Brookfield Basics

Over the course of the last twenty years the two governing parties in Washington DC have morphed into a gelatinous political goo.  This goo has subsequently congealed into a dough so homogenous as to render the once proud and distinctive parties all but indistinguishable from one another.  Both are so addicted to the drug of incumbency, and both are so devoted to the god of big government that it is difficult to discern any measurable differences.  I am convinced the only cure for this is term limits, but that is the subject of another column.  

But one of those few remaining criteria is the matter of judicial appointments, and with millions of kids in America returning  to school amidst the heat of a Presidential race, we see a case that reveals the importance of this issue.

In April I wrote about a ruling of the California Supreme Court in which the Justices opined that "parents do not have a Constitutional right to home school their children" (see link at bottom).  First I need to correct an error in that article, as it was a California District Court of Appeals that made that ruling - NOT the State Supreme Court.  I had read an article which reported it as a Supreme Court decision, and I wanted to acknowledge and apologize for the subsequent error in my posting. 

In that initial ruling the Appellate Court decided that parents or guardians would be allowed to home school only if they first received a certification from the State, thereby making their choice and conscience hostage to the approval of the California's edcuational beaurocracy.  Parents across America choose the option of home schooling for a variety of reasons ranging from academic performance, to spiritual beliefs, to protecting the physical safety of their kids.  The notion of these parents being able to exercise their rights only after being properly "certified" is as invasive as it is alarming.  Thankfully the same Court reversed its decision, and two weeks ago ruled that home-schooling parents will NOT need to be certified by the State.  The Court even went so far as to say that "such matters are best decided by the legislature...."

A high Court exercising judicial restraint and recognizing the proper distinctions between itself and elected legislatures is a rare and welcome event. 

This particular issue will come back.  But for now the causes of educational freedom and individual liberty won a significant victory in California. 

It is a victory that has national implications.  

http://blogs.brookfieldnow.com/brookfieldbasics/archive/2008/04/03/bone-of-their-bone-and-flesh-of-their-flesh.aspx

We can talk about water and public policy all we want.  But no policy will be effective until we as citizens - individual by individual and family by family, begin to develop and exercise a RESPECT for this vital and limited resource.  

In 1667 John Milton wrote Paradise Lost, an epic poem of theology and linguistic beauty.  If Milton had been with us last week he might have been moved to author the sequel to his great work.

The eastern shoreline of Lake Michigan, from Grand Haven to the Mackinac Bridge, is some of the most spectacular country in America, and last week we were again blessed with a family vacation there.  The Indians of the upper Midwest named the Lake "Missi-Ken", meaning in their lyrical language - large lake.   And so they gave name to the Great Lake and to the State. 

We spent our days there same way we have for the last several trips - sailing, biking, boogie-boarding, sand-dune climbing, kayaking, hiking, and camp-firing on the shore.  Our morning entertainment consisted of bike rides to the Lake and to the artesian well to fill our containers for the day.  Nocturnal entertainment consisted of huddling on the beach to watch the sunset over Lake Michigan.  We marvelled as the sun plunged down the horizon like some great, incandescent eye, illuminating the sky with colors and shapes so lush as to shame the canvas of Raphael. 

The Shawnee Chief Tecumseh was a great American, and sadly, too obscure a figure in our history.  He grew up in the forests and on the river banks of what is now southern Ohio, and often tried to give verse to the feelings he had for the land he so loved.  Despite his eloquence it always eluded him. 

Like Tecumseh - all I can do is recall images and sensations:  a bobcat darting across the trail of a deep woods hike, stopping briefly to freeze us with his penetrating gaze.  Watching your children lay hands on the tiller of a sailboat, and just as you taught them, reading the sails as the mylar lufts and gropes for the wind, all while remembering the terrified shrieks of their first sail.  Seeing them gaze at the towering Sleeping Bear Dunes as we cruise past, jaws agape and souls humbled by the sight.  Watching the wind suddenly quicken as it gathers over the surface, and the mad scramble to reduce sail before it strikes the spinnaker and main like an invisible fist, heeling the boat to the gunnels.  The soft-green and beige of the dune grasses as they gently yield to the caress of the breeze.  The thigh-burning, lung-busting effort of ascending the mighty dunes, and the rollicking, limb-flailing descent, often hurtling twenty feet with a single leap.  The taste of the artesian well water after a long run in the sun - sweeter than any ice-cold Gatorade.  I could go on..............   

Try as I might I cannot capture the essence of what this land and water hold for me.  How does one encapsulate the memories of a lifetime - memories seared like a brand onto the skin of my consciousness? 

Always - always I will hear Missi-Ken calling to me.  The primordial sound of the surf in its ageless assault upon the shore, and the matching refrain of the water's retreat.  The lonely, plaintive cry of the gulls as they lilt and bob above the surface, their calls mixing with the pound of the surf in a soul-piercing texture of sound.   

Perhaps our son captured her essence best while perched atop the dunes one golden evening.  Staring out at her vastness, I watched as its majesty laid hold of him and slowly quieted his spirit.  And I could only nod my agreement as he murmured, "it's not a Lake, Dad - it's an ocean". 

I love Lake Michigan.  And my love for her has helped teach me to respect and conserve water.

Think about it.

Please.

On June 19th I wrote about the false notion of "obscence profits" in a blog entitled The Latest Rant About Oil.  This posting can be considered part two of that article. 

In the hedonistically debauched days of Imperial Rome, Emperors like Lucius Aurelius Commodus (likeness above) staged wildly exotic and violent spectacles in the Coliseum in order to placate and divert their citizenry.  Before the carnage began, horse drawn carts drove along the earthen floor of the stadium, as minions of the Empire dispensed free bread to the screaming hordes.  Such scenes of mayhem and largess were transcendantly captured in Ridley Scott's film, Gladiator; one of the few movies of the last twenty years that I would preface with the descriptive "great". 

Last week's announcement from the Presidential Campaign trail of a plan to extort money from Exxon and her corporate sisters, the proceeds of which would be distributed to America's families at the rate of one-thousand dollars per (this despite the fact that many of those families are already the owners of said proceeds), harkens us back to the days of the world's first Senate - that of ancient Rome.  It represents such tawdry pandering that it does not even warrant the label policy.  And it clearly illustrates that most pandemic of Washington afflictions - the ignorance of basic economics.

Now in fairness, "Robinhood-ism" as public policy is hardly a new phenomenon, and ignorance of economics has plagued both sides of Washington's political aisle for decades.  And certainly many politicains have used oil companies as easy press conference fodder.  But this latest gambit is so brazen that it needs to be challenged for what it is.

By all means let's debate the issues of Exxon's profits and our energy predicament.  But if this is the result, perhaps our candidates would be more honest to begin construction of a coliseum in our nation's capitol.

And right next door to it - an enormous bakery.