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The House of Representatives passed the American History and Civics Education Act of 2004, H.R. 5360, by voice vote on November 17. The Senate already passed a similar bill last year.

Nov. 17, 2004

Stop Federal Civics Academies   Printer Friendly version   E-mail to a Friend The American History and Civics Education Act of 2004 (H.R. 5360) is pending in the U.S. House of Representatives and may be called for a vote this week in the lame duck session of the 108th Congress. It was on the "suspension calendar" for November 17, then removed at the last minute — but it could still be called up later this week. The Senate companion bill, S. 504, passed 90-0 before education watchdogs discovered it was on the agenda. The bill would establish Presidential Academies to offer workshops for teachers of American history and civics. These Academies would be designed to push the "new civics" advocated by the Center for Civic Education (CCE), which was specifically authorized by federal law (20 U.S.C. 6714 ) to develop a federally funded civics curriculum called "We, the People: The Citizen and the Constitution." CCE's own documents describe "New Civics" as follows: "In this century, by contrast with the past, we may reasonably speculate that education for citizenship in a democracy will, with each decade, become everywhere more global, international and comparative in curricular content and processes of teaching and learning. And we ought to think now about how to improve our current curricular frameworks and standards for a world transformed by globally accepted and internationally transcendent principles and process of democracy." The new civics does not teach American sovereignty, the inalienable rights of American citizens, or the principles of our Founding Fathers. Rather, CCE compares the "negative" rights in our Bill of Rights with the "positive constitutionalism in regard to human rights" in the United Nations. Some very deceptive agenda is driving this devious and dangerous ploy. Why do you suppose it's so important to slip this bill through a confusing, crowded lame duck session? The Center for Civics Education is a powerful lobby in Washington. It is an unelected non-governmental organization (NGO) that has the sole contract for the radical curriculum in Civics and Government for this entire nation. H.R. 5360 removed all of the specific language that was in H.R. 1078. Members are using the excuse that everything controversial has been removed, so they will support it. What has been removed is language that described the radical Federal Curriculum. Nothing in H.R. 5360 prohibits that curriculum. It is impossible and dangerous to imagine that the Federal Academies in "The American History and Civics Education Act of 2004" will not teach the Federal Curriculum that is sanctioned and funded by federal law.  Removing specifics does nothing to make this bill acceptable. We urge you to take action immediately. PLEASE CALL or FAX THE HOUSE LEADERSHIP: Tell them to remove H.R. 5360 from the House "suspension calendar."   Tell them you don't want it!   H.R. 5360 has had no House hearings.   No opposition testimony has been heard in the House to this piece of legislation, or to its precursor, H.R. 1078. (See below for talking points.) Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert:    202-225-2976    FAX: 202- 225-0697 House Majority Leader Tom DeLay:     202-225-5951   FAX: 202-226-5241 Majority Whip Roy Blunt:     202-225-0197   FAX: 202-226-1115 PLEASE CALL OR FAX YOUR OWN MEMBER OF CONGRESS:  Their contact information is listed here. Urge them to ask for a roll call vote on H.R. 5360 if it comes up for a vote. Right now we have no member who has agreed to call for a roll call. A roll call will take place if just one member requests it. That will allow debate. Urge them to speak and vote against H.R. 5360 , if a roll call is called. This bill must pass by a 2/3 vote, because it is on the "suspension calendar." Urge them to ask leadership to remove H.R. 5360 from the calendar. Thank you for taking the time out of your very busy lives to make a difference for the future of our children. Our lobbyist is personally contacting members, but unless they receive calls and faxes from their constituents, they will disregard our concerns. Congress has a heap of issues on its plate in a very short time. They are willing to disregard us on what may appear to them to be an insignificant issue. We cannot overstate the importance of beginning to put a brake on the march From yesterday's alert: Did you know that the anti-American National History standards may be taught to our students in Federal Academies? These standards were opposed by the U.S. Senate in 1995 on a vote of 99 to 1. Did you know that the controversial and anti-American We The People: The Citizen and the Constitution curriculum may be taught to our students in Federal Academies? WE NEED YOUR IMMEDIATE ACTION! - HR 1078 Resurfaces H.R.1078, called "The American History and Civics Education Act of 2003" would have set up 12 federal academies to teach the "new" civics and history to top-performing students around the country. It would have set up 12 more federal academies to teach teachers what to teach. Then it would set up "best practices" for teaching it everywhere. H.R. 1078 was successfully bottled up in the House Education Committee, thanks to the relentless work of a coalition of citizens from around the country who worked together to oppose it. Ten wonderful House members removed themselves as sponsors of H.R. 1078, once they understood the anti-American nature of the New Civics. The lame duck session is resurrecting H.R. 1078. In the waning days of 2004, H.R. 1078 chief authors Sen. Lamar Alexander and Rep. Roger Wicker have created a new bill, called "The American History and Civics Education Act of 2004." The new bill, with the same name and same sponsors, also sets up federal academies to teach the New Civics. The new bill has no number and all of the details laid out in H.R. 1078 have been conveniently removed. The newest incarnation of H.R. 1078 is said to be headed for the floor action as early as tomorrow — Wednesday. That would mean there will be no committee hearings and no committee vote. That would mean the reincarnation of H.R. 1078 could be introduced as a non-controversial bill, and no amendments would be allowed. Make these points: Oppose The American History and Civics Education Act of 2004. — Tell them we don't want it.  The Constitution prohibits the federal government from setting up federal academies. Authority over education is a power reserved to the states. The federal government has no authority to set up federal academies to teach students or teachers. This bill is a violation of our Constitution.  Federal academies will teach the anti-American and controversial Federal Curriculum (We The People: The Citizen and the Constitution) and the National History Standards. The federal government has funded federal standards and the Federal Curriculum (We The People and the National History Standards) in civics and government and in history that are anti-American. They are being used as the basis for the federal test, the NAEP. This Federal Curriculum undermines the basic principles of freedom that are set forth in the Declaration of Independence, such as national sovereignty, inalienable rights, and self-evident truth, the 2nd amendment and the 9th and 10th amendments of limited government. . Analysis of "We The People" If you want to know what the passage of this legislation would mean to our country and to our heritage, look at We The People: The Citizen and the Constitution, the federally sanctioned and funded textbook on American Government -- the ONLY textbook directly sanctioned and funded by federal law. You will notice that national sovereignty is never mentioned once in the entire textbook on American government. In the unit that describes what rights the Bill of Rights protects, the second, ninth, and tenth amendments are never mentioned. These amendments protect our right to keep and bear arms, and they reserve all powers not enumerated in the Constitution to the states and people, respectively. Then go to Lesson 37 (high school level). You will notice that instead of national sovereignty, the textbook promotes the "global village" and  promotes world citizenship. You will see that the lesson ends with this question: "Do you think that world citizenship is possible in your lifetime?" If you go to the last lesson in the textbook, Lesson 40, titled, "What is meant by returning to fundamental principles?" states: "The Founders, themselves, were vigorous critics of the wisdom they inherited and the principles in which they believed. They were articulate, opinionated individuals who loved to examine ideas, to analyze, argue and debate them. They expected no less of future generations. They would expect no less of you." [p. 214] In other words, there are no fundamental principles. This radical teaching of civics and government is undermining our national sovereignty, our Constitution and our Bill of Rights. Finally, you will see the section titled, "What is meant by teaching the Bill of Rights?" It states: "As fundamental and lasting as its guarantees have been [past tense], the U.S. Bill of Rights is a document of the eighteenth century, reflecting the issues and concerns of the age in which it was written.. . . " [p. 207] In other words, the Bill of Rights may have been useful for people 200 years ago, but it is not necessarily useful for us today. It is impossible and dangerous to imagine that the Federal Academies in "The American History and Civics Education Act of 2004" will not teach the Federal Curriculum that is sanctioned and funded by federal law. CAPITOL SWITCHBOARD: (202) 224-3121