I started a thread over in Generap Politics a couple weeks ago because I thought the topic was important and might get more exposure there. It got no traction, which I am afraid is a rather sad statement WRT to the general posture of many of the otherwise seemingly very intelligent people in these forums.
Anyhow, I paste it below just for the sake of completeness. Perhaps it will see more traction here, though I cannot say I'm optimistic. It seems most people really do not grasp the significance of this. Such is life, I suppose. The first three paragraphs are mostly irrelevant, but I include them anyway. The meat begins with the paragraph in bold-face.
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A member made a comment in another thread about how we should default on our national debt. I pointed out to him why this was the worst possible idea and after posting it occurred to me that this is a bit of information that should be more widely disseminated, so I decided I should repeat myself here. This is what I wrote in response:
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Let us clear up a point of terminology. We do not "default" on the debt. We REPUDIATE it. There is a HUGE difference between the two. To default on the debt is, at the very least, to tacitly acknowledge that it is legitimate. Our debt is NOT legitimate - at least MY portion of it is not because I did not consent and am therefore contractually responsible to repay. Each of us must make a similar determination for himself. Nor did I receive equal consideration, further absolving me from any obligation. There are more contractual elements that are not present in this issue, but let us leave it at this as these are more than sufficient to demonstrate the absence of contract in this case.
REPUDIATION, OTOH, is an assertion of the illegitimacy of the debt in its very fabric. Because the debt was not legitimate to begin with, I am not obliged to honor it. That is the question every single American needs to ask himself. Did you receive equal consideration? Did you consent to it EXPLICITLY? If the answers to even one of these questions is "no", then you have a decision to make: honor someone else's debt or repudiate - but NEVER default because in so doing you are telling the world that you acknowledge the debt as legitimate and this opens you up to very real trouble.
One further lesson here lies in the use of language. Words have meanings, and in the legal world they have very specific meanings and if you substitute one word for another ("default" for "repudiate") you could be sending your own ship to the bottom in real style and speed. Learn to be PRECISE in your use of language. Trust me, it is the SINGLE most important thing you will ever do in your entire life, bar none.
I do not know how to sufficiently impress upon all of you just how centrally critical sound language skills and habits are to the cause of liberty. There is no other basic human skill that can compare with it in significance - that I promise you.
Recall the 3-Rs - good old Reading, wRiting, and 'Rithmetic? Most folks appear to be unaware that it was originally the 4-Rs, the fourth being Rhetoric. I find it interesting to note that the most singularly important of the 4-Rs is precisely the one that our esteemed institutions of learning cut from the standard curriculum. Better they had removed math. One of the most important efforts people should be endeavoring to make is to return rhetoric to the classroom. It puts even reading and writing to paling where significance is concerned. It is the single most important skill we learn and we are no longer taught it in any meaningful way. It might do us good to take a moment to ask ourselves why that might be.
A movement to return to a strong training in the use of language is paramount to the maintenance of a free state even more so than arms. Think about that, as well. I feel that this should be discussed at great length, here and everywhere.
Finally, I placed this in General Politics with very definite intent, rather than in Education. This needs to become a mainline issue or everything we do here is for nothing - it is THAT important.
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Originally Posted by osan
There are quite a lot of teachers (though apparently still in the minority) out there lamenting the loss of proper training in rhetoric and the language arts in most skools. I believe trimming these and logic/critical thinking and history are very deliberate actions-Iserbyt famously called it "The Deliberate Dumbing Down Of America".
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