Battle for the American Mind: Uprooting a Century of Miseducation by Pete Hegseth & David Goodwin

Author:Pete Hegseth & David Goodwin [Hegseth, Pete & Goodwin, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Science, Civics & Citizenship, Public Policy, Cultural Policy, Education, Educational Policy & Reform, Federal Legislation, Social Policy
ISBN: 9780063215047
Google: 6elCEAAAQBAJ
Amazon: 0063215047
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2022-06-14T06:00:00+00:00

THE PROGRESSIVE VIRUS

When we hear that America’s founding fathers read the great philosophers, learned Latin, or studied theology in school, we think, “Of course, that’s how they did things back then. But why would we do that now?” We think as if Latin were a living language in the 1700s (it wasn’t). Or as if classical philosophy was more of a practical tool for farmers, brewers, millers, or blacksmiths than it is for today’s technology jobs (it wasn’t). Classical education in the 1700s could have seemed just as “irrelevant” then as it seems now—at least if you judge it by progressive standards. Given the economics of the time, “impractical” education would have been less likely to be widespread. Yet nearly every citizen was educated classically. The real question: why did our founding fathers, and the generations before them, revere such an “impractical” education?

Let’s put it into 2022 terms. Think of WCP as a vaccine. Think of progressivism, or authoritarianism—which is what our founders feared most—as the China virus. Without a vaccine, such a virus is free to rip through a society in record speed. Without any defenses, bad ideas can quietly spread without being seen—until it’s too late. Centuries ago, the WCP was a ubiquitous and time-tested vaccine, given to Americans at childhood. Given our nation’s “herd immunity” through its paideia, the virus almost never had a chance. But as the vaccine was used less and less in America’s homes and schoolrooms, the progressive virus was allowed to spread. Today, nearly every school in America is a 16,000-hour superspreader event. Without the WCP vaccine (and waning cultural/natural immunity), our kids are vulnerable. The virus becomes our new normal, with our culture on one giant ventilator.

In Christopher Nolan’s 2010 film thriller, Inception, the central theme is the power of an idea, once planted, to change everything. There are good ideas, and bad ideas—what matters is how widely they are allowed to spread. Twenty-four hundred years ago something unprecedented happened—an idea changed everything. Recorded human civilization had existed for many thousands of years with few substantive changes. Human civilization was rooted in raw power and superstition. Life, as Thomas Hobbes wrote, was brutish and short. To our eyes, their customs were weird and pagan. People were told what to believe, and they did. Each tribe or nation had a god. And broader people-groups shared multiple gods. Most men were indentured to authoritarian leaders. The Greco-Roman-Christian civilization changed all that. Today we take this for granted. And, because we take it for granted, we are about to lose civilization as we know it.

You were probably told that man has slowly evolved socially, away from superstition and toward reason; away from a belief in gods (or even God) and toward personal autonomy; away from totalitarian empires and toward democracy; away from brutality and toward the rule of law. Along the way, enlightened people invented things and science became our trusted companion in any crisis. We have now progressed to become “the great society.” And this “great society” will continue if we make it do so.

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