Today Michael Farris, founder of HSLDA came out with both barrels blazing against Ron Paul. It deeply saddens me to see this turn of events. I have nothing but respect and admiration for the commitment Mr. Farris has to defending homeschooling. As a friend of mine said,
I could fill my page saying nice things about Mr. Farris and all he has done to secure and promote homeschooling freedoms in the US and around the world.
But here, I deeply disagree with Mr. Farris:
Ron Paul is an enemy of the legal principles that the homeschooling movement has used successfully to defend our freedom to teach our own children.
Look, just because bad law has been used and argued successfully in favor of homeschooling does not mean it is not bad law. Mr. Farris is making an argument of expediency rather than principle. Farris seems to hold the 14th amendment up very high; and it has helped him to win many battles in favor of homeschooling. But all the more do liberals use the 14th amendment, including organizations like the ACLU. Indeed, the 14th amendment has been used to take power away from the states. This is why I agree with Ron Paul that the 14th amendment has been greatly abused.
It saddens me to see that Mr. Farris is such a “one issue” voter that he cannot see the bigger picture. He would take the approach that states rights should be sacrificed so that we may take our issues on homeschooling to the federal level. The problem is that things on the federal level hardly ever work in our favor. We need to get these issues back in the realm of the states where they belong.
I’m afraid that Mr. Farris, while well intended, is arguing the wrong argument. He would argue for the federal government’s ever encroaching powers so long as it suited his purpose. Dr. Ron Paul is the champion of liberty here. And just because one of the steps on the road to reducing the size, scope, and power of the federal government cuts down one of the primary ways Mr. Farris has been arguing for homechooling at the federal level does not mean that Ron Paul is anti-homeschooling. I dare say, given Paul’s stand for liberty, that he is very much for the rights of parents to homeschool their children. Remember that Ron Paul wants less intrusive government, not more. Mr. Farris wants a federal government with a broader scope of powers so that he can argue in favor of homeschooling at that level, and it’s like using a jackhammer to drill a hole in drywall for hanging a picture. It’s just not going to work out well.
And let me bring up another point, what things require a constitutional amendment anyway? Why do we need them? What happens that makes them seem necessary.
I am making a point here: The problem is not that we don’t have the right laws in place. The problem is not that we need amendments to the constitution to get things where they need to be. The reason we have the problems in our country that we are dealing with now is because of the evilness and rebelliousness of men’s hearts. We don’t need more laws to secure our freedoms. And we all know that all the laws being written today do nothing to secure our freedom, but are actually trying to take away our already granted constitutional freedoms. No, we do not need more laws and more amendments. We need for men to repent and believe the Gospel.
I’ll link here to a few things. First, to Mr. Farris’s original post on Facebook:
And next to a piece by Bojidar Marinov which I mostly agree with. I say mostly, because in his sixth point, Mr. Marinov is a little less charitable to Mr. Farris than I think he should be and attributes motives to Mr. Farris that I don’t think he has.
And now read Mr. Farris’s follow up. Note in the comments (if you have time to wade through such garbage) that some more things come out about Mr. Farris’s issues with Ron Paul. He cites his issues with Ron Paul over his stance on Israel. This flows out of the bad theology that most Christians in America are slaves to.
And finally, one more bit from Mr. Marinov responding to Mr. Farris’s followup.