EdAction
Maple River Education Coalition PAC
105 Peavey Rd, St 116 
Chaska, MN  55318 
952-361-4931
http://www.EdAction.org
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August 8, 2003

MREdCo is now EdWatch

Introducing EdWatch!

Our website changed to EdWatch many months ago. Now, our name is changing, too. Why? It's easier to say, easier to remember and easier to spell. EdWatch also fits our mission.

EdWatch report from Washington, DC
In Washington, the federal initiative to force the new civics into the classroom (HR 1078) was put on hold until after the August break because it became controversial. That was a most amazing victory. The Senate version (S. 504) had passed the Senate 90 - 0. No opposing testimony was presented in the Senate committee hearings. We first heard of the bill after it sailed through the Senate, with Senator Lamar Alexander as its champion.

The House version picked up 220 sponsors. Most of the original sponsors were conservative Members who were hoodwinked into thinking that this would RESTORE the teaching of our founding principles to the schools. What a mistake!

In spite of all of the hype, however, HR 1078 stalled. Sudden grassroots opposition to the bill kept it off of the "consent calendar," which would have forwarded it to the floor of the House with NO committee hearings,  no amendments, and a simple voice vote.

Once the word was out about what HR 1078 was really all about, intense opposition sprang up against it and stopped it from being passed into law before the August break. HR 1078 now awaits action when the House returns to Washington after Labor Day. Without the response of citizens and their surge of contacts to their own Members of Congress, HR 1078would be already signed into law by the President and incorporated  into federal statute.

Opposition to HR 1078 is expected to build during the August break. Members of Congress are home making their rounds of town meetings. This is the time they will hear from constituents.

Personally raising the issue is a powerful way to get the attention of Members. Attending these events has an enormous impact. As the political adage goes, "The world belongs to those who show up."

What's Wrong With HR 1078?
The "official" federal list that summarizes the "key ideas that shaped our country" in HR 1078 are a hodgepodge of words that leave out fundamental principles. If we want to know what the founding principles are, our Members of Congress should go to the founding document, the Declaration of Independence. They are itemized clearly
for all to see. They are:

1. national sovereignty;

2. natural law;

3. self-evident truths;

4. equality of all people;

5. God-given, inherent, unalienable rights; including

6. the right to life;

7. the right of liberty; and

8. the right of private property;

9. the purpose of government;

10. popular sovereignty.

Most of those are missing from the "official" list of key ideas. Amazing.

Secondly, Section 5 which sets up a national alliance of teachers of American history and civics. By doing this, the federal government is putting the radicals in charge of what civics will be taught in our schools

Finally, HR 1078 is in clear violation of the 10th amendment to the U.S. Constitution. A vote against it would make a wonderful lesson in government, teaching the public our founding principles of freedom. The idea of limited Government is non-existent if the 10th Amendment is ignored. The 10th amendment is our constitutional defense against unlimited, expansive government, and we ignore it to our eternal peril.

Our Fall Conference: "A Nation at Risk"
We begin our conference this year with a special Friday evening dinner. The respected Congressman from Colorado, Tom Tancredo will be our honored guest. Author and former FBI agent Gary Aldrich will join us, too, to discuss his latest book, Thunder on the Left.  Dr. Michael Coffman will also be with us to give a personal story about being politically effective in Congress.  See our website for more information. You won't be disappointed.

Please make every effort to join us for Friday and/or Saturday, October 10th & 11th. We need your help in promoting this conference.

Our success depends on people like you distributing brochures (brochure is on our website) bringing friends, promoting it in your groups and on your e-mail networks. Bring your school board members, teachers, home school parents and private school administrators! Call our office to mail you extra copies of the brochure. Special discount for students.

We Need You
Whether we will move forward successfully with the work before us depends on your help. Will we be there to urge the public to attend the public standards committee meetings or to continue the radio interviews on stations across the country? Or to send out the information people ask us to send them? Or to research the legislation that few people ever read? Your $25, $50, $100 or $200 makes it possible!

We also urge you to help us to increase our base of $1,000 donors  -- our Advisory Board members. Let us know the names and addresses of people you recommend for us to contact to support our efforts as an Advisory Board member.

Send us four qualified Advisory Board prospects and we'll give you a free ticket to the Fall Conference.

With your $50 donation, we will give you a CD of an excellent radio interview on the new civics. With $100, you'll also receive the newest edition of Michael Chapman's "Censored Heritage" video. These are excellent resources.

Thank you for being there, for your support, and for being willing to pass on the principles of our freedom to our children's generation.

EdAction - 105 Peavey Rd, Ste 116, Chaska, MN  55318 
952-361-4931 - edaction@lakes.com - (c) EdAction - All rights reserved.