About Me

In writing the "About Me" portion of this blog I thought about the purpose of the blog - namely, preventing the growth of Socialism & stopping the Death Of Democracy in the American Republic & returning her to the "liberty to abundance" stage of our history. One word descriptions of people's philosophies or purposes are quite often inadequate. I feel that I am "liberal" meaning that I am broad minded, independent, generous, hospitable, & magnanimous. Under these terms "liberal" is a perfectly good word that has been corrupted over the years to mean the person is a left-winger or as Mark Levin more accurately wrote in his book "Liberty & Tyranny" a "statist" - someone looking for government or state control of society. I am certainly not that & have dedicated the blog to fighting this. I believe that I find what I am when I consider whether or not I am a "conservative" & specifically when I ask what is it that I am trying to conserve? It is the libertarian principles that America was founded upon & originally followed. That is the Return To Excellence that this blog is named for & is all about.

Sunday, January 23, 2022

The Hillsdale 1776 Curriculum

Concerned about the many problems facing the country, people in this readership have asked me what they can do to help.  This post offers a tremendous opportunity in this regard that I hope those who asked will take advantage of.  

This post follows up on the outrage demonstrated in Loudoun County, Virginia that resulted in the recent gubernatorial race being turned on its head after the Democrat candidate, Terry McAuliffe,  said during a televised debate in Virginia that he didn't "think parents should be telling schools what to teach."  Parents had found out what was being taught - Critical Race Theory - & stopped it - & stopped McAuliffe from becoming governor.

Similarly in Chicago, parent involvement made the difference in reopening schools after parent & family demonstrations against school closings pushed for the city & teachers to end their standoff which was being staged @ the expense of the students.  Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot evidently got the Loudoun County, Virginia message when she said "I want to make sure that parents understand, we heard you."

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Dr. Kathleen O'Toole, Assistant Provost for K-12 Education, Hillsdale College, recently wrote to let me know that Hillsdale College has authored a complete curriculum of American history & civics lessons for K-12 classrooms.  This is a topic very dear to me in that for years I have proposed that universities, most notably UMD, include a no credit freshman refresher course in civics, history, & government & politics because far too many high school graduates representing universities & young America are an embarrassment to our country.  

The curriculum, known as The Hillsdale 1776 Curriculum, is in response to hundreds of requests to Hillsdale from concerned Americans so I was glad to learn it was not just me.  

The Hillsdale 1776 Curriculum is modeled on the civic education students @ Hillsdale-affiliated K-12 schools receive, is created by teachers & professors, & is applicable to any kind of K-12 school: public, private, charter, & homeschool.  In short it should be used everywhere & Hillsdale is giving it away - it is entirely free.

The lesson plans teach American history, civics, & government to K-12 students - from the colonies through the Civil War as well as American history since the Civil War & American government & civics for both middle & high school students.

Dr. O'Toole asked me to help spread the word.  In order to fight back against the hateful teachings of Critical Race Theory & the historical inaccuracies & deliberate lies of The 1619 Project it is imperative that The Hillsdale 1776 Curriculum, & curricula like it, be used throughout the country to counter the infiltration of anti-American Marxist thinking in our schools that today fills many American classrooms @ every level from kindergarten through graduate school.

We are looking for help from people with influence on school boards, or people like parents who believe that they should have influence on school boards, & parents who willingly take the Hillsdale curriculum to the Principal's office or present it @ school board meetings.  Just let everyone (parents or concerned citizens like people in this readership) do what they can.

Hillsdale released the initial stages of the curriculum in July, with the remaining history portions set for release in early 2022.  Hillsdale anticipates widespread adoption by individual citizens, private schools, & homeschooling families.  But it is essential that the curriculum gain recognition in America's public (government) schools.

The final curriculum will include complete units on the topics below.  If our schools are not teaching the topics below you have to wonder what they are teaching - & it isn't good in far too many cases.

This is where we come in to help.  Please review the Hillsdale curriculum below (click on it to enlarge) & if you agree that it should be taught let the K-12 schools in your area know.  Go there, not as an activist, but as a patriot.

More on the importance of this topic in future posts - but let's get started now.



Thursday, January 6, 2022

Dow Jones Industrial Average Quiz

This quiz will be of interest to all the investors in the readership of which there are many - but especially to young investors who should take note.

In 1999 Jim Glassman & Kevin Hassett predicted the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) would hit 36,000 - they just didn't clearly say when.  On Tuesday November 2, 2021 the DJIA closed @ 36,053.  See graph below for the trajectory.



Mr Glassman recently pointed out that the DJIA went from 826 on November 2, 1971 to 36,053 exactly 50 years later.  He also mused about what level the stock index would reach 50 years from now.

DJIA Quiz

Assuming the same rate of return actually achieved for the 50 years indicated above, what level would the DJIA reach on November 2, 2071?   What is that rate of return?

I will post all correct answers or alternatively will send my solution privately to anyone who requests it.

Just for the fun of it - guesses are acceptable for this one.