The main purpose of this blog is to empower people with information.

I remember the day that I realized my high school education was all but worthless when I read Howard Zinn’s, A People’s History of the United States. I read that about 5 years after graduating. The shocking truth of this country’s beginning’s taught me that our educational system has a big black hole in it, and it made me wonder…if they didn’t teach me this, what else did they not tell me about? I also started to wonder how much of what I had learned was actually true.

Do you remember hearing the expression that those who hold the information hold the power? I always thought that was talking about those who collect information on us because that expression was commonly quoted during the dot.com era when it was believed that information, personal data, was going to be the next big commodity. For example, when you use your club membership card at the grocery store, a database somewhere knows all your eating habits…or a different database knowing your whereabouts all day by your credit card swipes.

But then three days ago, in the morning, while shaving, I realized…it’s not the information that someone else collects about you that matters so much as the information that someone withholds from you. Like what I wasn’t taught about the history of this country in high school. That seems obvious to me now, but the whole concept of “those who hold the information hold the power” isn’t about some marketing company knowing that I buy mocha’s from Starbucks, it’s about our system withholding information that I need to make a decision about something my government is going to do.

We are all sorely lacking in the fundamentals of practical economics, monetary policy, capitalism, socialism, politics, constitutional law and the real American history.

I didn’t learn what I needed to know in high school or college. I didn’t learn it on the job. I didn’t learn it from the “news” on TV. Since this is where most people get educated, how will they learn what they need to know?

I’m not suggesting some conspiracy theory, I’m suggesting that our educational system has decayed in its usefulness to the point that some of the most important decisions being made by our government are not fully understood by those they govern. If we were not taught the practical applications of  those subjects I mentioned earlier…how can we control our government?

This is my fear. My hope was that this blog would be a window for others to watch my own self-education, and maybe learn along with me.

Our lack of information is their power.

Categories: Government Failures, Personal Economics, Personal Message, Resist, Tea Party

Tags: capitalism, constitution, economics, education, history, information, information commodity, monetary policy, politics, socialism