Normally, I would just link you to important blog posts, but this is SO important that I thought it needed to be reposted right here.
Voting is tomorrow and Patchfire (and I) believes you should vote your conscience. Patchfire was shocked to discover that Veritas Press thinks they know your conscious.
Voting Is Tomorrow in the USA – Go Vote!
Some things go together – peanut butter & jelly; ice cream & chocolate syrup; apples & caramel. Some things, though, do not. I would argue that politics and curriculum do not and should not go together.
Of course, I’m aware that my political views are a minority within the homeschooling community. It would be hard to miss that fact! However, when I make a decision to purchase books from a curriculum provider, I expect my personal information (e.g., my email) to be used to communicate with me about the products of the company.
It’s no surprise to me that Veritas Press and I have little in common politically. We have little in common religiously, either, as they are Calvinist and conservative, and the Christian parts of my beliefs are Arminian and liberal. In fact, I have paused before purchasing from them, but the books that have purchased have been hardly available from other outlets, and seem either non-religious or at least not specifically Calvinist.
Monthly, Veritas Press sends out an “epistula” to those who are lucky enough to be on their list. Usually it’s about teaching Latin or history or perhaps it delves into a religious subject, which I promptly ignore. I just couldn’t ignore the title this time, though: “Calling for the Vote.”
Voting is, to me, at once a privilege, a civic duty, and a profound responsibility of all citizens. I may joke about voting “early and often,” or suggest that perhaps only those who agree with me should vote on a given day, but they are, at heart, jokes only. We must vote, and when citizens fail to vote, we all lose, in some way.
Naturally, then, I wanted to read an article entitled “Calling for the Vote.” Instead I found myself in the midst of a poorly-written propaganda piece that was carefully cloaked so that they could not be seen to be endorsing a particular candidate or party.
“We are smack-dab in the middle of a disaster.”
“There is much talk about the Republicans taking back the House and maybe even the Senate. That would certainly counterbalance some unfortunate policies of the current administration.”
“Over the years I’ve heard talk of a flat tax replacing the graduated income tax…. This also seems too little.”
(I cannot argue with the last third of the article, which suggested two actions: taking the time to vote on Tuesday, and praying.)
As I mentioned on Facebook, I would have had equal problem with an email sent from a curriculum company sending an email in 2002 or 2006, damning the administration then in power, and remarking about a hot-button political topic in such cavalier terms as to deem it “too little.” It’s not the particulars of the message than bother me (though I admit I disagree!), but rather the assumptions and the crossing of lines. It isn’t a church’s business to tell anyone how to vote. It isn’t a curriculum provider’s business to tell anyone how to vote. When you vote tomorrow, Americans, your choices are between you, your conscience, and your Higher Power, should you believe in one. No one else.
Agreed completely, my darling Patchfire. We disconnected our home phone in a large part to end the constant tirade of political phone calls. I throw political flyers straight into the trash. I don’t purchase from businesses who assume they know my mind, my politics, or my conscience. I’m an educated voter who doesn’t want, or need, my choices dictated to me or decisions made for me.
If you see fit to comment here, I hope you’ll go and comment on the original post as well. If you’re a frequent buyer from Veritas Press, I hope you will contact them and ask them to please stick to the business of producing homeschooling materials and out of the business of telling their customers how to vote.
