This entry by Michael J. Totten on the difference between libs and cons is an example of blogging at its best:
Everybody needs to get out of their rut. Start small.
Liberals: Read about Iran. Don’t just read about American policy there, read about Iran. Find out what happens when America isn’t looking.
Conservatives: If you live in a major city, next time the Persian film festival comes to town, buy yourself a ticket. Some of the best films in the world are made in that country. The outside world is greater than the sum of its threats.
Thesis is that libs see everything in relation to America, and cons see everything in relation to the past, more or less. My addition is that modern education aims to turn out libs, while failing to educate. Cons are either very well-educated or not educated at all, and that’s how they escape the conditioning.
I think it’s a crime what the teachers’ union coupled with socialist politics has done to public education in the US.
The teachers’ union completely failed my son, whom we home-schooled since sixth grade. He has his own liberal leanings, which I chalk up to naivete, but he is a real believer in hard work for success and personal responsibility. I don’t think he could have learned that in public school.
The wife of a colleague of mine is a public school teacher in South SF, and she’s currently trying to find other work outside of the education profession precisely because of the teachers union and the “one-size-fits-all” education model that’s more worried about self-esteem than actually telling a student they’re wrong and having them learn from their mistakes. You know, sort of like the real world.
It’s sad because she’s a saint and so passionate about teaching but feels she’s so constrained by an ailing system. Her advice to me? When I have kids, send them to private school.