Err…it’s not the official Columbus Day….day, but this is a good read at Renae’s blog Life Nurturing Education.    I haven’t been blogging much because we’ve been busy hitting the southern tip of Illinois while the boys were having a blast with the short version of Space Camp in Alabama.
This post caught my eye:

Pork: What’s On The Barbeque In Congress Is Your Future

Corruption in the US stands out so clearly to me, I think, because I’m Canadian.

I imagine it would stand out from his perspective.  US citizens are jaded and throwing their hands up.  We have a couple of kids who wonder if voting is useless now.  My simple philosophy, and I think it was shared by some Founding Fathers, is that our power is our vote. 
Our Representatives can be bought by lobbyists and sell out integrity without a thought.  But they don’t get their foot in the hallowed doors until they get our vote.  What we expose of their agendas to the public is our weapon.  I can’t give up…yet.  Even with the lack of thought or common sense displayed by the media, many of our Representatives and most discouraging, the citizenship.
That’s why I’m glad Dana pulled together this Carnival of Principled Government.  I like it when people think.  As our kids have learned in college, there aren’t a lot of thinkers out there. 
We were listening to the Ken Burns audiobook about World War 2 on our travels to Makanda and Carbondale.  The prologue included the reasons why this documentary was produced.  For one, our veterans are passing on.  Some without archiving their commemorative stories of terror, tragedy and triumph.  The other noted reason was that many high school graduates believe that Germany was an ally of the US fighting against Russia.  Stunning.
These important histories cannot be engaged by curious minds in 10 days for 50 minutes/day out of a horrid history textbook.  These kids need to have many…countless opportunities to walk outside the classroom and visit the cemeteries and museums down the street. 
Math and history.  If my kids know a bit about those particular subjects, the rest will fall into place when necessary. 
We can continue to ignore the dumbing down of America. Or our children can live on with enlightenment and knowledge.  It’s an awful lot of catching up to do once young adults leave the high school classrooms.  Our choice was and is to educate our children at home.  You’d think educators wouldn’t have an issue with that choice.  You’d think…..