Civil war via “education” (mostly public education) was declared on the American public long, long ago, back in the 1830s, as a matter of fact.

You had a certain intelligentsia in this country (and other places) in the early years of the nineteenth century that had a vision for the united States that did not include that which was envisioned by those who came here to escape religious persecution or for a better life for their families, and, by extension, for their descendants. This intelligentsia was composed of “an artistic, social, or political vanguard or elite.” In other words, these were the people that were going to show and tell the rest of us how to live–whether we wanted what they had to offer or not.

And so we began the early stages of a civil war over who was going to control our destiny–ourselves or “the political vanguard or elite.” This civil war has continued right up to and including our day, and because most of us have not been taught or made to understand that we are involved in this civil war, the elites seem to be winning it, mostly be default.

This civil war is not only political, it is theological at root, and the elites totally understand this. Because we have been ill-educated, thanks to our adversaries, we mostly don’t. Until we learn to reverse the trend of letting our anti-Christian adversaries “educate” us and our children nothing will change.

Orestes Brownson, an early 19th century elitist, expressed it very explicitly when he said: “The great object was to get rid of Christianity, and to convert our churches into halls of science…The plan was not to make open attacks on religion…but to establish a system of state–we said national–schools, from which all religion was to be excluded, in which nothing was to be taught but such knowledge as is verifiable by the senses, and to which all parents were to be compelled by law to send their children.”

Brownson, a Universalist clergyman, was, at one point, a disciple of socialist Robert Owen and he was active in a political party, oddly named “The Working Men’s Party.” Notice how they always give themselves the nice-sounding names that pander to people’s ignorance. At one point, Brownson stated: “The purpose for the formation of this party was to get control of the political power of the state, so as to be able to use it for establishing our system of schools.” Reflect on that last statement just a wee bit. They worked for control of the state so they could force our kids to be “educated” according to their agenda.

They declared a form of civil war on us so they could force us to educate our children the way they, not us, wanted them educated! They have been fighting this civil war ever since and the stakes of this war are who will control what our kids learn–us or them. This civil war for the hearts, minds, and souls of our children and grandchildren (and formerly us) has been going on at least since three decades before the War of Northern Aggression. Do you begin to grasp now, at least one of the reasons we fought that War?

This civil war has always been about who will control our faith, history, heritage and culture–us or them–and until we learn to quit entrusting our children to their socialist agenda it will be them! In over 160 years most Christians haven’t figured that out yet. I sometimes wonder if we will ever wake up

Does this mean that all public school teachers are bad people? No. Had it not been for some dedicated Christian public school teachers it might have been even worse than it is. Does that mean we should leave our kids in that system just because there are some Christian teachers in it? No way! I’ve known several Christians who have taught in public schools who have gotten out of them because they realized nothing was going to change in them and they could no longer take it.

So this civil war, for the hearts and minds of our kids continues, though it is mostly the anti-Christian side doing the fighting, while too many naive Christians keep funneling their kids into their system and berating those of us who have refused to do that. And after that, there is the question of college – and that’s another biggy!

October 17, 2018

~ The Author ~
Al Benson Jr. is the editor and publisher of “The Copperhead Chronicle“, a quarterly newsletter that presents history from a pro-Southern and Christian perspective. He has written for several publications over the years. His articles have appeared in “The National Educator,” “The Free Magnolia,” and the “Southern Patriot.” I addition to that he was the editor of, and wrote for, “The Christian Educator” for several years. In addition to The Copperhead Chronicles, Al also maintains Revised History.

He is currently a member of the Confederate Society of America and the Sons of Confederate Veterans, and has, in the past, been a member of the John Birch Society. He is the co-author, along with Walter D. Kennedy, of the book “Lincoln’s Marxists” and he has written for several Internet sites as well as authoring a series of booklets, with tests, dealing with the War of Northern Aggression, for home school students.

He and his wife now live in northern Louisiana.

Mr. Benson is a highly respected scholar and writer and has graciously allowed Metropolis Café to publish his works. We are proud to have his involvement with this project.