Most Americans are under the impression that Communism was invented by Karl Marx and Lenin and first practiced in the Soviet Union. The truth, however, is quite different.

Communism as an economic and political philosophy was created by Robert Owen (1771-1858), a British manufacturer, who believed that all of man's ills were caused by religion. He became a social messiah when he "discovered" what he considered to be the basic truth about human character: that a man's character is made for him by society through upbringing, education and environment and not by himself as the religionists taught. Children in a cannibal society grow up to be adult cannibals. Children in a selfish, competitive society grow up to be selfish and competitive. No one is innately depraved or evil. An infant is a glob of plastic that can be molded to have whatever character society wants him to have.

Owen started publishing his ideas in 1813, and in 1816 to prove that he was right, he established his famous Institution for the Formation of Character at New Lanark in Scotland. Through a secular, scientific curriculum coupled with the notion that each pupil must strive to make his fellow pupils happy, Owen hoped to turn out little rational, cooperative human beings, devoid of selfishness, religious superstition, and all of the other traits found in capitalist man.

In 1825, Robert Owen came to America to establish his communist colony at New Harmony, Indiana. The experiment received a great deal of newspaper publicity and attracted a large number of utopian followers. It was called "an experiment in social reform through cooperation and rational education." But in less than two years it failed. The problem, Owen decided, was that people raised and educated under the old system were incapable of adapting themselves to the communist way of life, no matter how much they professed to believe in it.

Therefore, the Owenites decided that rational, secular education would have to precede the creating of a socialist society. They subsequently launched a strong campaign to promote a national system of secular education. Owen's son, Robert Dale Owen, and feminist Frances Wright set up headquarters in New York City, helped organize the Workingmen's Party as a front for Owenite ideas, published a radical weekly paper called The Free Inquirer, and lectured widely on socialism and national education.

Their anti-religious views turned so many people away from Owenism, however, that they were forced to adopt covert techniques to further their ends. One of the men attracted to their cause was Orestes Brownson, a writer and editor, whose remarkable religious odyssey took him from Calvinism to Universalism to Socialism to Unitarianism and finally to Catholicism. Years later, describing his short experience with the Owenites, Brownson wrote (as documented in his article "The Convert" in The Works of Orestes A Brownson, AMS Press, Inc., vol. V, p.56):

But the more immediate work was to get our system of schools adopted. To this end it was proposed to organize the whole Union secretly, very much on the plan of the Carbonari of Europe, of whom at that time I knew nothing. The members of this secret society were to avail themselves of all the means in their power, each in his own locality, to form public opinion in favor education by the state at the public expense, and to get such men elected to the legislatures as would be likely to favor our purposes. How far the secret organization extended, I do not know; but I do know that a considerable portion of the State of New York was organized, for I was myself one of the agents for organizing it.

Thus we know that as early as 1829, the communists and socialists had adopted subversive techniques to further their ends in the United States, techniques they would continue to use right up to the present.

Public education was the result of an unholy alliance between Owenites, who wanted public schools to promote socialism, Unitarians who wanted public schools to get rid of Calvinist influence, and Protestants who wanted public schools to counter increasing Catholic immigration. The system we now have is anti-Christian, pro-socialist, and owned lock, stock, and barrel by behavioral psychologists. It is a training system designed to treat children as little animals in conformity with the educators' prevailing belief in evolution.

This is clearly not an education system for a free society, and thus it must be gotten rid of. How? American parents still have the freedom to educate their children outside this corrupt government system. The faster they exercise this freedom, the better off we all shall be.

Dr. Samuel L. Blumenfeld is the author of nine books on education including NEA: Trojan Horse in American Education, The Whole Language/OBE Fraud, and The Victims of Dick & Jane and Other Essays. Of NEA: Trojan Horse in American Education, former U.S. Senator Steve Symms of Idaho said: “Every so often a book is written that can change the thinking of a nation. This book is one of them.” Mr. Blumenfeld’s columns have appeared in such diverse publications as Reason, The New American, The Chalcedon Report, Insight, Education Digest, Vital Speeches, WorldNetDaily, and others.

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Peter Pumpkin said:

Central Planners As with almost any human idea or invention which innovators 'stand on the shoulders of giants' - or pygmies, in the case of many ideas about the nature of Man, the communism of Marx and Engels described in their Communist Manifesto incorporated many erroneous ideas about Man, many of which had been around for centuries. One of the chief problems with our current public school systems, as with communism, is that they are centrally planned. And when the corrupt take those central levers of power, to which the corrupt so aspire, their corruption becomes the norm in the system. The central planners are also taking over our government and economy, the basic erroneous idea being that the few can know more and be smarter than and run the lives of the many even in the tiniest detail, an idea which has been proven false and destructive time after time. We need an K-12 education voucher system that parents can use at ANY school of their choice, provided such school meet some standard from English language reading and writing, math, hard sciences, and US history ONLY - if their child can pass the entrance exam of the particular school. These vouchers would have equal monetary value per child - excepting that vouchers for children with disabilities would have a greater value reflecting the disability and its degree. The value of these vouchers would equal the per capita cost of a child in the equivalent grade of the public schools, such per capita cost to include ALL costs including transportation and buildings. Alternative schools would be free to charge more than the value of the vouchers for parents willing to pay the difference out of pocket.

July 30, 2010

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Red Pill Please said:

Home Schooling is the Best Option Today Case in point, our son was home schooled, accepted to a well known university and later achieved his Master's Degree. The system we now have is anti-Christian, pro-socialist, and owned lock, stock, and barrel by behavioral psychologists. It is a training system designed to treat children as little animals in conformity with the educators' prevailing belief in evolution. This was confirmed as fact in Ben Stein's 2008 documentary, "No Intelligence Allowed." The belief in a "6 thousand year old earth" was the dominant belief system for millennia up until the mid-20th century when atheists and their pseudo "science" entered the scene. In fact, Richard Dawkins stated: Evolution is the intellectual platform for atheism. True Christians believe in the Genesis text for the creation model where the earth was given an appearance of age (Was Adam created as an infant?) and don't wish to have their children dangerously brainwashed and manipulated by the evil doctrine of man. Famed astrophysicist and mathematician Dr. Fred Hoyle illustrated (mathematical odds) the folly in a belief as evolution, as did Dr. Henry Morris, who was himself an evolutionist though converted to Christianity evidenced by the overwhelmingly failed "science" of evolution. Evidence: http://www.icr.org/recent-creation/

August 01, 2010

R Jensen said:

voucher "We need an K-12 education voucher system that parents can use at ANY school of their choice, provided such school meet some standard from English language reading and writing, math, hard sciences, and US history ONLY - if their child can pass the entrance exam of the particular school." No, "we" need people to start paying for the education of their own children, and government needs to get out of the child-brainwashing business entirely.

August 01, 2010

Peter Pumpkin said:

PAY UP "No, 'we' need people to start paying for the education of their own children, and government needs to get out of the child-brainwashing business entirely." That will work too ... that's what I did for my kids. But there will always be parents who are deadbeats or who can't pay through no fault of their own or who are addicted to the government teat. Their children must be educated regardless. I also believe that the education of the next generation is the responsibility of everyone, even those who choose not to or can't have children. But I can easily be talked out of this one ...

August 03, 2010

Civilus Defendus said:

The Manipulators Need Little People to Manipulate These ideas paved the way for Marx and for John Dewey who wanted to control society through "progressive education." The elites were creating, and still are creating through the NEA, the minions that they would control. People are trained to be ignorant, not stupid, but mal-educated such that they cannot think logically - nor for themselves. The election of O, the belief in Hillary's progressivism, the devastating economic decisions and totalitarian actions at the federal level are the result and could destroy the US. All for ideas that do not work, have never worked and are in opposition to human nature.

August 03, 2010 | url