Real Choice, Real Freedom
in American Education
by
Kerry L. Morgan

What Is This New Book About?
Real Choice, Real Freedom in American Education, patiently articulates the legal and Constitutional case for parental rights and against governmental control of American Education.  Applying the same legal and natural law principles identified by Thomas Jefferson in the 1780s to bring about the legal disestablishment of the state established church, Real Choice, Real Freedom follows suit and shows that the legal disestablishment of the state established school must invariably follow suit.

What Is Different About; Real Choice, Real Freedom?
Current focus on education reform either attempts to make parents a part of the government's system of education (the federal solution), or offers parents a financial inducement to keep their children in the system itself (the state solution, i.e., vouchers, tax credits, charter school options).  Others have approached the matter by describing the failure of public schools, and then presenting the alternative of opting out of the system in favor of home schooling.

Real Choice, Real Freedom is significantly different in that it offers a genuine explanation of the legal and constitutional foundations of parental rights in the "laws of nature and of nature's God" as that phrase is used in the Declaration of Independence.  It neither relies upon or rejects the economic necessity of disestablishment, but rather views disestablishment from a legal and historical perspective.  This perspective draws upon the rich foundations of the American Republic, rather than modern legal foundations, which are stripped of any notion of unalienable or natural rights.  The book's challenge is not to improve the educational system or opt out, but rather to disestablish the system itself.

In addition, the book provides an analysis and critique of federal intervention into education.  It does not complain about too much or too little federal control.  It explores federal control as a legal and constitutional idea and lets the framers, founders and early Presidents speak for themselves in their universal rejection of federal jurisdiction over education.  Such an analysis is simply nowhere else to be found.  Not even the Republicans who talked so much about the Federal Department of Education two decades ago, considered its abolition from a Constitutional point of view.

Where Can I Get a Copy?
Amazon.com   http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0761808558/qid=1137176928/sr=8-11/ref=sr/002-0940995-8433613

Direct from the publisher;
University Press of America
4720 Boston Way
Lanham, MD 20706
(301) 459-3366

Tell Me More.
Real Choice, Real Freedom offers a unique legal and Constitutional analysis of American Education--one grounded in the universal principles of the Declaration of Independence and its reliance on the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God.  Building on this timeless legal foundation, the essential principles of choice and freedom are fleshed out. Rejecting the phony choice and freedom offered by educational reformers, which simply makes parents a more integral part of the government's educational system, Real Choice, Real Freedom instead articulates the unalienable right of parents to direct the education and upbringing of their own children free from all governmental interference, regulation and control.

To bring such healthy freedom into the modern discussion, Thomas Jefferson's legal analysis and condemnation of state established churches is brought to life.  His analysis and approach is then vigorously applied to the modern context of state established schools. The state established school, like the state established church is shown to be nothing less than the systematic use of governmental force and coercion in the realm of ideas.  The use of force and coercion to compel attendance, certify or license teachers, mandate curriculum, and enforce financial subsidization of education, are all rejected as inconsistent with the very purpose of civil government.

This book is not about revitalizing the failing public school monopoly through charter schools, tuition tax credits, or vouchers.  This book raises a more cardinal question:  "Can our Republic maintain real freedom when the civil government uses law to control the education of its youngest citizens?"  The favorite judicial argument for control--that governmental oversight of education is compelling as a means to sustain the Republic--is simply delusional.  The civil government has failed miserably to carry its burden of proof documenting that its system of governmental education--established, operated and financed on the palladium of force and coercion--can produce a citizen whose mind is free, whose choice of labor is his own, and whose acts of genuine citizenship spring from true volition.  The Republic itself cannot maintain real freedom when the civil government controls the education of its youngest citizens. Moreover, the federal government's claimed jurisdiction over education is shown for what it is--contempt for the Constitution, usurpation of parental rights and suppression of intellectual freedom.  The fraudulent legal basis of the federal Bureau of Education, which later became the Department of Education, is also dissected, its belligerent nationalism identified and petty altruism revealed.

Conceptually, Real Choice, Real Freedom in American Education, identifies three underlying legal defects.  First, American education has rejected the legal principle of parental rights.  Second, American education has been dominated by enforcement of state laws that undermine and contravene parental rights.  Third, American education has suffered the ravages of an unconstitutional expansion of federal power.

The solution is straightforward.  First, state governments must recognize that parents have the unalienable right to direct the education and upbringing of their own children.  The Declaration of Independence recognizes pre-existing rights of this kind and mandates that civil governments are subsequently created to respect and guarantee them, not regulate or abridge their exercise.  Second, state governments must enact laws which are designed to secure the unalienable rights of parents and repeal those laws which are contrary thereto.  Third, the federal government must disentangle itself from education altogether.  The exercise of federal jurisdiction over education is contrary to the Constitution, the opinion of numerous Presidential Administrations and Congresses, and is contrary to the rights of parents.

Real Choice, Real Freedom is about a way of life and a way of governing.  It is a book on freeing that, which is now controlled--freeing American education from governmental control.  This book is about breaking the government educational mold by making real choice and real freedom in education a reality for parents and students alike.

To contact the author directly, send an e-mail to:  kmorgan@revivetherepublic.com.