I. Government and Laws
This first chapter starts out with a quote. "Order is Heaven's first law."
I love that about this textbook, each chapter starts with a quote that means something. The first chapter taught me that the word 'government' comes from the Latin word gubernator. Which I knew, but the meaning therefore, means one who steers, guides, or is a pilot. Therefore, "the word government means guidance or management." So the book is a study of government, meaning "how the affairs of mankind are managed; how men and women are guided in their journey through the world amidst other men and women; how society is held together and controlled. The study is of great importance, and should be of great interest, for the happiness of men depends largely upon the kind of government that guides and controls their lives."
Interestingly enough, it talks of children's different governments to whom they are under, and the benefits and consequences therein. The first is the government of the parents. Then the government of the school and home. Last is the government of the city, state, or nation. The first section of the book addresses the three of these and has so much awesome wisdom and truth I wish they used this textbook in schools today. The reading level itself is of a higher quality than what high schoolers are reading today in public schools.
Another quote: "If the governments that control us are wise, and just, and kind, we are made happier by them; if they are harsh, or foolish, or tyrannical, our lives are made miserable by them. By studying and understanding the different forms of government under which we live we may prepare ourselves to make them better."
Have a great Thursday! I'm working from 2:30-11 tonight and only the Lord is going to get me through. This is a long week with too many hours...I can't wait till after Christmas.
--MovingGirl
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Essentials in Civil Government: the preface
For the next who-knows-how-many days I will be posting an excerpt and quote from an old book I found in a musty box sitting on the warehouse floor of an antique shop. When I first opened the cover, something about the first page struck me as being totally obsolete and at the same time, so intriguing. Underneath the title, Essentials in Civil Government, were the words 'a text-book for use in schools'. Something about those words struck an odd chord in me, and I read on.
The book starts out with a preface that I believe to be amazing. This is a text-book first written in 1908. I wish the text-books of today were written with the same intent and purpose. (For legal purposes the book is no longer under copyright law and may be found on google books for reading.) Here is the opening paragraph:
"Of the whole number of pupils who can study Civil Government with profit more than nine-tenths are in the upper classes of the grammar schools and in the lower classes of the high schools. In these classes there are nearly two million young people who can be led into a just appreciation of the rights and duties of citizens. Here is a rich field for the sower, an opportunity vast in its proportions for improving the quality of American citizenship and elevating the American electorate."
The most important part of this paragraph being the last statement: "an opportunity vast in its proportions for improving the quality of American citizenship and elevating the American electorate."
Now we water down the quality, disparage the rights of citizenship, and tear down the American electorate. All out of a "sense of fairness and equality and preservation."
The best part comes at the end of the second paragraph, however, which says: "The primary aim of the book is to establish political ideals and to indoctrinate in notions of civic morality." Civic morality? The book just gets better.
I do want to note that on some subjects it is outdated, such as a woman's right to vote, though it never suggests that it would be wrong, just states the facts. By S. E. Foreman, PhD, it is one of the best two dollars I've ever spent.
--MovingGirl
The book starts out with a preface that I believe to be amazing. This is a text-book first written in 1908. I wish the text-books of today were written with the same intent and purpose. (For legal purposes the book is no longer under copyright law and may be found on google books for reading.) Here is the opening paragraph:
"Of the whole number of pupils who can study Civil Government with profit more than nine-tenths are in the upper classes of the grammar schools and in the lower classes of the high schools. In these classes there are nearly two million young people who can be led into a just appreciation of the rights and duties of citizens. Here is a rich field for the sower, an opportunity vast in its proportions for improving the quality of American citizenship and elevating the American electorate."
The most important part of this paragraph being the last statement: "an opportunity vast in its proportions for improving the quality of American citizenship and elevating the American electorate."
Now we water down the quality, disparage the rights of citizenship, and tear down the American electorate. All out of a "sense of fairness and equality and preservation."
The best part comes at the end of the second paragraph, however, which says: "The primary aim of the book is to establish political ideals and to indoctrinate in notions of civic morality." Civic morality? The book just gets better.
I do want to note that on some subjects it is outdated, such as a woman's right to vote, though it never suggests that it would be wrong, just states the facts. By S. E. Foreman, PhD, it is one of the best two dollars I've ever spent.
--MovingGirl
Saturday, December 10, 2011
"I'm bringing you home"
He’s bringing us home. We are finally moving forward out of whatever time this has been. Since I’m still in it I can’t get the best perspective of what to call it. But we are coming to a time where our priorities are going to shift dramatically. Over and over and over I’ve been receiving confirmation that the end is near, and America especially is going to be sent into a tailspin. I’ve known that much for a long time, but now the mindset has locked in, and God is changing the way I view even the simple things. When I buy a bottled water at walmart when I’m working, I can’t help but think that I’ll look back someday at my simplicity in buying water with envy and awe. When I buy Christmas presents and little froufrou things for myself, the thought in my mind pops up this is worth four packages of good seeds. A dress that I want soo bad could buy me 60 gallons of water. The bedroom furniture I’ve looked at could buy a lifetime supply of tampons and pads. Necessities that we don’t think about needing, but will. Or that are an extremely nice convenience.
I want to start making a list of all the things that we should start thinking of gathering. Because we want enough supply to be able to share with people. Help those who hadn’t thought to prepare because they didn’t know or chose to ignore. I want to take disaster preparedness courses. I want to renew my CPR training. My mindset is changing. So is my worldview. And God told me through a mentor that we are NOT to fear what is coming, but to be excited. So I am. Nervous for sure, but not fearful, it is a nervous anticipation for the moves of God. And a steady prayer for repentance of his people and mercy for his people until those times come. Please. Consider storing up a six-month supply or more of necessities and food. You never know if you will need it, but being prepared is not being paranoid. It’s being obedient.
--MovingGirl
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