The Founding Fathers tried to set a precedent, and gave us words of wisdom to bear in mind to keep our country free:

But our country did not achieve its independence just because of these brave, brilliant men. No, the women were right there with them:

Lest the women get short shrift, this one focuses on three women in particular who served their country during the pursuit of our Independence:

Now, we have this amazing woman to remind us of the importance of our freedom:

Finally, take heart – even the smallest of numbers can make the greatest impact:

So, Happy Fourth Of July, everyone.

And to my big brother, Dave, Happy Birthday. I am so proud of the man you have become. You’re the best!

There are new findings out from the Civic Literacy Report, and they are not good. In fact, they are disturbing. This is a follow-up survey by one done to test civic knowledge of college students conducted over two years. The best result – the BEST result – was 54.2% on basic civics and self-governance. How do I say this? Oh, here it is – that’s PATHETIC. So, the American Civic Literacy Organization decided to survey adults, and elected officials. Check out some of these findings based on 33 questions asked:

The results reveal that Americans are alarmingly uninformed about our Constitution, the basic functions of our government, the key texts of our national history, and economic principles.

* Less than half can name all three branches of the government.
* Only 21% know that the phrase “government of the people, by the people, for the people” comes from Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.
* Although Congress has voted twice in the last eight years to approve foreign wars, only 53% know that the power to declare war belongs to Congress. Almost 40% incorrectly believe it belongs to the president.
* Only 55% know that Congress shares authority over U.S. foreign policy with the president. Almost a quarter incorrectly believe Congress shares this power with the United Nations.
* Only 27% know the Bill of Rights expressly prohibits establishing an official religion for the United States.
* Less than one in five know that the phrase “a wall of separation” between church and state comes from a letter by Thomas Jefferson. Almost half incorrectly believe it can be found in the Constitution.

Americans from all age groups, income brackets, and political ideologies fail the test of civic literacy.

* Americans age 25 to 34 score an average of 46% on the exam; Americans age 65 and over score 46%.
* Americans earning an annual income between $30,000 and $50,000 score an average of 46%; Americans earning over $100,000 score 55%.
* Liberals score an average of 49%; conservatives score 48%.
* Americans who go to church once a week score an average of 48%; Americans who never go to church score 50%.

I know – holy crap, right? This sure does explain a lot to me, though, about how/why certain people do not see glaring violations of the Constitution even when it is shoved in their faces. They just do not know.

Wanna guess who it is in part responsible for the “dumbing down of America”? Did you guess the television? Then you would be right:

In order to help isolate the impact a college degree has on civic literacy, ISI examined additional factors that might add to or subtract from an individual’s civic knowledge. The survey results were put through a regression analysis to determine whether various behaviors in a respondent’s life had a unique, statistically significant impact on his or her civic knowledge.

The multiple-regression analysis indicated that a person’s test score drops in proportion to the time he or she spends using certain types of passive electronic media. Talking on the phone, watching owned or rented movies, and even monitoring TV news broadcasts and documentaries diminishes a respondent’s civic literacy.

Actively seeking knowledge through print media and high-quality conversations has the opposite effect. Reading about history and current events in books, magazines, and newspapers—and talking about these subjects with family and friends—increases a respondent’s civic literacy.

In fact, an American who lacks a college degree but has initiative and desire—and who does not spend too much time watching TV and talking on the phone—can acquire more civic knowledge than a couch potato with a college degree.

So there’s at least some hope if people can tear themselves away from CNN and MSNBC and pick up a newspaper and discuss it, they might actually learn something about this country.

Okay, as promised, wait, just WAIT until you see how our elected officials, those who swear to uphold the Constitution fared in basic civics. I’d put down that mug (or glass) if I were you:

The elected officeholders come from the ranks of Democrats (40%), Republicans (31%), Independents (21%), and those who say they belong to no party or indicate no affiliation (8%). None were asked to specify what office they held, so the proportion in which they held local, state, or federal positions is unknown.

Not all officeholders do poorly, of course. Some elected officials rank among the highest scorers. But the failure rate on the test among those who have won public office is higher (74%) than among those who have not (71%). Officeholders scored lower on all sub-themes of the test: political history, cultural institutions, foreign relations, and market economy.

In each of the following areas, for example, officeholders do more poorly than non-officeholders:

* Seventy-nine percent of those who have been elected to government office do not know the Bill of Rights expressly prohibits establishing an official religion for the U.S.
* Thirty percent do not know that “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” are the inalienable rights referred to in the Declaration of Independence.
* Twenty-seven percent cannot name even one right or freedom guaranteed by the First Amendment.
* Forty-three percent do not know what the Electoral College does. One in five thinks it either “trains those aspiring for higher political office” or “was established to supervise the first televised presidential debates.”
* Fifty-four percent do not know the Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war. Thirty-nine percent think that power belongs to the president, and 10% think it belongs to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
* Only 32% can properly define the free enterprise system, and only 41% can identify business profit as “revenue minus expenses.”

On some questions, Americans who have held elected office do better than Americans who have not. They are a little more likely, for example, to recognize the language of the Gettysburg Address (23% to 21%) and to know that the question of whether slavery should be allowed to expand into new territories was the main issue in the Lincoln–Douglas debates (25% to 20%).

Officeholders and non-officeholders find it equally difficult to identify the three branches of government. Only 49% of each group can name the legislative, executive, and judicial.

Well, that sure explains a lot, doesn’t it? No wonder we find ourselves screaming at the tv watching our lawmakers say the stupidest things that CLEARLY bear no relation to the Constitution or the Bill of Rights. But for ANYONE in this country – ANYONE – to not know we have three separate branches of government is – wow – staggering. How can any American NOT KNOW THAT???? Clearly, they did not see this enough while growing up:

So, will people be upset of Patrick Fitzgerald doesn’t stay on in his current position? For less than half of the nation who don’t even know the three branches of government, I’d say the percentage of people who wouldn’t even know anything had changed would be at least A GAZILLION percent. Sad. Really, really sad. This is exactly how we end up with people like Obama as the President Elect. People know so little about the government in general, how in the WORLD can we expect them to understand something like caucus fraud?? Wow. Just freakin’ wow. Go check out the site and see some of the other findings. I bet you’ll be be blown away, too. And I bet Thomas Jefferson is rolling over in his grave.

But plenty of folks have been writing about it, including Larry Johnson (here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and more) as well as NoQuarter writers Eastan McNeal (here, here, and here) and SusanUnPC).

Plenty of politicians have been laying blame at each others’ feet about it rather than take any responsibility for their own parts in this debacle (I’m talking to YOU, Barney, Barack, Chris, Harry, Nancy, Joe … All of you folks who have benefited so much from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac … I’m talking to you, Chris and Barack.).

And many of us have written about ACORN and its pressure on banks to make these sub-prime mortgage loans to people who couldn’t re-pay them. So, yeah, I think we’ve written about it a fair amount. Perhaps what we’ve written is not what some people want to HEAR, but the truth can be a difficult mistress. …

You know, someone else wrote about all of this. I reckon we should have paid more attention:

I sincerely believe that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies, and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale.

And:

It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world.
Thomas Jefferson

I’m with him on this. And, there you have it.

First up, we have ACORN. Yes, ACORN has been in the news a good bit recently. Seems the organization Obama has paid $800,000 to register voters has been, um, shall we say, enthusiastic in fulfilling its task? Apparently, this alleged non-partisan organization has been overly zealous in registering voters, so that areas like Indianapolis now have 105% voter registration! Whoopie! One guy registered 72 times! This is not new for ACORN – they have been under investigation before for voter registration fraud, but the SCOPE of it this year is mighty telling, as the 2-part video below highlights. And bear this in mind: ACORN receives YOUR tax paying dollars. AND they are one of three organizations to which the Democrats, led by Chris Dodd, tried to get 20% of the $700 billion dollar bailout repayment funneled. Again, YOUR tax paying dollars going to fund this organization. And if you believe for one second they are non-partisan, just watch these videos from their meeting this summer (h/t to Katy, alert NQ reader). Again, YOUR taxpaying dollars:

Thomas Jefferson said:

To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.

Amen to that.

While we are on the subject of voter fraud, there is the wife of Chuck Hagel, Lilibet Hagel. Guess who she is endorsing? Uh, yeah – Barack Obama. Yes, the wife of the man who is an owner of the Company-Formerly-Known-As-Diebold is endorsing Barack Obama. See, in Nebraska, the electoral votes are actually split up between 5 areas. Obama’s plan is to win Omaha, so he is actually campaigning there. But hey – when the wife of the man who owns the voting machines telegraphs for all to see who she wants to win, don’t be too surprised when it comes to pass. I am sure ACORN can help with that if there are any doubts by registering some dead people or re-registering people who can send in absentee ballots AND vote in person.

Last night, the “bipartisan” panel (which included a prominent Obama supporter. Larry Johnson had a great post on the makeup of the Committee HERE.) investigating Governor Palin on “Troopergate” declared she had abused her power in wanting her former brother-in-law removed from the State Troopers. The media is playing this off as if it is just bad blood because he and her sister were getting divorced. Apparently, so is this commission, which is framing this whole thing as her pushing a personal agenda. Here’s why this is NUTS: Trooper Wooten (who still has his job, by the way) ADMITTED to tasering his 10 yr old stepson. He was found GUILTY of “judgment failures,” like drinking and driving in a STATE TROOPER patrol car. This doesn’t sound like a PERSONAL issue. It sounds like a PERSONNEL issue. That the board completely overlooked these documented issues is very telling. Oh, they didn’t find anything unlawful in her behavior, in case you are keeping score (and you should be). This is just pathetic. And pathetic the way the media is now trying to play up Trooper Wooten’s behavior. Is this the kind of person YOU would want as a state trooper? Yeah, me neither.

And to finish up, I give a big H/T to Matthew Weaver at No Quarter for finding this extremely disturbing video of Minister Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam (and if you don’t know about the Nation of Islam, I’ll give you some tips after you watch this), who is closely associated with Obama’s church, TUCC:

Yes, he did just call Barack Obama The MESSIAH. Now for some information regarding the Nation of Islam, and Minister Louis Farrakhan from Islam Today:

Racist ideology also at odds with universal Islam
A third area of non-compliance with Islam, and the one which receives by far the greatest attention in the secular media, is the issue of race. The present “Nation of Islam” leader, Louis Farrakhan, is on record as having made objectionable anti-Jewish (as distinct from anti-Zionist) remarks. Among other unfortunate utterances, he is alleged to have referred to Judaism as a “gutter religion”.

Moreover, the NOI is a segregationalist organization exclusively for black people descended from slaves. Proper Islam is a universal religion open to people of every race. Muslims are supposed to differentiate between people on the basis not of ethnic origin but of piety and upright behavior. As the Quran makes clear:

“And mankind is naught but a single nation.” Holy Quran 2:213

“O Mankind! Most certainly, it is We (God almighty) who have Created you all from a single (pair) of a male and a female, And it is We who have made you into nations and tribes, that ye may recognize each other. Verily, the noblest of you in the sight of Allah is (he who is) the most righteous of you.” Holy Quran 49:13

And in his final sermon, Prophet Mohammed made clear that racism has no place in Islam:

“O people! Verily your Lord is one and your father is one. All of you belong to one ancestry of Adam and Adam was created out of clay. There is no superiority for an Arab over a non-Arab and for a non-Arab over an Arab; nor for white over the black nor for the black over the white except in piety. Verily the noblest among you is he who is the most pious.”

In contrast, the NOI has a pronounced anti-white bias. They refer to blacks as God’s chosen people and Caucasians as white devils. They call for a separate homeland for American blacks, for racially segregated education and for a ban on interracial marriage. To quote again from their website:

* We believe we are the people of God’s choice.

* WE BELIEVE this is the time in history for the separation of the so-called Negroes and the so-called white Americans.

* We want our people in America whose parents or grandparents were descendants from slaves, to be allowed to establish a separate state or territory of their own–either on this continent or elsewhere.

* We want all black children educated, taught and trained by their own teachers.

* We believe that intermarriage or race mixing should be prohibited.

Uh, yeah. I guess they don’t know about Obama’s mixed heritage. No matter – he is The One – Minister Louis Farrakhan has spoken. So glad my friends and family have found their Messiah. If only he wasn’t so flawed, so propped up by the media, so enmeshed with nefarious characters like, oh, I dunno, FARRAKHAN! But hey – as long as they can go to their happy Kool Aide drinking place following The One, as far away from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue as we can get them, that’s their choice. I don’t have to understand it, but I’ll have to learn to accept it. I sure don’t want this “Messiah” in the White House myself. I am an adamant supporter of the Separation of Church and State, so someone a little less celestial is my choice for president, but that’s just me.

Supporting their own demise. Like good little lemmings. And Cultists.

I tell you. Our prospects aren’t that promising.

If it is any consolation, a recent poll confirms that the electorate believes our country has veered away from the principles of it’s founding. And it’s founders.

CNN poll: Most say Founding Fathers wouldn’t be impressed

According to a new CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey, 69 percent of adult Americans who responded to a poll June 26-29 said the signers of the Declaration of Independence would be disappointed by the way the nation has turned out overall.

So realistically 31% of Americans believe we are on the right course.

Not even a third of us.

And this all took place in the short space of a few years.

“In 2001, 54 percent thought that the signers of the Declaration of Independence would be pleased with the state of the country today.”

A 23% shift of confidence in 7 years.

23% closer to tyranny.