> 
>                                         October 21, 1996
>                                         SENATOR DUKE
>                                         (719) 481-9289
>                                        
>                    By Senator Charles R. Duke
>                        Colorado District 9
> 
>                   CAUTION!  FREEDOM SPOKEN HERE
> 
>      This column does frequently feature issues needing a major 
> correction at the federal level that would have an impact on 
> states' rights and state policy.  With the current state of 
> politics in America today, it is rare that a bill can be found 
> which would restore our constitutional rights.  With a little 
> digging, however, one or two outstanding state bills can be 
> found. 
>      Just such a bill is AB-3086, introduced in, of all places, 
> California, by Assemblyman Keith Olberg.  The bill has passed 
> both houses of the Legislature and is awaiting Governor Pete 
> Wilson's signature.  California is a state where just about the 
> only thing you can count on is change.  Onward and upward 
> through the ever-expanding universe of moonbeam ideology is how 
> more normal Americans have come to view this state and its 
> people.  This bill, however, is a siren call from our history 
> that, when it becomes law, will cause a serious turn to the 
> right for any state which also adopts it. 
>      It is an unwritten law of the world that the best of all 
> our ideas must be simple.  Stated differently, if a law isn't 
> written so that mere mortals can understand it on first reading, 
> you can well bet there's pork in the middle of it for somebody. 
>      The bill states, in part, "As a part of the course in 
> American government and civics required for high school 
> graduation...all pupils shall read and be taught all of the 
> following: a) The Declaration of Independence; b) The United 
> States Constitution, including the Bill of Rights; c) The 
> Federalist Papers; d) The Emancipation Proclamation; e) The 
> Gettysburg Address; and f) George Washington's Farewell 
> Address." 
>      Now, the only issue that is the least bit strange about 
> this is that you probably thought this was being done all along.  
> A little query of that teenager you know should quickly dispel 
> that false knowledge. 
>      Each of these important historical documents contains a 
> wealth of ideas and principles upon which our government should 
> be based, but isn't.  One idea might be related to such 
> antiquated concepts as a limited federal government, for 
> example.  Our federal government and most state governments 
> believe today there is no limit to its ability to grow. 
>      It is regrettable today that the American people have come 
> to accept the intrusion of government in every aspect of our 
> lives with hardly even so much as a whimper.  This is compounded 
> by the fact that many believe we actually are free in a world 
> consumed by tyranny.  We are not even close to being free, of 
> course, but we are being conditioned to feel good about that 
> mistaken belief. 
>      The truth is that there are few among us who actually know 
> the meaning of freedom and liberty.  Unless you have 
> deliberately chosen to self-study these ideas, all around you 
> seems very normal. 
>      Settle down, though, and really read, slowly to absorb 
> every thought, the Declaration of Independence.  Imagine, while 
> you are reading, that you are a British subject, as all of the 
> colonists actually were when that document was written.  As you 
> read the part about rights being unalienable because rights are 
> granted by our Creator, think about our government today, which 
> behaves as though it is the source of all rights. 
>      The Declaration of Independence is only about a page long 
> and can be read in a couple of minutes if one would choose to do 
> so.  One could also imagine, though, that the better part of a 
> semester could be consumed in trying to understand its meaning. 
>      Therein may lie this bill's only weakness.  It is one thing 
> to legislate that these documents shall all be taught in their 
> entirety.  It is entirely another to assure that the ideas are 
> presented correctly.  If our heroic patriot Forefathers are 
> portrayed as right-wing extremists, as they certainly would be 
> with the left-wing bent of modern education, the instruction 
> would be worse than learning nothing at all. 
>      Propaganda notwithstanding, this bill, or similar ones to 
> it, deserves to be passed in every state in the Union while 
> these documents still mean something.  Come to think about it, 
> when was the last time you spent five minutes a day studying 
> about freedom? 
>                              End
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