum

For too many, responsibility seems to end with hand-wringing and exclamations of dismay. Yet talk without action accomplishes little. We need to be vigorously engaged in the world. If our schools are inadequate or destructive of moral values, we must work with fellow members of the community to bring about change. If our neighborhoods are unsafe or unhealthy, we must join with the civic-minded to devise solutions. If our cities and towns are polluted, not only with noxious gases but soul-destroying addictions and smut, we must labor to find legitimate ways to eliminate such filth...We have the responsibility to be a blessing to others, to our nation, to the world". (Robert S. Wood of the Seventy, March 2009, Ensign, VT Message)

Monday, February 24, 2014

February 22, 2014 we held our first Principles of Freedom Forum. We discussed the fundamental principles of the Constitution, specifically the separation of powers. We additionally discussed examples of how each branch has asserted authority reserved to the other branches.

Next month we will be discussing the issue of Common Core and it's effect on education.

2 comments:

UnknownFebruary 27, 2014 at 4:50 PM
This was great. Hopefully more people will join us for our next discussion. What were the names of the two books that Garrett recommended about George Washington?
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Mrs SmithMarch 12, 2014 at 10:43 AM
Hey Lisa! Sorry, I didn't see this until I came to update the blog. The two books were,

"The Real George Washington" by Parry, Allison, and Skousen.

And, "The Making of America" by Skousen.
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…Reassert the primary right and responsibility of parents for the total education of their children, including social values, religious convictions and political concepts. Schools should be reminded that their primary field of competence is academic, not social adjustment, or world citizenship, or sex education. Parents should stand firm on this and not be intimidated by “professional educators.” After all, it’s their children and their money. (Ezra T. Benson, An Enemy Hath Done This, p. 231-232)

I am restless over the possibility, ever present, that education may fail to achieve a righteous purpose and be perversely used. We have many examples in the world where the misuse of this power has degraded men rather than exalted them... The voice of atheism, of corruption, of faithlessness, of dissention resounds from a thousand platforms. It is subsidized from public funds. It is invited to the forum in public institutions, tolerated by most, and encouraged by many. The voice of faith, on the other hand, is fading. Few places are left where it might speak. (BYU Speeches of the Year, 29 April 1969, p.3)

I apprehend no danger to our country from a foreign foe…. Our destruction, should it come at all, will be from another quarter. From the inattention of the people to the concerns of their government, from their carelessness and negligence, I must confess that I do apprehend some danger. I fear that they may place too implicit a confidence in their public servants, and fail properly to scrutinize their conduct, that in this way they may be made the dupes of designing men, and become the instruments of their own undoing. Make them intelligent, and they will be vigilant; give them the means of detecting the wrong, and they will apply the remedy.”

(Daniel Webster, June 1, 1837; Works 1:403)