Editorial: Let Madison(WI) decide this (We are Idiots, how dare anybody notice)

"In Republics, the great danger is that the majority may not sufficiently respect the rights of the minority."

Neither did George Washington, or John Adams, or Thomas Jefferson, or any signers of the Declaration of Independence, heroes of the Revolutionary War, or drafters of the Constitution.

Abraham Lincoln never repeated a single word of the pledge. Neither did Ulysses S. Grant. No soldier died on the battlefields of the Civil War with the pledge on his lips.

Teddy Roosevelt did not yell the words of the current pledge before leading troops up San Juan Hill. Franklin Roosevelt did not recall them after Pearl Harbor.

So let us begin our debate about the pledge with an understanding that it is in no way linked with this nation's founding or progress.

Though its roots go back to socialist pastor Francis Bellamy's 1892 efforts to promote the radical notion of "justice for all" in a land where women and people of color were denied the right to vote, the pledge took its current form only in 1954.

Thus, tonight, as Madison debates how best to incorporate the pledge and "The Star-Spangled Banner" into local education, it is important for citizens and School Board members to remember that the issue has nothing to do with the safety, security or strength of the nation, nor is it a litmus test for patriotism. America did very well without this pledge before 1954. And, no matter what decision the board reaches regarding its recitation, Madison and America will survive unscathed.

* Do not allow the fulminations of Rush Limbaugh, Gov. Scott McCallum or state Rep. Sheryl Albers, R-Loganville, to influence the process. These summer patriots have, with their misinformed rantings, illustrated scant acquaintance with the issues involved. They are policy vultures, looking to advance their political careers or increase their ratings. They have shown little interest in helping the School Board develop an approach to the issue that serves the best interests of the taxpayers, students or staff; nor have they displayed a sincere desire to improve what is already one of the best school systems in America.

* Pay little heed to dire warnings from officials associated with the Greater Madison Convention & Visitors Bureau. Without checking, officials of the agency told the local media that a national group had apparently decided to cancel a convention here. Their fast-with-the-facts approach was wrong. There was no canceled convention.

* Don't worry about threats to mount a recall campaign against board members who vote their conscience. Madison voters recognize the preachers of ballot-box retribution for the political opportunists that they are.

* Do listen to the students, staff, teachers, administrators, parents and taxpayers who have a stake in the schools. Look first and foremost for a solution that respects the concerns on those in the minority and the majority on this issue. Respect the desire of those who seek a venue for expressing patriotism in the schools. But understand, as well, that it is possible to make room for those expressions without coercing participation in them. Don't reject proposals for voluntary assemblies or other innovative approaches that allow students and staffers to participate as they choose.

With an emphasis on the creativity and mutual respect that have always characterized Madison at its best, this community and its School Board can find a solution that is better than those that the sunshine patriots, the policy vultures and the fast-with-the-facts crowd could ever imagine.

Do listen to the students, staff, teachers, administrators, parents and taxpayers who have a stake in the schools.

These people really need to take another look at their "customer base"...to use a business term.

That would be the students, their parents, and the taxpayer. In that order. The staff, teachers, and administrators are providers of service, employees, not customers.

I live in Madison & the school board members that enacted this rubbish are pandering to a very, very small number of elitists with deep pockets and DO NOT represent the majority of voters in their respective wards.

This is not unlike the 'appropriation' by another group of stuckup, elitists of a big chunk of the downtown for the ARTS DISTRICT, most of whom applaud the school boards decision. Nevermind, that they drove out, intimidated, threatened, or 'condemned' perfectly functioning businesses that were enjoyed by an overwhelming majority of people who wished to enjoy them.

This is consistent behavior with those who like to think of themselves as Madison's upper crust. These same people caused the 'Monona Terrace' - a mass of concrete that replaced a great lakeside park anybody could enjoy with a parking ramp/convention center complete with guards, security cameras & visible foot patrols of police so the elites won't have to be annoyed by the presence of people belonging to the common ruck.

In short, the half-wits & former sixties 'activists' who have enacted that baloney so recently made famous (or infamous) most definitely DO NOT represent most of the fulltime, yearround residents of Madison, Wisconsin.

Do not allow the fulminations of Rush Limbaugh, Gov. Scott McCallum or state Rep. Sheryl Albers, R-Loganville, to influence the process. These summer patriots have, with their misinformed rantings, illustrated scant acquaintance with the issues involved.

Summer patriots? How dare they. Instead, perhaps we should listen to more of the same from the people who are responsible for creating the problem in the first place?

People of Madison, I hope you will do what must be done.

The obvious message in the Cap Times editorial is "No other opinions are needed. We'll tell you what to think." It makes me feel quite good about my e-mail to the school board last week:

Dear Madison Public Schools,

Having attended graduate school at the UW and having grown up in nearby XXXXXXX, I am very familiar with the so-called "sensitivity" and "tolerance" that is frequently on display in Madison, Wisconsin. The truth be known, that "sensitivity" and "tolerance" is nothing more than a feeble disguise for insensitivity and intolerance toward those whose views differ from those of the liberal elite in Madison.

Your stance on the Pledge of Allegiance and the Star Spangled Banner in the Madison schools is simply the latest example of that insensitivity and intolerance. Your disdain for the plumbers and car mechanics who get a tear in their eye at the sound of the Star Spangled Banner is palpable. Your hated of the farmers and butchers who proudly fly the American flag is evident. Your intolerance of the salesmen and bakers who love all that America stands for is evident in your school district policies.

It is sad that in your arrogant disdain for America you are unable to show tolerance and sensitivity for those of us who feel fortunate to live in freedom, a freedom secured by the sacrifices of the patriots and soldiers who gave their lives defending our country. Those of us who remember the sacrifices of other generations of Americans have a fierce determination that those sacrifices not be forgotten.

Sadly, you are embarrassed to be in the lineage of patriots and heroes. Shame on you!

May God bless America and all she stands for!

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