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Tuesday, March 31, 2009

From Ezra Levant's Shakedown - 12

Well, I am afraid that after this post, you will all just have to go to your nearest Internet shopping cart (click through the book covers below) and buy the book. I must get back to my regular news desks and can't spend any more time persuading you that this is one of the best and most instructive books you will read all year.

Especially if you are an American.

If you are an American, you are making one big mistake if you think this kind of thing can only happen in Canada. It can happen anywhere that "human rights" start to suppress civil rights. Just keep your eyes open, and fight like hell against it.

Anyway, Levant writes,
There are always dangers involved when you let the government into the civic education business; such projects are ripe for political hijacking by interest groups, and other forms of abuse. But if there is really a need for the promotion of human rights, wouldn't a reiteration of fundamental rights, the building blocks of our Western tradition, be more useful than the human rights commissions we have now? (p. 187)

Levant has two things right here, in one paragraph. First, yes, civic education should not be offered directly by government; that inevitably leads to politicking for the system instead of merely explaining how it works. Someone who cannot gain or lose by how you cast your vote should be the teacher, not someone who is paid directly by the government.

And yes again, a critical need today is explaining to new immigrants to North America why we do things the way we do. Why women can sue for divorce. Why families do not have the right to murder teenage girls who behave inappropriately. Why it is okay to make fun of religions (= because any real religion would emerge unscathed from some silly comic's jokes).

Talk to us. We've learned what we know from experience. We don't claim we are always right, but we have good reasons for thinking what we do.

See also: From Ezra Levant's Shakedown - 11; Shakedown - 10; Shakedown - 9; Shakedown - 8; Shakedown 7; Shakedown - 6; Shakedown - 5; Shakedown - 4; Shakedown - 3; Shakedown - 2; Shakedown - 1; From Mark Steyn's "Introduction" to Ezra Levant's "Shakedown"; Mark Steyn introduces Levant's work. Ezra Levant's Shakedown: A Preliminary Note

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