The term “the common good,” from Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century, is frequently used to mean the “glue” that holds together democracies. Its elements include roads, libraries, schools, police departments, fire departments, churches, health departments, public utilities, a history, a set of facts, etc. I believe that a patriot is a person who respects their nation’s common good and works to maintain and strengthen it.
The archetypal patriots are our teachers. They teach literacy, numeracy, basic history, art, science and ideally, the critical thinking that allows us to understand and operate effectively in our world. Lately, there has been a move in New Hampshire by free-staters and libertarians to erode our public good by privatizing public education with vouchers. This movement is paid for and organized by out-of-state dark money, and their methods include spreading fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) and running loyalists for local offices, most notably school boards. Their objective is to transfer students from public schools to private alternatives (often unaccredited and unaccountable religious academies) by making sure that public schools are underfunded and therefore less desirable.
Lately there has been an echo of Republican talking points about parents’ rights, prefabricated FUD designed to create certainty in the minds of parents that public school systems are somehow indoctrinating their children in some undefined but outrageous and scandalous way. The solution is time-honored patriotism; don’t vote for candidates that are funded and coached by dark money – New Hampshire Liberty Alliance, Americans for Prosperity, etc. — run for office no matter how humble, and stand up to bullies. Vouchers will make your real estate taxes go up and destroy our common good. And most of all, remember that baloney wrapped in freedom is still baloney.
John Zavgren
Wilton