Dear America,

Happy Wednesday.

You know why 70% of our economy relies on consumer spending?  It's because, up until about high noon yesterday, we were a nation built upon wealth building in every facet, rain or shine, from sunrise to sunset; and then, only to awaken and get up and do it all over again the next morning.

But just what, pray tell, is messing with us these days?

Just what seems to be robbing us of our livelihoods right under our very noses, leaving a legacy of debt to our children, while extinguishing all hope of keeping to our common sense and sensibilities once more?  What in Sam Hill will bring this runaway train to a complete stop, safely and without further injury, I dare ask? 

Seems that with the age of Obama, enlightenment comes by way of redistribution, no skills necessary, neither labor nor aptitude required; as we give way to the lowest common denominator rule of outlaws, honed by progressives and socialists alike -- as we can't tell them apart anymore.  Yet it is this very nature, precisely, that runs counterproductive to the inherent philosophy of building America from the ground up, from bouncing baby to chief engineer and maker of one's life, and goes against everything our founders set forth to accomplish and protect.

How they must be rolling over in their graves, as they are set to witness a rally come 10-2-10 centered solely upon the collectivization of our dear country, capitalizing on the disparity between the haves and the have nots, and turning us into a nation that punishes wealth, promotes an entitlement society built not to contribute to but recklessly take, and squanders the abundance of our most precious resource, once made in America daily, our self-reliance. (for more on the ONE NATION rally...start by going to the Communist Party USA...and travel thru time and the links...crossing paths with Obama's Organizing for America...and you will get there, eventually -- for "we are all socialists now" according to Newsweek, under Obama rule)

As we brought up yesterday, The McGuffey Readers are an elevated collection of tools for proper use and deliverance of the English language, that turn the task of communication into a thing of beauty and elegance, really -- and if I may be so bold, almost romanticizing the common duty for one and all, in the most uplifting and thoughtful way.  Never mind that they are older than dirt.

How the world, and how we read about it, through it, and in it, has changed, no?

You see, the magnanimous side to Glenn Beck offers us a snippet of how we have changed as a nation, when it comes to our learning, and the processes thereof, almost daily, when he asks of us one thing.  What is that one thing?  To QUESTION with BOLDNESS.

From this perspective, one cannot help but wonder how our children could continue to benefit from such "old fashioned engineering" like questioning -- with boldness; and how at the turn of every page, placed at the very fingertips of every child, from back in the day of horse and buggy, how such workings via such tools as the McGuffey Readers could permeate into the minds of young Americans, totally transforming the common day right before their very eyes, while fundamentally teaching the basics and enriching the spirit, from the inside out; suffice it to say, the all encompassing collection outweigh the standards of any English language study of the twentieth (or even the twenty-first!) century -- but go ahead and question it.  I dare you.

A system, like McGuffey's, swaddles the pre-reader and cradles him all the way through high school, in a series of books that gradually steps up the learning process, weaving together the very basics, like phonics -- decoding the relationship of letters and sounds -- moving seamlessly into understanding the fluidity of our voice, our inflections, and reading aloud -- to discovering how in fact we take it all in and comprehend what we read -- to the advancement of recognizing the timelessness of grasping the fullness of any language -- to the creative genius of writing, speaking, and thinking about what it is we have just read, to the level that continues to test us -- and leaving us well within the confines of a long pause -- as it's never really enough; only finding ourselves hungering for more, as we reach out for the next nugget of information as if it were our last meal.

This is the way English was taught.  It was an art, it was a pleasure, it was an extension of the Divine, working and meandering through the young and porous mind with an unimaginable thirst for the purity of knowledge, the ability to think for themselves, and most of all, to question -- anything and everything -- with boldness. 

Debate was merely a tool from which it played; the sharp exchange of attitudes and ideologies were the colorful bounty from which we came; and the freedom to actually think, amongst our peers, deep, thoughtful wonderings of how we came into being, what makes our world go round, to mindful contemplation as to where we might possibly, individually and collectively, not only find our happiness -- but labor in it, make it, promote it, sell it, and build honest to goodness wealth from it.

The finer point under which McGuffey preached his higher learning was simply this: "AFTER A CHILD LEARNS TO READ HE CAN READ TO LEARN." 

Common themes under the "advanced comprehension" stage included subjects venturing into areas now considered very much taboo -- truth, religion, patriotism, life values, spirituality, eternity, free enterprise; all these things, according to progressive teachings and the current steamrolling over our fundamental principles, would call for a class action law suit, spearheaded, of course, by the ACLU, today.

But I ask you, what good does this do for any of us? 

Where is the harm in having a simple discussion of what makes us tick, and why, and how does this information lead us, protect us, serve us, and unite us, as a people -- as individuals and as a whole? 

Since when did the discussion of that which makes us strong, vibrant, good and meaningful become so threatening to those who fear to question with boldness at all, unable to comprehend the beauty of all sides, the full monty, the differences between and the commonalities that bind? 

Why can't it be safe to bare all and show our vulnerabilities, to fall on our knees in thanksgiving and praise, or connect to the Universal Source of all that is good -- and talk about it?!

I don't understand why it is acceptable for the Nancy Pelosi's of this world to be able to articulate "the word" as a matter of civic duty, pointing to the word of God as the Way, the Truth, and the Light only when needing support for her monstrosity of a health care bill, masterminding the social justice angle meeting up with our moral compass, as if they simply bumped into each other at the corner store; and yet our children cannot utter a word of it, if only as a matter of discussion and debate, in school??? I don't get that.

The McGuffey Readers use moral lessons often -- going so far as to ask questions like, "What  feeling is most necessary to social worship?" (after a reading entitled, Thoughts in a Place of Public Worship -- by HANNAH MORE)  or

"How was the political prosperity of our country obtained?" and "Why would the destruction of our present form of government be an irretrievable  loss of liberty?" and "In what is our chief hope for the premanency of our government to be placed?" (after reading, Evils of Dismemberment -- by WEBSTER)  sidenote...where, oh where, is a webster now?

And then there is this, following a piece simply called, No Excellence without Labor -- by WIRT: begging us to answer, "How does it appear from facts, that it is labor rather than genius which gives eminence?"

Oh to be a fly on the wall and observe a classroom of America's finest discussing that!  Now that would be wonderlust.

The thing is, when a society loses its ability to delve deep into it's soul, we start showing that we have none; when we begin to worship secular musings over the transcendent, we begin to live lives disconnected at the heart; when we cease questioning and connecting to the Divine, we begin to act like we don't need It, and ultimately, stop teaching it, we stop illuminating the stories that fill us with grace and peace, charity and hope, stories that fill us with the knowledge and guidance to overcome all obstacles in our path.

Falling back on one of my favorite books, The Re-Enchantment of Everyday Life, by Thomas Moore,

"Enchantment needs its own specialist, and mystery its own lobbyist.  A theology of daily life, practiced by us all, would open our eyes to a dimension solidly sealed off by the modern secularistic imagination, and it would restore soul, because soul is fed by the eternal and the spiritual as much as it finds nourishment in the temporal and the physical."  

Mystery its own lobbyist!  I could eat that all day long.

Our life, as we know it or imagine it could be, needs a soul to survive; while 70% of consumer spending depends on it...

oh really, bite me, so you say?  well, you can jump aboard the progressive gravy train all you want, but if you don't watch the signs, you could be in for a major drop just up ahead.

Without our connection to Life, to the Divine, to the Creator of all things seen and unseen, we not only cease in our ability to make it in this world in which we live with a humble and gracious heart, we cease making everything.

But don't take my word for it, or Glenn's, go to the Source -- question it, with boldness, indifference or with enough vitriol to fill a church if you must.

When we cease teaching our children to live with soul, our world, and the bounty that comes with, will in turn drop into a vast, empty, weeping chasm of antiquity, sealing the coffin of an age gone by; at that point, it really won't matter what we make, let alone if someone buys, for the stark reality of our dirty deeds will be thrust upon us. 

We will have buried the one thing that made us truly good -- made us prosperous -- and virtually made us into who we are today, or yesterday -- the shining beacon on the hill for all the world to see and read all about it -- as we haphazardly keep throwing dirt and plenty of collective hot air upon the one thing our children should know more about, or at the very least, have a chance to discuss.. and maybe even dwell on, sit a spell on, and dither the whole darn day away on.  And I think to myself, what a wonderful world...

make it a good day, G