Thomas Jefferson Education on Glenn Beck

By Jacqueline Smith

As many of you know, I have been homeschooling my children, and educating myself using The Thomas Jefferson Education, sometimes known as TJed.   The class being referred to in this clip is being taught here in Utah (Wanship) by the founders of  The Thomas Jefferson Education system.  This will be a wonderful free event.  Please make plans to attend.  It is on Friday afternoon April 30, 2010.  Do your best to take some time off work and attend this special event, you won’t regret it.  You must RSVP for this event, at our meet up site by clicking here.

We are in a leadership crisis in our country, and the only way to change direction is to become liber.  Liber is the latin word for tree bark.  You see, tree bark was used to write on.  It is also the root word of library, and liberty.  In order to be a free people, we must be educated, and we must educate ourselves in the classics.

It will take leadership to move not just our political arena forward in America, but our enrapreneurs, our educational arena, our media, our communities.  To understand the leadership model of education, I highly recommend attending our TJed for families event.  Dads …. you need to come, too.  A family that learns together has much more impact on the world.

For more information, please visit our Education Resources here.

Jeff Sandefer’s State Policy Network Speech

The following speech is available to read in it’s entirety by clicking here

SPN Speech

Thank you, Rich.  It is an honor to be introduced by such a good friend, a man who not only is my favorite education reformer, but brings incredible energy and good humor to such a difficult quest.

It is an honor too to be with so many freedom fighters. From my years on the board of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, I have seen how a state think tank can do so much for the cause of liberty. My thanks to all of you, for all that you do.

As I was preparing this talk, I was wondering what it might feel like to be on the front lines, defending freedom, in times like this.

Do you feel as I do?

Are you still wondering how a President from Texas, a self-proclaimed “compassionate conservative,” could have understood so little about freedom and free markets?

Are you angry with men like Mark Sanford, who with so much promise and so much to give, let personal appetites destroy their ability to serve?

Are you holding the Republican Party banner at arm’s length, like a soiled piece of cloth, wondering if we can ever wash off the stench from politicians who promised one thing to get elected, but spent money like drunken sailors once they were in office?

Does your heart, like mine, cry out for a Buckley or a Reagan or a Thatcher?

I am nothing more than an entrepreneur, a teacher and a father of three.  But I have had the honor of teaching with some of the finest entrepreneurs in this country.  And I have sat at Bill Buckley’s feet, and watched Margaret Thatcher from up close and studied Ronald Reagan from afar.

If you feel as I do today, please listen closely to what I say next, for it embodies all that I have learned as an entrepreneur and a teacher:

Do not give up hope.  For we freedom fighters have three simple truths, ancient truths, entrepreneurial truths, that are the secret to the American dream. Embrace them, master them, and you not only change the world – but you will change yourself as well.

Let me say that again:

Do not give up hope.  For we freedom fighters have three simple truths, that are the secret to the American dream. Embrace them and you not only change the world – but you change yourself as well.

I came here today because I believe that some of you in this room will change the world.  Not in a small way, but in a profound one. Because I have witnessed how the courage of ordinary people, armed with these three truths, can change the world.

Can the truths change your life as well? Stay with me for these next few minutes and I promise you’ll have your answer. …(Read the rest of the speech here)

Are You a Madison, Jefferson, Ghandi or Mother Teresa?

Are You or Do You Know a Madison, Jefferson, Ghandi or Mother Teresa?

by Christy Watterson

James Madison could see that the Articles of Confederation were not working.  If something wasn’t done quickly, the new government would fail,  the 13 states would desintigrate,  hard won liberty would be lost, and England would step in and rule America once more.  Madison applied to Jefferson and others for ideas and resources on  government.  Jefferson sent Madison a crate of his own books from France where he was serving as an American ambassador.  He and others also gave Madison reading suggestions.  Madison studied all he could.  He read Montisque, Locke, Blackstone, etc.  He also read Cicero, and other great ancient scholars and leaders.  The Bible was another source of inspiration.  As he read these, he was able to think and understand on deep levels.  He was able to see what worked and didn’t work in the past.  What areas of human nature needed to kept in check.  What it would take to keep liberty alive.   He then gathered people he knew to be key indivituals from across the 13 states who also had the education, influence and backgroutnd to bring to pass a government that would perpetuate liberty.   These men gathered together in the Constitutional Convention and conceived an inspired document that would give people a country where they could live their lives and pursue their dreams in Liberty.

According to Dr. Oliver DeMille, in order for freedom to win in the United States today, we need 700 men and women like Cincinnatus, Madison, Jefferson, Ghandi and Mother Teresa.  Individuals who have the faith, education, understanding of human nature, and the ability to think and analyze on deep levels.  They also need to have the skills necessary to organize, bring key players together, and lead and rally when needed.  They must have the education, ability and personality to make freedom possible on a national level.  Let us all pray that as the time comes when the people cry we need a Cincinnatus, that 700 step forward.  That God has prepared these individuals just as he prepared Washington, Madison and Jefferson etc.  is my hope and prayer.   Is it your mission to be one of these?  A great place to start is George Wythe University.  They are a university dedicated to creating leaders and statesmen of the calibur  of Jefferson and Madison.   Look them up at http://www.gw.edu  Lastly, if you are interested in reading more of Dr. Oliver DeMille has to say on what it will take for freedom to win, you can download his webinar The Coming Aristocray parts one and two.  In these audio downloads, he explains how an aristocracy is again coming to power in the United States in the form of out of control big business and government who are becoming a law unto themselves.  He also tells us what it will take in order for freedom to win.  There are also some great audio downloads on the 4th turning called “A Crisis is a Terrible Thing to Waste” and freedom available at www.tjedmarketplace.com look for Dr. DeMille’s  recordings on The Freedom Crisis and also The Great Depression of 2012 all about how to succeed in a fourth turning.

 What is YOUR MISSION?     

 Now is the time for you to embark on a journey of finding out what your mission is.  No matter what your mission is, one key comes up over and over again.  You must educate yourself so that you can fulfill your mission.  Almost all the signers of the Declaration of Independence were well educated, some self taught and others through schools that gave quality education.  It is interesting to note, that almost all of the signers were born in the First or Second turning of that time period.  They were the ones who had the education and mission to be the leadership during the Fourth Turning including the Revolutionary War and Constitutional Convention.   Is it your job to provide leadership in this Fourth Turning?  If so, start educating yourself.  Start a branch of the STAR Forum with your friends and family.  Discuss great books and ideas together in your forum.  Exchange ideas on liberty, mini-factories, education, honor and the classics.  Prepare yourself to fulfill your mission.  JOIN US.

Pledge Your Life, Fortune, and Sacred Honor?

Are You Ready to Pledge your Life, Fortune, and Sacred Honor?

by Christy Watterson

When the signers of the Declaration of Indepence pledged their lives, forturne and sacred honor, it was not just a symbolic, but also a literal gesture.  If caught by the British, they would be killed.  By the end of the Revolutionary war, many of them were bamkrupt because they gave all to the cause of freedom.  They valued freedom over material posession.    Sacred Honor, is a term that has no equal or meaning in today’s world.  We live in a society where self preservation and self gain are the goal and any means to that end is justified.  Ethics and morals have become situational rather than enduring principles to found a life on.  

Abraham Clark  was a signer of the Declaration of Independence whose life demonstrates his willingness to give his life, fortune and keep his sacred honor.   His sons were taken prisoner during the Revolutionary war.  When the British discovered that they had the sons of a signer of the Declaration of Independence, they knew they had a great bargaining chip.  They wrote to Abraham  saying we will not feed your sons until you denounce your signing of  the Declaration of Independence and come out in support of the king.    Abraham Clark sent word that he would give the British all he had if they would let his sons go.  The British did not accept this offer and again sent word that his sons would not be fed until he denounced his singing of the Declaration of Indepencence.     This time, Clark  responded by offering his own life for that of his sons.   Again, the British did not accept  and demanded his denunciation of the revolutinary cause.    Abraham Clark  knew that if he denounced all he stood for,  so that his sons might live, he would in reality give them a legacy of dishonor worse than death.  Broken hearted, Abraham Clark  wrote back  that he would not denounce his signing of the Declaration of Independence.    In so doing, he thought that he had signed his sons’ death warrant.  Providentially, he did not.  His sons were freed in a final prisoner exchange.    Abraham Clark  showed us what sacred honor truly is.  Today more that ever, we need a society  filled with people who are willing to live by their sacred honor.  Is it your mission to be one of these people and inspire others to do likewise?  We need a country filled with sacred honor in order for liberty to survive.

 What about fortune?  Without sufficient funds, our Founding Fathers could not have pulled off  the cause of liberty.  The currency printed by the Americans during the revolution became worthless and inflated.    Were it not for Robert Morris, William Williams,  signers of the Declaration of Independence and others like them, who stepped forward and  gave their money and resources for the cause of  liberty, the Revolutionary War would not have been successful. In 1779, Williams exchanged $2,000 in specie of his own money for the worthless Continental money so that the army would have the supplies they needed.  He lost almost all his money.  The army got the supplies needed.  Morris borrowed money on his own credit  for General Washington and the Continental army when there was dire need of funds.  Thomas Nelson another signer, raised $2 million dollars for the revolution.  He used his own estates as collateral.  When the notes came due,  congress refused to honor them.  He died in poverty at age 50.  He gave all he had for liberty.

 According to Dr. Oliver DeMille, in order for freedom to win today, in the United States we will need about 3% of our population ( 7 million) sucessful, entrepreneurs, innovators or initiators to create what he calls mini-factories.  A mini-factory is a small business that does something as good or better than Big Business and is successful at it.   Why would this matter?  Small businesses create about 80% of the wealth generated in the United States today.  If most of the nation’s resources and wealth reamain in the hands of small businesses run by freedom loving individuals, it will give liberty the resources to again thrive in the United States.  Is it your mission to start a mini-factory?  Is it your mission to keep free enterprise alive and well in America?

Take action.  See the article on what books are great for setting up your mini-factory here.

What Can You Do to Restore Liberty?

What Can You Do to Restore Liberty?  Is Freedom Part of your Life Mission?

by Christy Watterson

Do you ever look around you, look at what is happening in our country and in the world, and wish there were something you could do?  Do you ever feel hopeless or helpless as you watch liberty and moral values crumble around you?  I believe that God sent the Founding Fathers of our country at that time to fulfill a mission that would bring liberty to this land.   God sent you to earth at this time and place.  He has given you talents and abilities.   He has a plan for you and your life just as He had a plan and work for the founders to do.   It was not chance, but Providence, that brought two men, Henry Knox and Nathanael Greene, together.   The two became friends and had placed in their hearts a burning desire to read all that they could about military arts and strategy.  This was a very unlikely subject for the Quaker raised Nathanael Greene to want to study. It was also very convenient that Henry Knox owned a prosperous bookstore that allowed them access to the kinds of books they would need to study.  The two poured over books on military arts for hours.  These two men played a major part in helping George Washington to win the war.  They were inspired to learn and were ready when needed to fulfill a purpose.

If each us is put here at this time and place to fulfill a mission, what can we do to be ready?  What can we learn from history?   This series of articles will explore what it will take for liberty to win in this Fourth Turning.  It will also hopefully inspire you to find out what your personal mission is and help you to start on the path that you need to take.

 What can we learn from the past?

Cincinnatus was a consul in the ancient Roman Republic.  He was very well educated and wise.  After his term as consul, he retired to his farm.  He was so respected and loved by the Roman people, that they often came to his farm for advice.   During this time, a barbarian army gathered with an aim to take Rome.  They burned and plundered every village in their path on their march to Rome.  The Roman senate and consuls gathered their army and sent it to stop the barbarians.  Some time later, a small, rag-tag group of blood stained survivors returned telling how the Roman army had been trapped on all sides in a mountain pass and defeated by the barbarians.  The Romans now had no army and the barbarians were on their way.  Someone in the senate cried, “we need Cincinnatus!”   An envoy was sent to Cincinnatus’ farm asking him to save Rome.  They promised that if he saved them, he would be king.  Cincinnatus gathered an army mostly made up of inexperienced young men because that was all there was left.  Calling upon his education and leadership skills, Cincinnatus was able to use military strategy and lead  his army to victory.   Upon his victorius return, Cincinnatus was, as promised, given the offer to be king.  Cincinnatus replied, “I give the power back to the senate, it is their job to  make the laws”.  He then returned to his farm. 

 In a time much later in Roman history, Julius Caesar started his power play to take over the Roman Republic.  Cicero and others in the senate called for a Cincinnatus.   No Cincinnatus stepped forward.   There was none to be found.  After Julius Casar was assassinated, his nephew Octavius (later called Augustus)  took up where Julius had left off.  He formed a triumverate, that killed anyone with  power to stand in his way.  Mark Antony, part of Octavius’ triumverate, celebrated with glee when he learned that his arch enemy, the statesman and senator Cicero had been killed by the triumverate’s death squad.  Cicero was well educated and very vocal in trying to save the rupublic.  With his death, and the deaths of others like minded,  the republic failed.

 What does the story of Cincinnatus and of Cicero have to do with you today?  George Washington,  Thomas Jefferson and the other founding fathers were the Cincinnatuses of America.  They fought for liberty from Britan.  Instead of taking power for themselves, they studied government and human nature and then wrote a constitution that gave us a republic and left the power in the hands of the people.  Today, our American Republic and the Constituiton are in jeopardy.    We need to study what liberty looks like.  We need to have the education to be the Ciceroes and Cincinnatuses of our time.  “But,”  you say, “I am no Cicero or Cincinnatus or George Washington.  I am just a regular man or woman.  I am not great like them.”   Perhaps that is what those men thought of themselves.  That is probably what made them great.  The difference, is that they had the education to give them the ability to do what they did.   Again you say, “but I don’t have that kind of education.”   Many of the founding fathers and people of that time were self-educated, look at the example of Henry Knox and Nathanael Greene.  It is not too late.  Start now.  One of the best places to start is The Five Thousand Year Leap by  W. Cleon Skousen. 

Dr. Oliver DeMille states that in order for freedom to win in the United States, we need 30% of the population which is about 70 million people who have the kind of  education and  thinking and reasoning skills that we have been discussing.  Perhaps your mission is to be one of those 70 million people that ensure freedom wins.  If there are enough Ciceroes, freedom wins!

14 Points to Success During a 4th Turning

14 Points from the Book “Our Home” and a speech by Dr. Oliver Van DeMille

by Jacqueline Smith

Imagine a peaceful life around you, even when the world is in turmoil.  Imagine your family close to you, and doing what they need to do, to keep things going during a difficult time in history.  Imagine working with others in your community so no one goes without.  Imagine building a great life, with more meaning than ever before.

How?  As we have been discussing different cycles of history, we can look to the last time we had a difficult cycle, and learn from it. The book “Our Home” by C. E. Sargent, was written in 1899 and is available on-line as an e-book, or purchased for your regular reading pleasure.  Purchase book    We gain insight into our future, by looking at our past.

Here are 14 things that you and your family can begin to do now.  There are many others, but here is a place to start.   This will require a change from 2nd or 3rd turning thinking, into 4th turning thinking.  And you might as well shift, because we are in a 4th Turning.  Are you ready? (if you need more information on the turnings click here and here )

1. Embrace the new and the now:  We are not in an economic crisis, this is the new economy.  Forget old goals, write new goals, including relationship goals, finances, and happiness.

2. Evenings and Sundays with family:  3rd turning was all about entertaining ourselves 7 days a week.  It is time to simplify and spend time with the people you love around you building things, making plans, and learning.  Besides, you probably can’t afford to do all the things you used to do.

3. Self-culture:  This is opposed to pop-culture.  High school is where you try to fit in, and our society has extended that culture into adulthood.  It is time to be great with who we are on the inside and not try to impress anyone.  Decide who you want to be, who you want to help, and be happy.

4. Individual rules for life:  Create your own set of standards to live by, your own rules that you will keep for life, regardless of what others are doing.

5. Raise adults: During 2nd turnings we raise accountants, lawyers, doctors, engineers. During 3rd turnings we raise children.  These are individuals who never grow up and take on responsibility.  They are the epitome of failure to launch.  4th and 1st turnings are all about growing up and taking life on.  The 4th turning mindset is about having accountability and responsibility for our lives.

6. Meaning:  Everything in a 4th turning will take on meaning.  Your trials, hardships, joys, and challenges will take on meaning, and we need to look for it during a 4th turning.  Read “The Hiding Place” for the meaning in the fleas.

7. Widows, orphans, grandparents, children, sick, unhappy:  During 2nd and 3rd turnings these are service projects every once in a while.  During 4th and 1st turnings these become our life. We will truly care for others and seek to fill their needs.  This will not be government forced charity, but actual charity, without pay, without reward, without recognition.

8. Marriage:  The central focus in a 4th and 1st turning is marriage.  Children will be vital and important to the 4th and 1st turnings, but their relationship will be secondary to the relationship with your spouse.  You will find meaning in your spousal relationship on a much higher level.

9. Initiative Education:  During 2nd turnings we give job training. During 3rd turning we teach job skills.  During 4th and 1st turnings we teach initiative.  The work ethic is re-born, and the people that will keep jobs in these turnings will be the ones with strong work-ethic and a initiative to act on their own. This also includes thinking outside the box and doing things against the standard.  This includes: Education alternatives such as charter schools, private schools, and homeschooling.  Medical alternatives such as chiropractors, acupuncture, herbal cures, and vitamins.  Downshifting alternatives such as leaving a high paying job to move out of the city, one parent leaving work to stay home with the kids, simplifying life.  If you need more education here is the best place to get it as an adult.  Monticello College.  No matter where you are in the country, their distance courses can help you.  But be prepared, these are transformational classes, not just informational.

10. Entrepreneurship:  During a 2nd turning people think that means you can’t get anyone to hire you.  During a 3rd turning it means getting rich as fast as possible, retiring, and relaxing.  During a 4th turning, it means you create something useful that employs others, that lives on, so you can create wealth, and fulfill your personal mission. (more on personal missions in another post).  For more information on how to be an entrepreneur go to our article on 3 Things We Need for Freedom to Win.

11. Produce Wealth: During a 2nd turning this means you get a steady job and save money.  During a 3rd turning it means you invest your money and get rich.  During a 4th turning you recognize the needs of others and you recognize the need for society to rebuild itself.  Then you can create a product, service, or organization to fill those needs, while providing for your family, and creating wealth to continually help society.

12. Creativity & Inventiveness:  Be creative in ways to get wealth.  Be creative in your frugality.  A great place to start is this blog on money http://www.themoneymuse.blogspot.com/

13. Resiliency:   Bounce back. Our country has been known for it’s resiliency as a nation. We will need to be a resilient individual. Look for reasons to get back up and start over.  It’s no time for a pity party.  It’s time to act. Pick yourself up, assist in picking up your neighbor.  Don’t allow yourself to wallow.  It will be hard, but it will get better, especially if you make that decision.  This is known as zero point.  A great place to read about that is here: http://nicktsmith.wordpress.com/2008/10/03/operating-from-zero-point/

14. Ambition:  In a 3rd turning if you were ambitious, you were a go-getter that moved up in the corporate world to obtain wealth.  In a 4th turning, ambition will mean the ambition to do the right thing, and make sure good wins.  It will be having the ambition to have public virtue. Public virtue is difficult to understand coming from a 3rd turning perspective, but it is vital to the success of a 4th and 1st turning.  A good example of doing the right thing for the sake of right is the example of many merchants in our founding era.  When the British came to take their supplies, they had a few choices.  They could sell their supplies and get gain, they could abandon their supplies and the British would still take them, or they could burn their entire shop to the ground, so the British would not have access to their supplies.  They chose the latter of the three choices.  That was public virtue.

FREEDOM CAN WIN!

The Fourth Turning — In a Nutshell

Based on the book “The Fourth Turning” by Strauss & Howe

And speeches by Dr. Oliver DeMille

by Jacqueline Smith

 

Every 80 to 120 years (a saeculum) society goes through 4 phases.  Just like the weather. 

1)     We have a Spring, or founding period. 

2)     We have a Summer, or awakening period. 

3)     We have a Fall, or unraveling period.

There is always a catalyst to push you from a 3^rd turning to a 4^th.

4)     We have a Winter, or crisis period.

Now, you don’t have to take my word for it.  Just go back through history, say 300 generations, or the last 3,000 years and see for yourself.  It has not missed.  However, for the first time in history most of the world is on the same part of the cycle at the same time.

To give you a quick look at the cycle through the eyes of American history, let’s go through this saeculum four (4) times.

Spring	The Age of Kings.  The European Empire was expanding.	1704-1727
Summer	The Great Awakening.  Spritual rivival occurred and man began to disbelieve in the divine right of Kings.	1727-1745
Fall	French and Indian War, and English and French War, continued breakdown of society.	1746-1770
Catalyst	Boston Tea Party / Boston Masacre
Winter	U.S. Revolutionary War, Constitutional Convention	1770-1794
Spring	New Government formed based on self-rule.  Federalism	1794-1822
Summer	Transendental Awakening.  New churches formed, faith questioned.  Joseph Smith restores LDS church.	1822-1844
Fall	Dred Scott case occurs.  North & South friction continues	1844-1857
Catalyst	Election of Abraham Lincoln
Winter	Civil War.  One of the shortest cycles	1857-1865
Spring	Nationalism begins (not a great founding) Reconstruction	1865-1886
Summer	Progressivism begins.  Dewey & Marx read	1886-1908
Fall	WWI – The roaring 20’s, morality slides	1908-1929
Catalyst	Stock Market Crash in Oct 1929
Winter	Depression, bread lines.  WWII brings us out.	1929-1946
Spring	Global reconstruction (again, not a great founding)  GATT, NATO, U.N. Bretton Woods Meetings, IMF	1946-1964
Summer	From Hippies to Yuppies  We go from Leave it to Beaver, all the way to Friends on TV.	1964-1984
Fall	Post modernist thinking emerges.  Allegiance is to ME.  Curcumstantial Morality & Situational Ethics.	1984-2001
Catalyst	9/11
Winter	Economic Crisis —- and then????	2001-2028?

You will notice that most of the time in history these turnings last about 20 to 25 years.  So now you can see it, but what do you do?  It is easy to see that we are in it, the Winter of our Discontent, so to speak.  Do you know what to do in a Fourth Turning?  Do you know how to change your thinking and your life to be a positive catalyst for the change you want to see?  For 14 Points to Survive in a Fourth Turning click here.

 

 The 4^th Turning has many aspects to it as well, but we’ll save that for a future post.  Suffice it to say, the 4^th turning is when the greatest changes can happen.  But you must be educated in what freedom looks like.  You must have the tools (books) and know how to use them to create freedom around you. 

 

It will take courage.  It will take determination.  It will probably take a miracle or two.  Nevertheless, as in times past, Providence has been on the side of freedom.

 

For the next post on this subject click here and take a closer look at just the Winter or Crisis in this turning.  Ask questions and comment on this post.  We are all in this together.  FREEDOM CAN WIN!