Because I love this country too much to see it become a plutocracy, a kleptocracy, a theocracy or an idiocracy

I have been asked more than once, "why do you hate this country so much?" as well as "if you hate this country so much, why don't you just get out?" Typically in our society, a person who expresses dissatisfaction with the status quo is considered unpatriotic and deserving of exile to another land.

The notion is particularly venomous as it effectively crushes dissent, a necessary activity for a society to progress. I have come across very few Americans in my lifetime who genuinely hate the very foundations of America (i.e., our ideals, the goals we have set for ourselves as a nation). Discontent with certain factions of our society who wish to turn America into a place where workers are victimized, where an official state religion is a reality and where education is looked upon as a subversive activity unworthy of taxpayer dollars does not imply hatred of America. On the contrary, it shows a determination to preserve what is great about our society so that future generations may enjoy it.

The assault on education via religious fanaticism and pervasive anti-intellectualism is a tangible threat to our country. Attempts to undermine science education by efforts to introduce theology into this separate discipline are ongoing. Widespread hostility towards those who work in education is frighteningly real. To want to rectify this, one should hardly be looked upon as subversive. Instead, the person should be looked upon as someone rightfully concerned with one of the pillars of a civil society. Blatant falsehoods about public education in this country have gained ground. Accusations that students learn nothing but homosexual propaganda, Marxism and hatred for America are largely unfounded. Although today's history curriculum does pay more attention to those who were either neglected or persecuted and today's literature courses are more likely to include readings from members of minority groups, the accusation that public schools are a breeding ground for future revolutionaries is absurd. If anything, the overwhelming majority of students are further conditioned to be active participants in the capitalist structure through the socialization they encounter in school. Our public schools are indeed troubled, but the culpability is not always that of the educators themselves. One can point to parental neglect, a popular culture that disdains the learned and lack of self discipline as the primary culprits.

Regarding theocracy, the issue of evolution is only one that religious fundamentalists have addressed in American society. Although the Constitution does not specifically use the words "separation of church and state," nowhere is there a legal, binding document that establishes an official national religion. Americans are guaranteed the right to worship the deity in which they believe, but the right to impose that upon others is forbidden. Nowhere is this more evident than in the issue of school prayer. Contrary to accusations, prayer is most certainly not forbidden in our schools. What is forbidden is mandated, teacher-led prayer. Students are not prohibited from joining their hands and praying silently as a math test is being distributed; no student can be penalized for silent prayer in the minute before he bites into his lunch. What is being sought by too many is an educational system in which teachers must lead students in prayer, whether or not students are believers. False correlations are drawn between the so-called breakdown of morality and the abolition of mandatory school prayer in 1963. What is often overlooked is just how much less moral a society we were in the years prior to that owing to Jim Crow laws, institutionalized gender discrimination and open displays of racism. Public education, as pointed out in the previous paragraph, is indeed troubled; the solution, however, lies neither in its abolition nor with the imposition of mandatory prayer upon a heterogeneous student body.

These matters, along with the growing victimization of the American workers are matters of concern to those who love this country. To see America become a theocracy or a plutocracy is too tragic a fate to consider for this great nation. We must be vigilant against those who want to restructure this society along lines wholly contrary to what our Founding Fathers intended. An anti-intellectual society where religion is forcibly imposed on others and corruption in the financial sector is the norm is not a role model for other nations. America is an influential society; therefore, it behooves us to keep this influence as positive as possible.