This dumbing down of the American people is no more apparent than with the creation of the No Child Left Behind program. The really insidious part of this program is not that it forces teachers to teach their students to merely pass a test, or that it has been woefully under-funded, the real harm comes from the fact that children are not being taught to think. Rote learning doesn’t work. Sure you learn facts, but it doesn’t teach a child how to think critically, and most importantly, how to observe the world around them and understand it. We are raising a generation of sheep, and that is EXACTLY what the powers that be want. Does that terrify you like it does me? It should.

So where does that leave us? With a media that doesn’t report about important issues and with a population that really isn’t capable of understanding them anyway. The few that do must go searching for real news.

Do they still make kids read Animal Farm in school? I think everyone who has read it, should go back to read it again and really pay attention. I’ll recap the major points. The animals throw out the human farmer and take control of the farm themselves. The pigs take control, with the dogs acting as their enforcers. Things start out great, but gradually, the pigs start to abuse their power. We end up with some of the most telling quotes in all of literature:

“Somehow it seemed as though the farm had grown richer without making the animals themselves any richer— except, of course, for the pigs and the dogs.”

“All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others.”

This novel was written as an allegory for the Russian revolution, but if you believe that history doesn’t repeat itself, you’re dreaming. This administration isn’t doing anything that corrupt rulers haven’t done before, but they are doing their best to dumb us all down so we don’t notice.

Here is another lesson from history. This is from a prison interview with Herman Goering, one of the masterminds of Nazi Germany, and the highest ranking Nazi to stand trial at Nuremburg. It was in a conversation with Gustave Gilbert, an intelligence officer, and is in response to the comment that the common people didn’t want a war (the second paragraph is Gilbert’s response):

"Why, of course, the people don't want war," Goering shrugged. "Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally, the common people don't want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship."

"Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country."

Does this ring any bells? We are following a well tested path that doesn’t lead down a good road. All Bush has to do is point and yell “terrist (sic)” and we throw up our hands and plead for him to save us from the “evil doers.” The administration knows this. They use it every chance they get. Next time you see anyone from this administration give a speech, count how many times they reference Al-Queda. The guy has one thing going for him, and he harps on it over and over again. I’ll end this with another quote, this one from Joseph Goebbels, another Nazi mastermind:

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.”