Back in the sixties when the federal government was not yet in control of the nation's educational infrastructure but was making noises about massive federal funding for education I, along with many others, objected. We said then that just as soon as the feds get the schools used to receiving federal money -- and they became dependent on it -- the guidelines (orders) would surely follow. We were, of course, roundly poo-poohed. They called us right-wing extremists for daring to oppose them.So now what?
Twelve years ago I was involved in teaching sign painting in a Denver art school. "Federal Guidelines" forced us to keep students standing at drawing boards five days a week, eight hours a day, until they had learned how to draw a series of about twenty esoteric alphabets they would (speaking from my more than forty years of experience) never use. Later they were given brushes and taught to fill in these drawings with paint. This is not how sign painting is taught. In real sign schools -- those not contaminated by federal money or by students in federal programs -- they are taught to draw a simple top and bottom line, sketch in a rough layout for spacing, then to build the letter with a brush, using strokes and spacing principles they had previously been taught in class.
The method the feds insisted be used is the commercial art method which is slow, time-consuming, and inefficient compared to the way real sign painters do it. The feds don't know this because they've never picked up a lettering brush. But they have the temerity to think they can tell us how to teach our subject. A subject in which we have years of experience and they have none.
Why?
Because that art school depends on students whose tuition comes all or part from government programs. If a student receives even a small amount from the government, he is so tainted.
THE OTHER SIDE Now let me tell you about the other side of the coin. Hillsdale College, in Hillsdale, Michigan, has never taken a nickel in federal money. So imagine their surprise when, in 1975, they got a letter from a bureaucrat telling them that "...as a recipient institution, they would be required to complete certain forms showing the racial makeup of their student body." Now Hillsdale has never discriminated at any time in their history. Their very first class, back in 1844, contained one black and two women (and that was not even the thing to do back then). They threw open their doors to everyone, regardless of what group they belonged to so there was really no reason for the feds to believe that they had ever discriminated.
PART OF THE TAKEOVER In actual fact, this letter had been sent to every institute of higher learning in the country, and represented the opening gun in the U. S. Government's takeover of higher education.
DIDN'T WORK But in this case it didn't work. Hillsdale notified them that it would not comply -- indeed, had no need to -- since they were not a "recipient institution," having refused to accept federal funding throughout their existence. The ball was now in the feds' court
ONE STUDENT QUALIFIES Back came a letter informing them that if they had a single student who used federal money for any part of his school costs, they were a recipient institution and would be required to comply. So Hillsdale notified them that it would not accept students with help from any kind of a government program.
OF COURSE, THEY SUED Naturally, the feds sued. And, in effect, lost. The decision of the court agreed with their tenuous definition of a recipient institution, but said it was too broad which was, in effect, a victory for Hillsdale because it absolved them of the forms requirement.
SO THEY MADE A LAW So they made a law that allowed it to be too broad (The Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1988, passed by a liberal congress over Reagan's veto). This means that if Hillsdale College doesn't comply (knuckle under) they can take away all federal funding from the school.
What?
How do you punish a college by taking away something it refuses to accept in the first place? Typical bureaucratic wasting of time on something useless -- unless you consider the fact that this new law gives them the whip hand with other institutions and, in fact, with BUSINESSES of all kinds.
So I guess Hillsdale is safe for a while -- at least until some bureaucrat gets the bright idea to accuse them of discrimination against students who depend on government programs. They're just brazen enough to do that. Look for that or something like it to happen before too long.
ALL BUSINESSES AFFECTED But what about all the other businesses that will be affected by this power-play law? It doesn't apply just to colleges. Any business whose customers get government help is liable. What about the convenience store whose patrons pay with food stamps? What about the churches that (peripherally) use federal funds to feed the poor?
UNPRECEDENTED TAKEOVER There are very few businesses whose customers aren't on some kind of a government program. [And that's the way they planned it -RT] Which means this law can be used as the basis for the most unprecedented takeover of education and business in history.
LOOK FOR THE CON As I wrote in "To Rob The People" (Special Report Number 3), you've got to look for the con in every new law, every new program, every new solution to a pressing problem, because it's there.
ONE BY ONE Just as is reflected in the book "One By One," written by Hillsdale's President George Roche, they're taking away your rights, one by one, with your permission!
HILLSDALE IS SAFE -- FOR NOW Hillsdale College is safe -- for now. At least from this direction. But I'm worried about how this law will be used on other businesses. They say they'll use a very narrow interpretation of this "Katie-bar-the-door law." And if you believe that, I've got some fine oceanfront property in Phoenix I'd like to sell you. Have you ever known a bureaucrat who hasn't used any law or regulation to its most ridiculous extremes? No? How about the farmer who got sent to prison and his expensive tractor confiscated because he accidentally ran over a protected rodent while he was plowing? I'm not going to bore you with the hundreds of other examples I've got in my files. But suffice it to say there is no bureaucrat who will not use any and every law or regulation to its fullest so as to exercise his little bit of authority to its extreme. Watch for it.
NEWS FLASH! (Denver, Colorado) On August 3, 1995, Denver's Barnes Business College, which has operated for more than ninety years, closed its doors and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Did they go broke? Nope. They closed because of "...an increasingly difficult regulatory burden from both federal and state authorities." Their attorney, E. Michael Canges, said: "The plethora of regulations were burdensome to administer and caused significant financial changes to the operation of all private schools. These regulations were often conflicting and had duplicative requirements. The burdens of administrating and effectuating these requirements became more time consuming than the teaching and educating process."
Now this is a school with a job placement rate in excess of 90% which was called by more that 6,700 potential employers for students in 1994 and they had to close because they couldn't keep up with government regulation.
EARLY SYMPTOM This is just an early symptom of the illness. Soon you'll be seeing more and more businesses close -- not just schools -- because it takes just too much time, and costs too much money to satisfy all the bureaucrats who each have a small bit of authority they are determined to exercise, no matter who it hurts.
Watch for it.
The first thing you must do to help in this fight is to keep yourself informed as to things the power seekers don't want you to know.
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