Kyle Williams: Homeschoolers: Political force of the future

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: March 13, 2004 1:00 a.m. Eastern

The judiciary continues to work outside its intended boundaries. The legislature continues to ignore its boundaries, and many of its members do anything for power. The executive, too, has stepped out of its intended role and continues grow in power. As members of the three branches ignore the law, bureaucracies illegally rise in power and authority.

Since its members disregard the law, there is no boundary on government power, except instable opinion polls.

The abuse of power has hit a low point in history, where judicial activism is everywhere, where, as former Rep. Tom Coburn documents in a recent book, principles are sacrificed over political expediency in the legislature, and where the executive can commit many crimes but cover its tracks, as we saw with Bill Clinton. It's all climaxing to a transparent power grab.

Despite this threat, I'm optimistic about the future. There is great cause for all like-minded Americans to be optimistic. A new political force is rising up that will prove to be extremely powerful.

The "vast right-wing conspiracy" is indeed growing and becoming more organized, as an unlikely group of political activists arise. Homeschoolers are a group that will soon be a force the left will have to contend with.

Unfortunately, in the past, conservative organizations have always fallen short of the effectiveness of liberal groups. The biggest problem with conservative Christians is not their ideas, but their leadership and organization. The culture wars have been fought by highly organized liberal groups and by dozens of unorganized conservative groups lacking commitment and strength.

This week, I went to a program at the state Capitol called TeenPact – a homeschool program dedicated to educating young people about state government. This organization is an unprecedented opportunity for young people to grow in their knowledge about government and interact with lobbyists, representatives, senators and offices around a state's capitol.

If change in America must be founded upon understanding and education, TeenPact is a prime example of how it should be done.

The Homeschool Legal Defense Association is another organization that not only represents homeschool families and fights legal battles in court, but has also begun to spearhead the movement of homeschoolers in politics. Furthermore, with HSLDA's new political action committee, the force will become more relevant in politics.

Another group is the highly organized Generation Joshua, which is headed by Ned Ryun, former presidential speechwriter and the son of Rep. Jim Ryun.

One of the objectives of this organization is to educate homeschoolers on the way government should work. They will be sponsoring a teen camp on the campus of Patrick Henry College this coming summer and has available courses of civic study on the member website.

The second objective of Generation Joshua is about activism. The new organization will be putting together "Student Action Teams" that, funded by the Homeschool Legal Defense Association's PAC, will travel to key races across the country, working on campaigns. In 2002, such groups were put to together and helped six of seven conservative leaders take office, including Sen. Jim Talent, R-Mo.

Patrick Henry College in Virginia is at the forefront of the objective of this movement, as their mission statement reads, "To train Christian men and women who will lead our nation and shape our culture with timeless biblical values and fidelity to the spirit of the American founding."

Founded by Michael Farris of HSLDA, the college offers classic liberal arts, history, literature and government, with the purpose to affect America within a student's respective field. PHC will also be working toward offering a law school, degrees in film, broadcast and television journalism, music and other influential fields.

All these groups are unprecedented in their organization and their approach in affecting the future of America. As the tool of homeschooling activism is refined and grows in effectiveness, it will begin to change the political landscape of America.

Thus, the growing political role of homeschoolers is the hope and future of the conservative movement. A new generation of young people is rising, and the energy and strength of conservatism will rise with it.

Force and support must be put behind this movement and homeschooling and its activism must be encouraged.

Thanks for the ping. The other is a much better article, but I'd still pick on the grammar and some of the analysis, as I'm sure the 70+ responses are!

Re your previous post about a youngster getting above himself ... my oldest daughter (13) reads some articles on FR, and has asked if she can post. I told her to be prepared to have dozens of people tell her how idiotic her thinking is (not to mention criticizing her typing and grammar) if she tries it!

".. but rather it is to get out there and evangelize among the great masses of the mushy middle, to convert the unconverted.

You are so dead on right with your well written article. I read Kyle's little essay and found it to be simplistic and boring. I find it arrogant, too, for Kyle to state that homeschoolers, HSLDA, and PHC are this nations hope. Our family homeschools and is involved in the homeschooling community in our area but that doesn't make us any better or make us any more responsible than anyone else to effect change in our government. Homeschooling is a lifestyle not an ideology nor an activist organization. The true answer is exactly as you have stated (and I quoted above).

HSLDA and PHC are fine organizations and I have supported them financially in the past. I sincerely hope that HSLDA's new program is successful. But I'm certainly not ready to claim its victory before it even gets off the ground.

Homeschooling was a "liberal" movement initially ..."
I sincerely doubt you have solid proof of that statement. I think both were involved initially. I have met liberal homeschoolers and Christian homeschoolers that started in the late 60's early 70's. There is no way to know what kind of numbers were out there.

Christians did flock to homeschooling but I've never heard for the reasons you give. You use the premise of, "bringing more students into homeschooling automatically raise the number of conservatives." to insult Christian motives to educate their children. I find your statement outragous,insulting, and off topic:
It was going for a good 15 years before Christians flocked to it after the US Supreme Court in the early 1980s issued the ruling against racial segregation (originally directed at Bob Jones University) which closed many whites-only "academies" in areas affected by forced bussing.
Not racially motivated; Christian homeschoolers wanted a better education for their children and also wanted to pass on their faith to their children. A difficult task when the state has your child for 8 hours of the day.

but "conservative Christians" were the ones who were more willing and organized

You talk to the pioneer homeschoolers, liberal or conservative, and over and over again you will hear the same thing. There was absolutely no organization and very little in the way of curriculum to help them along in their efforts. They continued homeschooling dispite the trials and blazed a trail for anyone who wants to homeshool.

Homeschooling liberals are just as opposed to state intervention as most conservatives.

Not here in Pennsylvania. Homeschooling liberal groups have made homeschooling support a business and have a great need for these restrictive regulations to keep their pockets full.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.