The Republican Club of Sun City

N E W S L E T T E R

August 2015 Everett Schmidt, Editor Sun City

Texas

rcsctx.com

(Subjects of Reports in This Issue: “School Choice,” “ Western Civilization Courses,” “ Christianity and Western Civilization,”

“Houston City Ordinance”)

TEXAS PUBLIC POLICY FOUNDATION OFFICER

TO ADDRESS CLUB

Chuck DeVore, Vice President of National Initiatives at the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) will

address the club during its dinner meeting scheduled for Thursday, August 20 in the ballroom of the Social

Center in Sun City.

He has had a wide variety of experiences in politics, industry and the military which can serve him well in

that capacity. From 2004 to 2010, he represented 500,000 people in California in that state’s Assembly where he

served on committees responsible for budget, revenue and taxation. In 2010, he ran for the position of U. S.

Senator, an effort which, while not successful, provided him with valuable experience in the world of politics. He

gained valuable experience in the business world by being vice president of a corporation for 13 years. From

1986 to 1988, he served in the Reagan White House where his duties included working with Congress to

promote Reagan’s foreign and military policies. From 1991 to 1996, he served as Commissioner for the City of

Irvine. He also served as an intelligence officer in the Army National Guard and retired as lieutenant colonel.

DeVore’s address will center around the theme of “The Texas Model of Limited Government Promotes

Prosperity,” which will include an explanation of how the TPPF will promote the state’s prosperity through the

next legislative session by providing information on that subject to legislators and the general public. Other

related matters may also be discussed.

The state if fortunate is fortunate in having an influential organization such as the TPPF – which is

located by a couple of blocks from the state capitol – to promote conservative legislation in the state. The club

has been fortunate in having a number of knowledgeable speakers – including DeVore – to address its

meetings.

BEGINNING TIMES: Social Hour – 6:00 PM; Dinner – 6:30 PM; Program – 7:00 PM (approx.)

MENU: c hips and salsa, tortillas, beef and chicken fajitas, Spanish rice, refried beans, shredded lettuce,

sauteed onions, sauteed bell peppers, diced tomatoes, guacamole, sour cream, cheese.

COST: C ost is $16 per person. Checks made out to “The Republican Club of Sun City” should be

mailed to: The Republican Club of Sun City, 1530 Sun City Blvd., Suite 120, Box 227, Georgetown, TX

78633. The deadline for payment or reservations is Friday, August 14 .

Bill Harron, treasurer, has set up a special collection box on his front porch at 125 Stetson Trail for

individuals wishing to handdeliver

payments. For information about reservations, contact Bill at 5128640965

or

Bharron@aol.com

VISITORS ARE WELCOME! (Nonmembers

may attend a maximum of two meetings per year – as

attendees for the dinner or as observers – without having paid membership dues.)

OTHER CLUB NEWS

Vice president John Congdon reports that club membership now stands at 280.

Club treasurer Bill Harron reports there 112 attendees at the July 16 dinner meeting with an estimated

46

people present as observers.

NEED FOR PARENTAL SCHOOL CHOICE NOW URGENT

Foreword. F or years there has been widespread dissatisfaction over various aspects of the statewide

public school system. The perennial (for decades) clash over continually vacillating standards prescribed for

standardized tests, standards to receive a diploma are perceived to be too low (graduates reportedly can’t read

their own diplomas) and poor discipline (which now includes threats of or

actual assaults on teachers)

are but

some of the reasons for the dissatisfaction.

And just recently, with the Supreme Court decision on marriage – with its concomitant issues (restroom

use, transgender issues, textbook content, undermining of family values, etc.) – the need for parental school

choice has become more urgent. The choice must include nongovernmental,

private schools if parental values

are not to be undermined. That is because nongovernmental

schools (private, Christian) can better support

family values and provide other advantages than can government schools which will have to deal with court

rulings, the state and federal education departments and politicians. Consistent with desires its citizens have

made known, Texas should follow the lead of other states and provide a system of vouchers or tax relief so that

parents can have school choice.

Now an Apparent Need. The concern for maintaining family or Biblical values is justified by the report

of Columnist Dennis Prager who points out one significant concomitant effect of the Supreme Court ruling on

samesex

marriage: “For the first time in recorded history, whole societies are announcing that gender has no

significance. Samesex

marriage is, above all else, the statement that male and female mean nothing, are

completely interchangeable, and, yes, don’t even objectively exist, because you are only the gender you feel you

are. That explains the “T” in “LGBT.”

The gender issue is already present in some public schools. For example, shortly before he left office,

former Attorney General Eric Holder, on his own authority, issued a memorandum which, among its provisions,

was indication that a high school boy who claims to be transgendered and who wishes to use the girls’ restroom,

is free to do so.

While the impact of Holder’s memorandum has yet to be widely felt (mainly because of summer break),

it should be noted that the Fairfax County (VA) school board, on its initiative, voted to add “gender identity” as a

protected class, not as a reaction to Holder’s memorandum, but reportedly out of fear of otherwise losing federal

funds. The board took that action even though there was a large assemblage of parents present to oppose that

action.

The above report provides an indication that even local government cannot be trusted to remain

consistent with traditional family values, and brings to mind the action of another local government, the Houston

City Council, which voted to establish an ordinance on “gender identity” similar to the one at Fairfax County.

(The Houston ordinance has been litigated and is reported on elsewhere in this newsletter.)

As if parents didn’t have enough to worry about with the actions of federal, state and even local

government, they should be aware of the actions of a nongovernmental

group, the National Education

Association (NEA), the nation’s largest union whose three million members include most of the nation’s public

school teachers. Columnist Phyllis Schlafley reports that at its July convention, the NEA declared that “teachers

should tolerate no dissent on socalled

marriage equality, even for religious reason .”

It should be apparent that many parents now have to cope with situations that can jeopardize the best

interest of their children with respect to family values. Relief would seem to be in order.

This report, consequently, is to provide information to justify the establishment school choice options for

parents.

Texas’ Support for School Choice. In a 2012 Republican Primary election, Republicans responded by

a whopping 84% approval (1,176,965 to 219,127) the following proposition on the ballot:

The state should fund education by allowing dollars to follow the child instead of the bureaucracy through a program

which allows parents the freedom to choose their child’s school, public or private, while also saving significant dollars.

Litigation. The Texas Supreme Court, which will soon hear oral testimony about the state’s school

finance system and which will offer an opinion later this year or in early 2016, has, for years, contended that the

Legislature needs to consider fundamental changes, beyond pouring more money into the system. For example,

in its 2005 West Orange Cove II ruling, the court stated: “Perhaps . . .public education could benefit from more

competition , but the parties have not raised this argument, and therefore we do not address it .”

Charter Schools. Texas, beginning in 1995, began to establish “charter schools” which are public

schools operating under a special “charter” approved by the State Board of Education or another agency

authorized by state law. Reportedly, there now over 101,000 students on waiting lists to attend a charter school.

While these schools have more flexibility than do traditional public schools, it should be noted that they, as

government schools, still will come under court decisions, bureaus, and laws which affect the traditional public

school. Nongovernment

schools can avoid many of those restrictions.

Texas’ Efforts to Provide School Choice. Despite the noted indications that Texans want school

choice, and despite the significant amount of dissatisfaction noted above, the 84t h legislature, while there was

some initial progress, produced no substantive legislation as is described in a TPPF publication: “. . . for the first

time in 20 years, school choice was passed by the Texas Senate. However, schoolchoice

legislation died in the

House without ever receiving a public hearing .”

Kent Grusendorf of the TPPF describes the resulting situation as follows: “Currently, our Texas

Education Code merely tolerates this: individual families are allowed to strike out on their own to educate their

children. Yet there is no incentive offered by the state to do this. With the exception of charter schools, parents

who seek out a nonpublic

school must pay twice for their child’s education: once in the form of a property tax to

the government and again in the form of tuition to the nonpublic

school.

Nancy Druart of the TPPF provides the following assessment of Texas’ efforts to provide private school

(nongovernment)

school choice: “ While we have strong charter school laws and online learning available to

many of our students, Texas is among a shrinking group of states that has no private school choice. No

education scholarships, no education savings accounts, no tax credit option for businesses interested in

investing in their community by creating education scholarships.”

Why Texas Has Not Provided For Parental School Choice. Grusendorf provides several reasons why

Texas has not provided for parental school choice:

• Almost all of the opposition to school choice comes from stakeholder selfinterest.

Unions oppose school choice because

it would diminish their power to direct the current system. These unions struggle to hold power because they need a

governmentgranted

monopoly to exist.

• Public school administrators are usually opposed to school choice. In many Texas areas, superintendents are the highest

paid individuals and receive a prominent position in their community. Competition would force school districts to spend

funds more efficiently, which would mean directing more money to classrooms and less to administrative overhead.

• Lastly, we have vendors who have a vested stake in the status quo. Many vendors have a stake in the current system, which

purchases food services, books, computers, buses, architects, and attorneys (who sue the state for more money). In

addition, there are hundreds of organizations and associations which are almost totally funded by dues from school

districts.

• Amazingly, the opponents to school choice often express their opposition to school “profiteers,” though they themselves

rake in huge profits from the established system.

Legislators may not be inclined to support a statewide

system of school choice if they are able to

provide a private school education for their children. While no statistics were found revealing the number of

Texas legislators who were sending their children to private schools, some related statistics from other states

may be helpful. Columnist Larry Elder reports, “One study found that in Philadelphia a staggering 44 percent of

public school teachers send their own kids to private schools. In Cincinnati and Chicago, 41 and 39 percent of

public school teachers, respectively, pay for a private school education.”

With respect to members of Congress, Elder reports that, “A 2007 Heritage Foundation study found that

37 percent of Representatives and 45 percent of Senators with school age children sent their own kids to private

schools.”

Successful Efforts in Other States. While efforts to bring about parental school choice in Texas have

languished, other states are forging ahead, as is evidenced by the following report from the Austin

AmericanStatesman:

• This year, Nevada established a universal Education Savings Account program, which allows parents to use state funds on

any number of approved expenses, and save the unused money for future school years.

• Montana and Tennessee established new schoolchoice

programs. Oklahoma expanded their charterschool

option across

the state. Indiana will provide higher perpupil

funding for charter schools and lowinterest

loans to help charter operators

pay for facilities.

• All in all, 46 schoolchoice

programs provide parent choice for families across the nation.

The TeacherPupil

Relationship. For generations, the traditional relationship between teacher and

pupil had been analogous to the relationship between parent and child. That relationship was hierarchical. But

with the 1969 Tinker case the Supreme Court brought the Constitution’s First Amendment rights (and later due

process rights) to the public school campus. Juveniles were thus deemed to have Constitutional rights

conterminous with adults.

Author Hymowitz comments on this situation: “ . . .the mere potential for a lawsuit shrinks the adult in the

child’s eyes. It transfers the person who should be the teacher and representative of society’s moral and cultural

values as a civil servant who may or may not please the young rightsarmed

citizen. The natural relationship

between adult and child begins to crumble .”

Two Examples of Alternatives to Traditional Public Schools. Following are two examples of

alternatives to public schools. The first involves a charterschool

(a tuitionfree

school, but with limited

enrollment) which emphasizes a study of the classics and emphasizes a study of the founding of this nation. The

second is a Christian school which, as a nongovernmental

school, emphasizes the positive aspects of religion

and thereby avoids some of hostility toward religion which has crept into virtually all public institutions. It charges

tuition.

• FOUNDERS CLASSICAL ACADEMY OF LEANDER. “It provides timetested

methods of educating students. Students are

taught the fundamentals of English grammar, American and world history through the reading of primary source

documents; the great stories of human struggle and yearning told by the greatest storytellers – Homer, Shakespeare, Milton

and Melville; the principles of liberty and selfgovernment

as articulated by the Founding of this country . . .and the

ennobling beauties found in painting, sculpture and song. Founders is based on Classical Liberal Arts and Sciences.

• GRACE ACADEMY OF GEORGETOWN. “{Is] a private, Christian school committed to providing a classical and

biblicallybased

education to young people in elementary and secondary grade levels. Education at Grace Academy is

intended to be inherently different in philosophy and content from that offered in the public schools. Grace Academy

strives to operate as an extension of the family under the assumption that the education of young people is the

responsibility of parents and the immediate family rather than the responsibility of the state. Grace Academy provides a

biblicallybased

curriculum and teaches all subjects as parts of an integrated whole with the Scriptures at the center.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE ABANDONMENT

OF REQUIRED COURSES IN WESTERN CIVILIZATION

Foreword. The Texas Public Policy Foundation sponsored in June a panel discussion on the

abandonment – and its possible reestablishment – of required courses in Western Civilization at the college and

university level. There were fifteen panelists from academe who participated in such topics as “Why Teach the

West?”, “How to Create More Western Civilization Programs,” and the “Impact of Western Civilization.”

The event apparently came about as a result of a belief that the abandonment of required courses in

Western Civilization – which began several decades ago – was a step in the wrong direction, and a belief that a

study of the emergence of Western Civilization in the GrecoRoman

empire may have relevance in today’s

world.

This report will provide background information on why one or more Western Civilization courses had

typically been required, why that requirement was abandoned, and what courses replaced them.

A purpose of this report is to show that America’s present culture – which appears to many citizens to

now be disintegrating or imploding – is, in several respects, beginning to show some of the same unfortunate

characteristics of the GrecoRoman

culture. Because Western Civilization was then a force for good, perhaps a

study of it will be of relevance today.

The Way if Was. Writer Herbert London asserts that a Western Civilization history course was a survey

course covering classical antiquity to the present and “was the glue, the allembracing

narrative, that gave

coherence to everything else the university taught. At the very least, students came away from this course with a

partial recognition of their civilization and its monumental achievements.”

The National Association of Scholars (NAS) reports that Western Civilization courses “once stood not

just as a foundation for history majors but as something of a framework for the entirety of liberal arts education.

The study of science, politics, philosophy, literature, and the arts made sense – or at least more sense – as part

of the narrative of a civilization’s rise and development.”

The NAS found a respectable array of requirements: “More than half [of universities] required students

to take a twosemester

course covering the history of western civilization from Greece to the modern era. The

other half of the universities had required courses guaranteeing that students understood the history of their

society.”

Changes Began to Occur. Changes were radical. The NAS reports that by 2010, “only 2 percent of

colleges offered western civilization as a course requirement. Remarkably, western civilization is rarely even

required for history majors.”

What caused the change? One explanation is the belief that a person majoring in technical training will

receive a salary superior to the student having a degree in the humanities. But studies have shown that while

that may be true just after graduation, the reverse is true in later years. The humanities major has been shown to

be more able to think problems through and then solve them.

A second reason was the advent of multiculturalism, diversity and political correctness. NAS explains:

“When in 1987 Jesse Jackson led Stanford protesters in a chant of ‘Hey hey, ho ho, Western Culture’s got to go,’

the object was not to displace mathematics or English literature, but eliminate a course that focused on Western

Civilization. Western Civilization had come to be seen as a form of apologetics for racism, imperialism, sexism,

and colonialism.”

A “Prisoners Run the Asylum” Paradigm. Universities, instead of pushing back with assertions that

“student pressure should play no role in devising curriculum . . .And [to] think that to label history’s most

influential works as examples of a white male culture and little else is to make a travesty of Western Culture

itself. ‘Education Is Not a Democracy.’”

But “political correctness” ruled the day. Writer Greg Crosby asserts: “The idea was to throw out the

university’s required courses on Western Culture because they were filled with ‘European and Western male

bias’ and replace them with courses that teach nonWestern

cultures and ‘works by women, minorities, and

persons of color.’” These are some of the considerations that now go into the selection of textbooks for public

schools.

Writer Herbert London points out some resulting distortions:

• Now Western Civilization survey courses have been eliminated from the general education requirements, replaced in large

part by courses and programs that either undermine traditions in the West or balkanize the curriculum.

• Latino studies, for example, exalt the accomplishments of Spanishspeaking

people. Black studies emphasize the plight of

blacks in white societies. Women’s studies superordinate the role of women. However, white studies denounce

maledominated,

colonial societies. American history, on the rare occasion it is required, tells a story of conflict,

exploitation and imperial goals. Third World studies is ostensibly a rehearsal of abuse and unfair dominance by the West.

• Is it any wonder, poll after poll demonstrate students are alienated from their own culture?

Christianity Emerges as the Enemy. There may even have been more basic reasons for removing

Western Civilization from the university curriculum and prohibiting its reestablishment. Writer Jay Rogers

contends, “At the root of the attacks on Western Civilization is a more subtle attempt to discredit Christianity.”

Why is that? Author Alvin Schmidt reports those same attacks occurred in the early part of the fifth

century when St. Augustine said that the Romans despised Christians because they opposed their unrestrained

lifestyles. Tertullian said that Romans, for the same reason, hated the name “Christian.” And there is evidence

that such hostility exists today for the same reason. Sir Julian Huxley, once probably the greatest advocate of

the theory of evolution, said, “[The reason] we all jumped at [Darwin’s theory] was because the idea of God

interfered with our sexual mores.”

CHRISTIANITY AND WESTERN CIVILIZATION

With the abandonment of required courses in Western Civilization and with the deliberate attempt by

leftists to obscure or to ridicule the benefits to civilization which can be traced back to Christianity, it appears that

a huge segment of society will be totally oblivious to those benefits.

Luckily, several writers have provided information on that matter, one of whom is Paul Maier, professor

of ancient history, who writes, in part:

• In the ancient world, [Christianity] elevated brutish standards of morality, halted infanticide, enhanced human life,

emancipated women, abolished slavery, inspired charities and relief organizations, created hospitals, established

orphanages, and founded schools.

• In medieval times, Christianity almost singlehandedly

kept classical culture alive through recopying manuscripts, building

libraries, moderating warfare through truce days, and providing dispute arbitration. It was Christians who invented colleges

and universities, dignified labor as a divine vocation, and extended the light of civilization to barbarians on the frontiers.

• In the modern era, Christian teaching, properly expressed, advanced science, instilled concepts of political and social and

economic freedom, fostered justice, and provided the greatest single source of inspiration for the magnificent

achievements in art, architecture, music, and literature that we treasure to the present day.

.

TEXAS SUPREME COURT RULES ON HOUSTON CITY ORDINANCE

In May of 2014, Houston Mayor Annise Parker and the Houston City Council passed a controversial

proLGBT

ordinance which allowed transgendered persons to sue businesses that prohibited their use of their

preferred bathroom.

There was then overwhelming opposition to that ordinance led primarily by a group of Houston pastors

and churches who collected twice the number of signatures required to get an appeal option placed on the

ballot. But there were controversies. According to the city secretary, petitioners collected a sufficient number of

signatures, but the Mayor and the City Attorney defiantly refused to recognize that a sufficient number of

signatures had been attained.

Then legal proceedings ensued. The city administration issued subpoenas to five Houston pastors who

delivered the petitions to provide documents, including – unbelievably – sermons, emails and other materials.

The city then rescinded the subpoenas, but the litigation continued. A Texas district judge ruled that

petitioners had failed to gather enough signatures. But subsequently, on July 24, the Texas Supreme Court held

that enough signatures had been gathered, and further held that the Houston City Council must stop

enforcement of the ordinance and reconsider it. If the ordinance is not repealed by August 24, 2015, then by that

date “the City Council must order that the ordinance be put to popular vote during the November 2015 election.”

NOTES ON THE PASSING SCENE

(Some random observations on this crazy world in which we live.)

President of Planned Parenthood. Many club members are aware of the fact that the president of the

Planned Parenthood Federation, Cecile Richards – who has been on numerous news broadcasts in recent

weeks – is the daughter of former Texas Governor Ann Richards who served in that capacity from 1991 to 1995.

What members may not know is that she founded the Texas Freedom Network (TFN) which, according

to Wikipedia, was “formed to counter the Christian right.” That organization has frequently been in the news at

times the State Board of Education meets to select textbooks. The TPN articulates the leftist point of view on

textbook and other matters.

Cecile is married to Kirk Adams, a labor organizer with the Service Employees International Union

(SEIU), and has three children.

Abbot Appoints HomeSchooler

Mom to Head Education Board. Governor Abbot recently appointed

Donna Bahorich, a homeschooling

mom who taught her three children from her Houston home from

kindergarten through the eighth grade, to be chairman of the State Board of Education, of which she was already

a member.

Her three children went to a private high school. One became a National Merit Scholar. All three are

engineers: one petroleum, another chemical and the last mechanical.

Bohorich’s appointment was the subject of an editorial appearing in a July issue of The Wall Street

Journal.

Recollections of the 2012 Democratic National Convention. More and more evidence is mounting

that the nation is engaging in an everintensifying

clash – perhaps better stated as a “death struggle” between

two worldviews: one is that there is a supreme being, and the other is that there should be no religious influence

in society .

The recent Supreme Court decision on samesex

marriage with its concomitant issues brings to mind

the 2012 Democrat National Convention when, the reader may recall, there was deliberate effort to have any

mention of “God” struck from the DNC platform.

Some background. In 2008, a provision in the DNC platform contained the phrase “Godgiven,”

but in

the 2012 proposed platform, reference to the phrase “Godgiven”

or just “God” did not appear in the proposed

platform. The platform in that form caused quite a stir when presented to the assembled delegates. Columnist

Phyllis Schlafley explains what happened:

A motion (requiring a 2/3 majority) was presented to the full Democratic National Convention on September 4 to restore

“God” to the Platform. The chair called for a voice vote three times and the Ayes and Nays sounded equally divided each

time. The chair then read from the teleprompter that the motion had passed. All TV viewers saw and heard the evidence

that at least half the Delegates to the convention voted to exclude “God” or Godgiven

rights from their National Platform.

Lessons From Pakistan. The informed reader is aware of a growing number of difficulties in both

Europe and America stemming from a resistance on the part of Muslims to assimilate into the general

population, choosing instead to establish enclaves where Shariah law is a significant if not a controlling factor.

The reader may or may not recall that within a few months of the establishment of Israel by UN partition

back in 194748,

a brand new nation, Pakistan, was also thus established. While there is at least some general

understanding about the establishment of Israel, there may be none about the establishment of Pakistan. Yet

there may be important lessons – particularly in regard to the nonassimilation

of Muslims – for us about

Muslims. Pakistan was formerly Hindu, but after years of bloody rioting, became recognized as a Muslim state.

Pakistan has nuclear weapons .