Editorial: Open Letter to Schools by Dan "Taxation is Theft" Behrman
Awhile back, I wrote about an October news story in Florida covered by the Free Thought Project, about a High Schooler who had gotten in trouble for handing out flyers and wearing "Taxation is Theft" gear.
The IowaCaucusGuy blog was contacted by the Behrman 2020 campaign to share some of Dan's thoughts. As this blog is set by the tenets of interesting election-related content and having constructive dialogue, we have decided to share that letter here - Iowa Caucus Guy
An Open Letter to Schools by Dan "Taxation is Theft" Behrman
Dear Public Schools of America,
I am running a presidential campaign, focused on freedom from oppression and tyranny. I am promoting the ideas of freedom on which this country was founded. Many young people are reaching out to my campaign and asking if they can help. They are young adults, often 15 to 18 who want to learn more about politics and freedom. They want to be free. They are screaming it, fighting for it - and yet - they have no support.
In the nation that was founded on the Declaration of Independence, young people are speaking out. They feel like prisoners, forced to go to your schools, through compulsory attendance laws. Their opinions are ignored. Imaginations stifled. Advocating for their own education is discouraged. They are punished with both physical restraint and public shaming. Your schools are beating the free spirit out of our kids!
I used to be one of those kids.
One of these students reached out to me to inform me that he was being harassed at school. Bullied. Not by other students, but by school administrators. I have promised his mother that I would not mention the school because of the fear of retaliation against her son. The school held an assembly about drugs, threatening the students violence, arrest, imprisonment, and the destruction of their futures. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not advocating that these students start consuming any form of cannabis recreationally at their age. But how is this beneficial? Laws restricting the sale, possession and use of cannabis on school grounds were put in place to protect the students. If a student is found in possession, why do you threaten to have them “handcuffed, arrested, and charged as adults?” Are you fostering a relationship of being helpful advocates for their future or are you terrified that these kids are really a threat? Must you use threats of violence with armed law enforcement jailing minors? Could you instead have positive conversations about drug effects on young, developing brains?
We need to educate our students. We need to provide them with the information they need to grow and become prosperous, not condition their behaviors. We have a system that is causing students to withdraw when we want them to engage. We should want children to seek information and become excited about their futures. Homeschool children are excelling while our public schools are becoming prisons. The result is a 70% increase is teen suicide in the last decade. What you are doing is not ethical.
Teaching children to be complacent, controlled, and obedient is how you train a dog. It is how you treat animals, slaves or property. It is not how you treat young minds attempting to find their place in a big world.
I bring this to your attention for an important reason.
Threatening people, of any age, with violence only harbors feelings of resentment and contempt. History has proven this many times over. Perhaps you think by threatening students, you will stop them from ever taking possession of drugs, saving their future. But nothing could be further from the truth. Violent behavior towards children, creates violent actions by children.
In the case of my young supporter, he chose education over violence in order to subdue these threats. He armed himself with our anti-drug war flyers to share with his friends, proudly wearing a hat provided by my campaign. He was ordered to remove his hat even though he was outside.
He protested, stating that he believed the rules to be that he could wear his hat outside, as he was previously told by school administrators. We later confirmed that state law prevented any school from prohibiting hats being worn outside. But still, the administrators intimidated him to remove it. They surrounded him and threatened him until he took it off. He was then suspended for 5 days. For wearing a hat, and for educating his peers. Of course that doesn’t sound good on paper, so you accused him of being disobedient. He was punished for refusing to obey an illegal order. This is tyranny.
Property taxes were forced upon his family (any many others) to educate. They do not receive a credit for the loss of education during his illegal suspension. In fact, it is not uncommon for these threats to extend to parents as well. Officers can, and do, visit homes issuing citations and demanding parents pay fines as if they are criminals.
With a printed copy of the law in hand, directly from the state’s website, this young adult and his mother returned to school. Your administrators told them that those laws were not applicable in your school, even insisting they are able to make their own policies that superseded state law. I find it ironic that an educational system, tasked with basic foundational learning, could sit with a straight face and tell such an outlandish lie. Enforcing the policy is simply illegal.
With no lawyers present or in communication with this student at any time, your administration took the opportunity to double down. In a second attempt to rightfully wear his hat outdoors, administrators once again told him it was not permitted . They intimidated him with the same lie, insisting that school lawyers had already explained to him how their unenforceable policy trumped state law. He was not allowed to wear that hat. He was again suspended. Illegally.
You may ask in your defense, “why would my administrators create so much turmoil and excitement over this hat?” It is simply a hat that is inscribed with the words “TAXATION IS THEFT”. A proclamation that embodies the spirit of “You don’t own me”, and “I will not be forced at gunpoint to serve you”. It means, “I reject your violence”. It means “I know there are better ways to accomplish great things, peacefully”. Time and time again, I have witnessed employees of the violent state, burst into a hysterical outrage when you hear these words. They NEED to defend taxes. Their lives depend on it!
Our political atmosphere has millions of Americans believing we need more taxes to pay for schooling. They are not seeing the results they were promised in the education system, and politicians often tell us they just need more money. Throwing more money at the problem is not helping. Many parents do not see how the threats of violence to obtain these funds, trickles down to threats of violence against our own children!
Obeying is not a skill. Conforming is not a skill. Leadership is a skill, empowering is a skill, and advocating is a skill. Teaching these skills is paramount, and we must ensure our future is cared for. While you may intend for them to learn what's in the books they are forced to read, they also learn from your power structure. They learn to either submit to power so they won't be violated, or that it's acceptable to use threats to get what they want from others. You are destroying young spirits and minds across the country in the name of education. You are teaching children to give in to threats of violence. This is inherently unAmerican. It is tyranny.
In Liberty
Dan “Taxation Is Theft” Behrman
The IowaCaucusGuy blog was contacted by the Behrman 2020 campaign to share some of Dan's thoughts. As this blog is set by the tenets of interesting election-related content and having constructive dialogue, we have decided to share that letter here - Iowa Caucus Guy
An Open Letter to Schools by Dan "Taxation is Theft" Behrman
Dear Public Schools of America,
I am running a presidential campaign, focused on freedom from oppression and tyranny. I am promoting the ideas of freedom on which this country was founded. Many young people are reaching out to my campaign and asking if they can help. They are young adults, often 15 to 18 who want to learn more about politics and freedom. They want to be free. They are screaming it, fighting for it - and yet - they have no support.
In the nation that was founded on the Declaration of Independence, young people are speaking out. They feel like prisoners, forced to go to your schools, through compulsory attendance laws. Their opinions are ignored. Imaginations stifled. Advocating for their own education is discouraged. They are punished with both physical restraint and public shaming. Your schools are beating the free spirit out of our kids!
I used to be one of those kids.
One of these students reached out to me to inform me that he was being harassed at school. Bullied. Not by other students, but by school administrators. I have promised his mother that I would not mention the school because of the fear of retaliation against her son. The school held an assembly about drugs, threatening the students violence, arrest, imprisonment, and the destruction of their futures. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not advocating that these students start consuming any form of cannabis recreationally at their age. But how is this beneficial? Laws restricting the sale, possession and use of cannabis on school grounds were put in place to protect the students. If a student is found in possession, why do you threaten to have them “handcuffed, arrested, and charged as adults?” Are you fostering a relationship of being helpful advocates for their future or are you terrified that these kids are really a threat? Must you use threats of violence with armed law enforcement jailing minors? Could you instead have positive conversations about drug effects on young, developing brains?
We need to educate our students. We need to provide them with the information they need to grow and become prosperous, not condition their behaviors. We have a system that is causing students to withdraw when we want them to engage. We should want children to seek information and become excited about their futures. Homeschool children are excelling while our public schools are becoming prisons. The result is a 70% increase is teen suicide in the last decade. What you are doing is not ethical.
Teaching children to be complacent, controlled, and obedient is how you train a dog. It is how you treat animals, slaves or property. It is not how you treat young minds attempting to find their place in a big world.
I bring this to your attention for an important reason.
Threatening people, of any age, with violence only harbors feelings of resentment and contempt. History has proven this many times over. Perhaps you think by threatening students, you will stop them from ever taking possession of drugs, saving their future. But nothing could be further from the truth. Violent behavior towards children, creates violent actions by children.
In the case of my young supporter, he chose education over violence in order to subdue these threats. He armed himself with our anti-drug war flyers to share with his friends, proudly wearing a hat provided by my campaign. He was ordered to remove his hat even though he was outside.
He protested, stating that he believed the rules to be that he could wear his hat outside, as he was previously told by school administrators. We later confirmed that state law prevented any school from prohibiting hats being worn outside. But still, the administrators intimidated him to remove it. They surrounded him and threatened him until he took it off. He was then suspended for 5 days. For wearing a hat, and for educating his peers. Of course that doesn’t sound good on paper, so you accused him of being disobedient. He was punished for refusing to obey an illegal order. This is tyranny.
Property taxes were forced upon his family (any many others) to educate. They do not receive a credit for the loss of education during his illegal suspension. In fact, it is not uncommon for these threats to extend to parents as well. Officers can, and do, visit homes issuing citations and demanding parents pay fines as if they are criminals.
With a printed copy of the law in hand, directly from the state’s website, this young adult and his mother returned to school. Your administrators told them that those laws were not applicable in your school, even insisting they are able to make their own policies that superseded state law. I find it ironic that an educational system, tasked with basic foundational learning, could sit with a straight face and tell such an outlandish lie. Enforcing the policy is simply illegal.
With no lawyers present or in communication with this student at any time, your administration took the opportunity to double down. In a second attempt to rightfully wear his hat outdoors, administrators once again told him it was not permitted . They intimidated him with the same lie, insisting that school lawyers had already explained to him how their unenforceable policy trumped state law. He was not allowed to wear that hat. He was again suspended. Illegally.
You may ask in your defense, “why would my administrators create so much turmoil and excitement over this hat?” It is simply a hat that is inscribed with the words “TAXATION IS THEFT”. A proclamation that embodies the spirit of “You don’t own me”, and “I will not be forced at gunpoint to serve you”. It means, “I reject your violence”. It means “I know there are better ways to accomplish great things, peacefully”. Time and time again, I have witnessed employees of the violent state, burst into a hysterical outrage when you hear these words. They NEED to defend taxes. Their lives depend on it!
Our political atmosphere has millions of Americans believing we need more taxes to pay for schooling. They are not seeing the results they were promised in the education system, and politicians often tell us they just need more money. Throwing more money at the problem is not helping. Many parents do not see how the threats of violence to obtain these funds, trickles down to threats of violence against our own children!
Obeying is not a skill. Conforming is not a skill. Leadership is a skill, empowering is a skill, and advocating is a skill. Teaching these skills is paramount, and we must ensure our future is cared for. While you may intend for them to learn what's in the books they are forced to read, they also learn from your power structure. They learn to either submit to power so they won't be violated, or that it's acceptable to use threats to get what they want from others. You are destroying young spirits and minds across the country in the name of education. You are teaching children to give in to threats of violence. This is inherently unAmerican. It is tyranny.
In Liberty
Dan “Taxation Is Theft” Behrman
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