“Safe Spaces Should Have No Place on College Campuses” The National Pulse
“Citizen Heroes” Franklin Center and Washington Times Feature Model Citizens Working for Freedom
“The Responsibilities of Citizenship” Helen Krieble op-ed, Washington Times, 10/29/15
“We’re failing American students by failing to teach them properly” Roger L. Beckett on understanding the Bill of Rights, CTPost.com, 12/15
“Government Accountability Starts with Local Action” Austin Yack, National Review, 1/24/17
“Have You Read Your New Owner’s Manual Yet?” Lawrence W. Reed, Foundation for Economic Education
“How Farm Subsidies Have Become “Welfare for the Rich” Terry Schilling, The National Pulse
“What Happens When Americans Forget Our Nation’s History?” Terry Schilling, The National Pulse
“Will Candidates Soon Be Arrested for Promoting the “Wrong” Ideas?” Terry Schilling, The National Pulse
Safe Spaces Should Have no Place on College Campuses

In a recent Liberty Minute titled “That Offends Me,” Helen Krieble, founder and president of the Vernon K. Krieble Foundation, spoke about the problem with safe spaces on university campuses:

“On many college campuses today, activists insist on safe zones where nobody hears ideas that might offend them. Administrators control speech and publish handbooks advising faculty and students what they can and cannot say.

They ought to look through the lens of liberty first and understand that freedom of speech is one of our first rights under the constitution. If everyone agreed on every issue and nobody ever said anything offensive, we wouldn’t need the first amendment. We need it to protect speech with which we may not agree and to protect our right to express our opinions whether they’re popular or not.

When you’re only exposed to one side of an issue, you’re being brainwashed, not educated. That is counter to the very purpose of our universities and should offend everyone.”

As Krieble points out, safe spaces have no place in our education system. Universities ought to be places where students are constantly challenged to pursue truth through vigorous debate and intellectual inquiry. In the name of protecting some students from having to encounter opposing viewpoints, safe spaces silence others and thereby hinder the intellectual growth of the university as a whole.

In these safe spaces, only students who share the same ideologies as those who designated the space as “safe” are permitted to speak. Any other opinions which may offend those protected students is forbidden. This is a direct violation of the other students’ First Amendment freedom of speech.

Since the establishment of safe spaces at universities has picked up speed recently, more and more students are being silenced. Given that the majority of large college campuses are predominantly liberal, it is usually the students with conservative political views whose free speech is shut down.

Last weekend, during his commencement address at the University of Notre Dame, Vice President Mike Pence touched upon the same issue Krieble addresses. He told the audience that safe spaces, speech codes, tone policing, and political correctness all amount to “the suppression of free speech” which is “destructive of learning and the pursuit of knowledge.”

It is time for university administrators to realize that, in the name of being “safe,” they are not only suppressing free speech, but also suppressing the intellectual growth of their students. They are thwarting the very purpose for which their institutions exist. Let the hypersensitive students be insulted. After all, if their viewpoints are really the true ones, they ought to be able to withstand insult and win any argument thrown their way.

Terry Schilling is executive director of the American Principles Project

“Citizen Heroes” Franklin Center and Washington Times Feature Model Citizens Working for Freedom

Franklin Center and Washington Times Feature Model Citizens Working for Freedom

The Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity writes, and WashingtonTimes.com publishes, these inspirational stories about everyday American citizens and their work to advance freedom.

All honor the the First Amendment: How a conservative activist was targeted and fought back
By Johnny Kampis
August 28, 2016

Fighting a bureaucratic battle: A librarian wins a dogged quest for public records
By Arthur Kane
July 26, 2016

Unsung heroes: Meet the ‘cookie ladies’
By M.D. Kittle
June 14, 2016

Overhauling the system: How a Mississippi activist keeps the heavy hand of government at bay
By Steve Wilson
May 12, 2016

Tilting at wind farms: An advocate rails against forced green energy
By Johnny Kampis
March 24, 2016

We’re failing American students by failing to teach them properly

Roger L. Beckett, CTPost.com, Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Here’s a simple three-part quiz: What’s Bill of Rights Day, when is it observed, and why was it created?

The answers: Bill of Rights Day commemorates the day in 1791 when the first 10 amendments became a part of the U.S. Constitution. As a matter of law, it is “observed” — casually at best, in most cases — on Dec. 15 of each year.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in signing the proclamation in 1941 creating the day, said, “It is fitting that the anniversary of its adoption should be remembered by the Nation which … has enjoyed the immeasurable privileges which that charter guaranteed: the privileges of freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, and the free right to petition the Government for redress of grievances.”

These “privileges,” as FDR called them, are essential to the American way of life, but the current generation, as we are seeing on college campuses from coast to coast, doesn’t seem to understand or appreciate the Bill of Rights.

This should come as little surprise since today’s high school students, who in a few short years will take their place on those same college campuses, also don’t understand U.S. government and history. The Bill of Rights? Who cares?

The woeful inadequacy of our secondary schools was clearly in evidence this spring when our “nation’s report card” released the most recent test scores in history and civics. It wasn’t pretty.

Of the nearly 29,000 eighth grade students tested last year as part of the U.S. Department of Education’s National Assessment of Educational Progress, only 18 percent were deemed “proficient” or better in history, and only 23 percent in civics, or government.

Eighty percent of these students, for example, were unable to identify an historical controversy that involved any of the rights identified in the First Amendment (with the amendment spelled out in its entirety).

The problem is not just the valleys in the test scores but also the lack of peaks. Only 1 percent of students performed at the “advanced” level on the history exam and 2 percent on the civics exam.

Twelfth graders weren’t tested in 2014. But the last time they were tested, in 2010, their test scores were little better.

If U.S. high school students don’t understand the meaning and importance of free speech, freedom of the press, the freedom of assembly and other such constitutionally guaranteed “privileges,” how can we expect them to affirm and defend them as college students and adults?

Many people are quick to blame teachers for the shortcomings of America’s schools. I don’t buy that.

America’s 125,000 social studies teachers should not be made into scapegoats. In the 18 years I’ve been with the Ashbrook Center, some 8,000 teachers from across the country have participated in our educational programs. So I’ve had ample opportunity to interact with many teachers and know from first-hand experience they’re not the problem.

The problem is the way teachers are trained. Teachers spend too much time learning how to teach and not enough time learning what to teach.

Without a major change in how teachers are taught, America will continue down the same path, raising generation after generation of students who do not understand what it means to be an American, who equate freedom of speech with “selfies,” who believe freedom of religion requires purging religion from the public square, who think our Founding Fathers — denigrated in popular culture as dead old white men — are irrelevant.

Teaching government and history involves more than just stringing together an agreed-upon chronology of significant dates and events and connecting them with names. To successfully teach U.S. history and government, so students understand and appreciate the principles that define our American character, teachers need to rely less on textbooks and more on the writings and thinking of those who shaped our country.

A good place to start would be to have every student read the Bill of Rights for Bill of Rights Day. Discuss the text and how it applies to our everyday lives.
That’s how students learn.

Roger L. Beckett is executive director of the Ashbrook Center at Ashland University in Ohio. Contact him at rbeckett@ashbrook.org.

Government Accountability Starts with Local Action

Austin Yack, National Review, January 24, 2017

Two concerned citizens helped clean up Illinois’s government and started a movement. The country could use more like them. In 2010, emergency worker Kirk Allen responded to a call that inspired him to hold government officials accountable: An eleven-day-old baby had stopped breathing, and it was apparent that the 911 dispatcher had failed to provide medical instructions to the infant’s guardian. When Allen questioned the county director of dispatchers, he was assured that all dispatchers were certified, and that this had been an isolated incident.

He suspected the director was lying, and filed a Freedom of Information Act request that revealed that uncertified dispatchers had been present in Kansas Township, Illinois, for years. “I figured that if they were going to lie to me about that, then what else are they going to lie about?” Allen recalls. It turns out that the 911 office was lying to the public about a lot. After more FOIA requests, Allen uncovered illegal spending in addition to the uncertified dispatchers.

The experience inspired Allen to co-found the Edgar County Watchdogs along with fellow Edgar County resident John Kraft, who was also frustrated with government officials. Since the small-town Illinoisans founded their group, they have forced out 185 public officials in the state, all of whom resigned or chose not to seek reelection. More impressive still, the pair has accomplished all of this without any funding, through the use of FOIA requests, pro se litigation, and comments at public government meetings.

Due to their exemplary achievements, Allen and Kraft won the State Policy Network’s 2016 Unsung Hero Award, a cash prize of $25,000 that is sponsored by the Vernon K. Krieble Foundation. The award is part of the foundation’s citizenship program, “Lens of Liberty,” which encourages citizens to defend their rights and freedom.

Helen Krieble, president of the foundation, tells National Review that she was excited by the more than 30 nominations they received for the award. “The time is right,” she says, because “a Trump presidency has empowered people to hold government accountable.”

Krieble was most impressed with Allen and Kraft, whose project is particularly ambitious; throughout 2016 Edgar County Watchdogs has expanded dramatically, going first statewide and then national. Thus far, the group has trained 500 people; eventually, the two men hope their group will gain footholds in every state.

Edgar County Watchdogs is different from other good-governance organizations, which so often position themselves near state and federal legislatures. Allen and Kraft live in rural southern Illinois, over two hours from the Illinois capital, but both were angered by the lack of transparency among public officials and sought change. And while other such groups write articles, file a few FOIA requests, and move on to the next project, the Edgar County Watchdogs have a different formula: “Write about it and stick around until it gets fixed,” Kraft says. There are currently seven ongoing federal investigations that began as a result of their work.

‘If it makes you less free, you must do something about it.’ — Helen Krieble

In 2016, the pair’s website received 1.5 million hits, and their presence online has proven key to their success. By rallying the public to hold officials accountable, Kraft and Allen prompted four bills in the Illinois state legislature, all of which have become law. One bill granted county boards the power to remove members of Emergency Telephone System boards, as a result of Allen’s original crusade. “They have brought so many towns back to sensible, honest, approaches to ‘We the people,’” Krieble says.

Next year, Krieble hopes to dole out the $25,000 Unsung Hero Award in as many states as possible. The next Unsung Hero might not expel nearly 200 politicians from public office, but he or she must be committed to Krieble’s motto: “If it makes you less free, you must do something about it.” As Kraft and Allen have shown, regular citizens have the power to preserve liberty in a time when government continues to expand and impose overbearing regulations on its citizenry — providing that they see fit to try.

— Austin Yack is a William F. Buckley Fellow in Political Journalism at the National Review Institute.

Have You Read Your New Owner’s Manual Yet?

Lawrence W. Reed, Foundation for Economic Education

When you buy a new car, you get an indispensable document called an Owner’s Manual. Nobody ever throws the manual away while he owns the car. It’s far more important than the slip of paper you get with a new flashlight that tells you where to put the batteries; you could figure that out on your own. A car has a maze of electronic circuitry; lots of buttons, dials and periodic maintenance requirements; and numerous moving parts both visible and hidden. Many things could go wrong if you don’t get things right.

Citizenship in a free republic is similar. Historically, it’s a scarce and valuable commodity. The freedom it conveys is much sought after but most people in history never achieved it and most of those currently living never will. Some who have it will lose it through assault or neglect. If and when you’re blessed to possess it, you will discover that it won’t run on its own. You must take charge. Maintenance, after all, requires an active maintainer. So it is that citizenship in a free republic requires an Owner’s Manual, and now for Americans at least, activist and philanthropist Helen Krieble has given us one.

Helen Krieble, formerly of Colorado and now a resident again of her home state of Connecticut, is president of the Vernon K. Krieble Foundation. She’s a lifelong promoter and benefactor of freedom-related causes from regulation to immigration. Her late father, Robert Krieble, co-founder of the Loctite Corporation and former vice chairman of the Heritage Foundation, was known for his role in supporting freedom movements within the old Soviet Empire. Helen has tangled with intrusive governments herself right in her own backyard, battling regulators in Colorado whose nonsense forced her to close and sell her beloved Colorado Horse Park, an international equestrian and events center. She knows that freedom is never automatic or guaranteed from one generation to the next. She also knows that defending it begins at the most local level, the individual.

Helen is the prime mover behind many effective projects over the years, including the impressive Leadership Program of the Rockies. Her latest is the Lens of Liberty Citizenship Initiative, “a series of projects and programs to educate Americans on what it means to be a United States citizen, and on the responsibilities that come with citizenship.” It’s nothing like the nondescript mush you hear from groups that purposefully steer clear of any principled message—you know, the ones that go no deeper than tell you to vote (for anybody, so long as you vote), write your congressman, tour the capitol building and attend school board meetings. Everything Helen’s organization produces is aimed at getting Americans to see all issues through the “lens of liberty” and then equipping them to act on behalf of their vanishing freedoms.

The 50-page Your American Citizenship Owner’s Manual is one of the Lens of Liberty’s publications. It includes a “Parts List” and sections on “The Privileges of Ownership,” “Teaching Other Drivers,” “Maintenance Responsibilities,” “Operating the Controls,” “Roadside Emergencies” and even one on “Recalling Defective Parts.” It’s included in the free “Freedom Kit” you can request here.

Citizenship in a free republic, in Helen Krieble’s view, requires that we understand and appreciate these principles: equality before the law, unalienable individual rights, personal responsibility, the rule of law, free enterprise and private property, among others. Moreover, we must put our time and talents to work for them. We must speak truth to power and challenge unconstitutional or unwarranted assaults on our freedoms whether they come from the distant federal government or from the local zoning board. “Every citizen,” says Helen, “must hold government accountable for preserving our freedom, not taking it, and our home towns are great places to start.”

At FEE, we educate people (young ones especially) in pretty much the same ideals that Helen’s new effort does, so we are especially pleased to partner with the Lens of Liberty Citizenship Initiative. When I am asked, as I frequently am, “What can I do now that I’m sold on liberty?” I urge principled people to start a Bastiat Society chapter, sponsor students to a FEE seminar, get involved in media or politics or any number of other activities where their talents are best deployed. Now to that list I proudly add Helen Krieble’s Lens of Liberty! You can start by learning more about the organization and by ordering your Freedom Kit today.

America is more than just a place—it is an ideal and a set of principles. In America, government exists for and with the consent of the people—a radical concept in the beginning that the founders knew would require informed and responsible citizens. American citizens who enjoy the privileges of a free society must play a role in keeping the nation’s ideals of freedom on course – Helen Krieble, founder of the Lens of Liberty Citizenship Initiative.

How Farm Subsidies Have Become “Welfare for the Rich”

Terry Schilling, The National Pulse, June 2, 2017

During a recent Liberty Minute, “Poor Farmers No More,” Helen Krieble spoke about a government program which mainly supports the wealthy at the expense of the American taxpayer — agricultural subsidies:

“I knew a very wealthy man who bought a potato farm in Idaho. He had no interest in potatoes or farming, but that farm came with a highly profitable government subsidy for not growing potatoes.

Farm subsidies today cost taxpayers thirty billion dollars a year, mostly for corporate growers of wheat and corn. Almost all of the money goes to corporations and wealthy people who own most of America’s modern farms. One study found that fifty billionaires had received farm subsidies.

This is welfare for people who clearly don’t need it. If we look through the lens of liberty, we might ask what business the government has shelling out our money to support special groups in any industry. Remember, equal treatment under the law is America’s first principle.”

Krieble is not the only one speaking out against this “welfare for the rich.” Last October, the Cato Institute’s Chris Edwards, compiled a report on how nonsensical the US agricultural subsidy program is.

The program Krieble was specifically referring to — which pays landowners not to plant crops — is the Conservation Reserve Program. It costs taxpayers $1.7 billion annually.

Farm subsidies have often been justified with two false claims:

Agriculture is risky, so farmers need subsidies to keep them afloat.
Subsidies are necessary to help out the poor, small farmers which Americans rely on for their food.
In response to the first claim, Edwards wrote, “Agriculture is no riskier than many other industries, yet the government has created a uniquely large welfare system for farmers.”

The second claim also makes no sense since the average farmer’s income is far above the average US income. In 2014, for example, the average income of farming households was 77 percent higher than the average income of all US households. Also, 85 percent of farm subsidies are given to the largest 15 percent of farm businesses. As Krieble points out, the Environmental Working Group found that between 1995 and 2014, fifty of the Forbes 400 list of the wealthiest Americans were given at least $6.3 million in agriculture subsidies.

Edwards says that this “welfare for the rich” only continues because the farm lobbying in Washington is so powerful:

“Agricultural subsidies have never made economic sense, but farmer interests have held sway in Congress. While farmers represent just a small share of the
population today, the farm lobby is as strong as ever. One reason is that farm-state legislators have co-opted the support of urban legislators, who seek subsidies in farm bills for programs such as food stamps. Some environmentalists are co-opted to support farm bills because of the inclusion of conservation subsidies. As a result, Congress routinely votes to expand the USDA’s budget.”

Krieble is right. The government should not be taking our money and using it to pay wealthy landowners to do nothing. This cannot be justified any longer and should not be tolerated — by the government or taxpayers.

Terry Schilling is executive director of the American Principles Project.

What Happens When Americans Forget Our Nation’s History?

Terry Schilling, The National Pulse, June 9, 2017

In a recent Liberty Minute, “Memorizing Dates or Principles,” Helen Krieble brings to light just how clueless Americans are about the basic principles upon which their country was founded:

“A lot of us are upset about a new report on how little American students know about our country’s history and government. Can you believe that less than a fourth of graduating seniors know how their government works? But more frustrating, even fewer know the most basic details about our country’s founding principles.

It’s tempting to demand better curriculum and testing on history, civics, names, and dates, which are important, but we need to look through the lens of liberty and realize that the survival of our unique American concept of self-government depends on educated citizens understanding and defending these principles, not just knowing facts. Teaching these principles was the reason public schools were created and still should be their most important purpose.”

A republican form of government depends on educated citizens knowing basic principles before they head to the ballot box. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 recognized that knowledge would be necessary for the new nation to survive:

“Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be
encouraged.”

Historical knowledge is so much more than just memorizing dates, however. Americans should be familiar with principles such as representative government, equal protection under the law, and the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness — all of which the Founding Fathers considered of immense importance.

Knowledge is necessary for any good government, and specifically American knowledge is necessary for good American government. Shared American principles and goals have the power of holding our country together. If they are forgotten, nothing but division will ensue.

Terry Schilling is executive director of the American Principles Project.

Will Candidates Soon Be Arrested for Promoting the “Wrong” Ideas?

Terry Schilling, The National Pulse, August 11, 2017

In a Liberty Minute entitled “Arrest that Candidate,” Helen Krieble discusses the troubling attacks on our right to free speech, and how some want to arrest others in order to silence their ideas:

“I am more worried than ever before about the push by some leaders to silence the speech of those with whom they disagree. It’s a trend that frightens me.

Even in a presidential campaign which should produce discussion and debate on major issues, one prominent organization has actually called for the arrest of a major candidate because its leaders disagreed with his political views.

Ironically the same organization recently called for neutrality on the internet to protect free speech. They should look through the lens of liberty and remember that in America, the people have the right to consider all opinions and if we disagree with some candidates, we defeat them in fair elections, not throw them in jail.”

Unfortunately, all too often freedom of speech only goes one direction — to the Left. Many on the Left continuously preach tolerance while simultaneously attempting to silence anyone who disagrees with their way of thinking.

However, the notion that the political views of a major party candidate and their supporters could be considered grounds for imprisonment is ludicrous at best — and downright frightening at worst. Unfortunately, as Krieble touched on in a previous Liberty Minute, our students are being taught in an environment that encourages “safe spaces” over the free exchange of ideas.

In fact, recently, conservative author Ben Shapiro was, threatened with arrest by DePaul University police as he attempted to give a speech to the college’s Young America’s Foundation chapter. Similarly, riots broke out on UC Berkeley’s campus when it was announced that Ann Coulter was to speak on their campus.

In America, the answer to bad speech has always been more speech — not the prohibition of speech. When someone promotes bad ideas, it is our duty, not to silence or punish them, but rather to explain why they are wrong and win the argument. This requires a trust in our fellow man and an understanding that government doesn’t know best — the people know best and will end up making the right decision.

To believe that bad speech needs to be punished or silenced is to lack faith in the very principles that America was founded on — that government of the people, by the people, and for the people is the best way to ensure freedom and prosperity for society and the best way to prevent tyranny:

“Freedom of speech is a principal pillar of a free government: When this support is taken away, the constitution of a free society is dissolved, and tyranny is erected on its ruins.” -Benjamin Franklin

When people react to free speech in such a violent manner, and others are threatened with arrest, it is high time we take a good hard look at our society — preferably through the Lens of Liberty.

Terry Schilling is executive director of the American Principles Project.