'76 Blog

"It's time to take back our system of education from government control," proclaims the New Jersey Tea Party Caucus in announcing its forum in Jersey City this Sunday, Jan. 22. Details are here http://www.njteapartycaucus.com/?page_id=115 "We'll kick off National School Choice Week by asking the tough questions" about why public education costs so much, performs so poorly, and seems impervious to reform, the website adds. William J. Moloney, former Colorado Education Commissioner and now a Centennial Institute Fellow, heads the speakers panel for the half-day event.   Moloney will outline an agenda for real change, based on his Centennial policy brief, "Much Better Schools on Much Lower Budgets." Bob Bowdon, producer of "The Cartel," a hard-hitting documentary film about teacher unions and the education establishment, will serve as panel moderator.  Other panelists include New Jersey education activists Derrell Bradford, Chris Kniesler, and Dan Hagerty, along with Hillsdale College charter school experts Philip Kilgore and Terrence Moore.  Moore is well-known to Coloradans for his  past leadership of Ridgeview Classical Schools, an award-winning Fort Collins charter school.

('76 Contributor) "Have the media failed America?" That was the question at an all-day conference in Colorado Christian University's Beckman Center on December 2. Media experts gathered to discuss the changing face of news and journalism's role in a free society. It was part of a project called News in the 21st Century, sponsored by CCU through its think tank, the Centennial Institute. Through the means of classroom instruction and civic engagement the News in the 21st Century Project seeks to equip both CCU students and the public to be critical consumers of media, as well as objective producers. "To be self-governing citizens, we all need reliable information about our world," said Centennial Institute director John Andrews. "The News21 project addresses that need."    Funded by a grant from the Smith Foundation in New York, the project is fulfilled in part by Persuasion and News in the 21st Century, a required general education course. Dr. Chris Leland, the professor of record, taught the first two-thirds of the class on basic persuasive theory. Then, students got their hands dirty: under the tutelage of veteran journalists Stephen Keating and Jay Ambrose, they examined firsthand the persuasive messages, bias and tactics that media sometimes uses. Starting with Keating's first question, "Is Facebook news?" students considered how they got news, what they called news, and how they can trust news.    Bringing media notables onto campus was an appropriate climax, as students heard from men and women that they can read in the paper, watch on television, or see on the computer screen. Exhibiting both conservative and liberal views, the panels discussed the effectiveness of the media, as well as the role for consumers today. Students were continually reminded that media is changing, and the divide between consumer and producer is breaking down. Referring to an individual's role, Patti Dennis of 9News reminded all: "Your job is to enlighten yourself." With the rise of the internet and the democratization of news, there is ample opportunity.   Building on this idea, Brent Bozell, who founded the Media Research Center, exhorted students to become storytellers. "If you learn how to become storytellers, you're going to change the world."   Indeed, that was the goal of the class, and remains the ongoing goal of the project -- which will continue in the spring. According to Dr. Leland, students, "gained interpretive skills and interests they didn't have before. They could see how the theory of persuasion works in the real world. And, they saw the clash of ideas in culture."    Still, this class is a beginning for students: with the tools to add to the cultural dialogue, they now have the confidence to do so from a Christian perspective. "Karl Barth said that every Christian should get up in the morning and read the newspaper and the Bible," explained Leland. "They need to know what's going on and how God wants them to react." The News in the 21st Century project aims for exactly that.   "We invite everyone to keep up with the project through our website at www.news21ccu.com," said John Andrews. "That includes suggesting topics for our blog on media bias, and attending future conferences."    The next conference is set for Friday, March 2, 2012, again at the CCU Beckman Center. It will take up the issue of how fair and accurate is the media's treatment of religion and faith.

Centennial Institute honored Mike Kopp, former Colorado Senate Minority Leader, with the Zebulon Pike Award for Colorado Leadership in Fidelity to Jeffersonian Principles at a ceremony on Dec. 6.   The award will be presented annually to an outstanding conservative who has set a high example for Coloradans, providing a landmark as Pike's mountain did for the 1806 exploring party sent out by President Jefferson, said Centennial Institute director John Andrews. Kopp, who led the Senate Republicans from spring 2010 until his resignation for family reasons in 2011, spoke as follows in accepting the Zebulon Pike Award:  Thank you for this honor. The idea of this particular award is an intimidating one.  I hope my attempt to justify my being its first recipient will not fall short.  Many of my former legislative colleagues are here, and if I embellish too greatly they’re likely to call a caucus and censure me for perjury.  So it is intimidating to me to receive this, especially from people I so deeply admire, for two reasons: First, Zebulon Pike himself.  The man truly lived an extraordinarily courageous life, while it lasted just 34 years.  Pike was always ready to risk for the country he loved. He led men in the exploration of the resources of an unknown land.  The pattern of his life and leadership was to habitually trade away personal safety in order to accept uncertain leadership assignments fraught with real peril.  This compulsion of his to do his country’s bidding ultimately drove him to the battlefield at York where he gave his own life for a fledgling republic in the War of 1812. Secondly, to be recognized for conservative leadership in a time when Coloradans want reassurance that our best hopes about America can still be gamely pursued, assumes that this recipient has played a significant role in leading that pursuit.  A role? Perhaps.  How significant? Certainly a small one.  In any event, that question can’t be the important one for any leader to ask. No, the important question is this: what problems in society am I presently analyzing in order to apply trustworthy conservative wisdom to so that conservatism can lay claim on the future just as it has in the past? If we don’t ask this question of ourselves, regularly, are we not thereby forgetting that the future of a free and prosperous America is both the birthright of our children and a vapor that can quickly vanish if conservative leaders don’t prevail? And what is conservative leadership if it’s not accompanied by the courage and appetite for risk that Pike’s life so beautifully epitomized?  It is nothing.  It is only words. It won’t do.  And besides, there’s plenty of people already engaging in it. Words do not the future make. Actions do. But our actions, friends, need to be bigger than we’ve ever dared. Decisive. Persistent. Wise. Timely. Consequential. Ambitious. Not just ambitious, transformational. Because anything less has us acting as mere managers stuck in a system we feel powerless to change.  Let’s not be that generation of conservatives. Pike may well have been the kind of transformational leader we need today.  Why not think of ourselves as scouts just as he was? In all situations, let’s force ourselves to look beyond our circumstance.  Let’s grasp the whole context, not just a few of the interior parts, and further assume that it can be shaped by us into something different than it is as the moment.  Something that more closely aligns with a conservative worldview. This is the legacy of a Pike, or a Madison, or a Lincoln, or Goldwater or Reagan.  That’s the shadow that we have been blessed to labor in and that we ourselves now must help enlarge for the sake of our posterity. Yes, just imagine if each us leaned into the belief that the Almighty is actually concerned with how we govern ourselves.  And imagine the outcomes if we further embraced that understanding as a sign of our personal leadership responsibility to claim the future? I think that is the work of CCU and the Centennial Institute.  That is why I am humbled to participate in some small way with them in that endeavor.  It is why we should all be very proud indeed of the quality leadership that is guiding that ship. In conclusion, while I feel unworthy of an award like this, I do lay claim to Martin Luther King’s brilliant leadership proclamation, when he said: “I refuse to accept the idea that man is mere flotsam and jetsam in the river of life, unable to influence the unfolding events which surround him.” Fellow conservative leaders, may it be so with us, too.  Thank you.  

  Environmentalism, marriage, sharia law, and the Occupy Movement are among the issues on tap for Centennial Institute forums and briefings in the early months of 2012, director John Andrews announced today.  The full calendar is here: Centennial Institute Events 2012.pdf (129.61 kb) . Still upcoming in 2011 is an all-day conference on media literacy and media bias, "Have the Media Failed America?" with keynote speaker Brent Bozell, founder and president of the Media Research Center in Washington, DC.  It will be held on Friday, Dec. 2, at the CCU Beckman Center. Register here. . Issue Monday on Dec. 12 has been postponed till after the New Year, Andrews noted.  There will be no event on that date. . The intended program, a debate on the Tea Party vs. the Occupy Movement, is now set for Monday, Jan. 30, also at the CCU Beckman Center.  

The Colorado Family Institute is truly on the frontline of the battle for our values and principles and we thank you so much for your work. Today, I wanted to share two things with you: my narrative and how this narrative relates to our work at the Centennial Institute. Editor: How can conservative groups in Colorado help each other? What is the unifying vision for their efforts?  Centennial Institute director John Andrews asked staffer Karthik Venkatraj to address those questions on Pastors' Day at the State Capitol, April 29, sponsored by the Colorado Family Institute.  This is what he said. My mother and father are my inspiration. My father dreamt of coming to America and conferred with his family about his desire. His sister agreed to sell her gold to purchase a ticket for the young couple to come to America in addition to some spending money - -one hundred dollars. They started their life in the mire of poverty in one room of an apartment in Brooklyn, New York City, where I was born. Eventually, my father found a job in the subways of New York City ferrying x-rays between hospitals and my mother found a job as a nurse’s aid in a busy Manhattan hospital. Ten years later, my father would be graduating from New York University as a PhD in Molecular Biology and my mother would be finishing her MD. This position was a far cry from their struggle to make ends meet each month as well as raise a child. Indeed, I can distinctly remember the culmination of a month’s paycheck in a splurge of eight dollars at a run-down Chinese buffet in Brooklyn. Once again, this narrative would be possible in no other country, within the context of any other ideals than that of our nation. Indeed, these values and ideals that propelled my narrative and that of my parents hearkens to those ideals and values that informed the Declaration of Independence as well as our Constitution. And that is why I am here at Centennial institute, because I want a better nation for my children and their children, a nation with values and a solid moral compass. I am here because I am convicted that it is the duty of all Americans to preserve our republic and I am very concerned that we are losing that duty. I, like most Americans, do not want to see an America of 2076 as an irrelevant nation that has passed the torch of global leadership to another country, but as a nation renewed and convicted in its role as a global leader. Let us not be naïve to the great challenges our nation faces. Our nation is hurting and her people are shouldering the hurt. Families are having to make tough choices, cut out any expenses that are not completely essential, hold on to their jobs, or begin the most arduous task of finding a job. Worst of all, our nation’s children and their children are already mired in debt after years of government spending. Some may ask: “Where is the Spirit of 1776? Where is our nation going?” I would answer that the Spirit of 1776 is here: it’s in the coffee shops and diners, it’s in the dinnertime conversations of families, it’s in the ranches and farms of rural America, in our servicemen and women, and in the pastors writing their sermon for their Sunday service. In short, it’s in all Americans who love and care for our republic. The way this spirit will manifest and direct our people will determine 2076. Let us not forget the absolute providence that has guided our nation since its conception. Let us take solace in the fact that this spirit in conjunction with providence has and will always lead to miraculous events and glorious beginnings. It is why I am convinced that even though my generation will face the greatest challenges we have witnessed since World War II; we will also see our greatest triumphs. But let’s face it. In the end, we as an Institute can only do so much. To be clear, we live in a fallen world and in a nation in the context of this fallenness. The only salvific and redemptive element of our society is the church. That is why I exhort each and everyone of you to keep doing what you’re doing. Without it, our efforts lose meaning. God Bless you and let us pray that God continues to bless our great nation.

A support group for families of US armed forces killed on duty will benefit from ticket sales and auction proceeds at Tribute to the Troops with Sarah Palin, May 2 at Colorado Christian University.  All revenue from the event is being donated to TAPS, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors. Costs will be covered out of CCU's budget, with special help from friends of the Centennial Institute. The charity auction features a Rockies baseball game with Dan Caplis of KHOW Radio, golf at the exclusive Sanctuary course with Mike Rosen of KOA Radio, and a fishing excursion in Summit County with Medal of Honor winner Drew Dix.  Details on the auction are here: palin auction flyer 0428.pdf (432.65 kb) To donate directly to Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, go to www.TAPS.org.  

I am blessed to be in Colorado but I am most blessed because I have the absolute honor of calling myself an American. My mother and father are my inspiration. My father dreamt of coming to America and conferred with his family about his desire. His sister agreed to sell her gold to purchase a ticket for the young couple to come to America in addition to some spending money - -one hundred dollars. They started their life in the mire of desperation and poverty in one room of a terrible apartment in Brooklyn, New York City, where I was born. Editor: Karthik Venkatraj is completing a John Jay Fellowship, a postgraduate year helping prepare young Americans for public service on biblical foundations, in the tradition of our nation's first Chief Justice and a co-author of the Federalist Papers, John Jay.  We're delighted that he will be interning with us at Centennial Institute this semester and contributing frequently to '76 Blog.  This post responds to my request for Karthik to introduce himself to our readers - John Andrews Eventually, my father found a job in the subways of New York City ferrying x-rays between hospitals and my mother found a job as a nurse’s aide in a busy Manhattan hospital. Ten years later, my father would be graduating from New York University as a PhD in Molecular Biology and my mother would be finishing her M.D. and working at the Oncology Ward in Albert Einstein Hospital.  This position was a far cry from their struggle to make ends meet each month as well as raise a child. Indeed, I can distinctly remember the culmination of a month’s paycheck in a splurge of eight dollars at a run-down Chinese buffet in Brooklyn. Their narrative can be found in no other nation, their ability to succeed can be predicated on no other ideals than those of America. My parents ensured their children were cognizant of their narrative and of the greatness that is our nation; thus, it shouldn’t have been too much of a surprise when I raised my right hand to pledge defend our nation against all enemies. In response to the attacks of September 11th, I decided to enlist in the Army National Guard and soon entered the ROTC program at Texas A&M University’s Corps of Cadets in addition to serving within the Texas Army National Guard Armor Squadron. In five years, I would be appointed to serve within the Pentagon under the Bush Administration, travel on a diplomatic mission with the Army to my parent’s homeland of India, study Arabic with the Army in the foothills of the Atlas mountains, serve as an appointee to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, and graduate as one of two distinguished military graduates from the largest commissioning program in the nation outside of the service academies. Once again, this narrative would be possible in no other country, within the context of any other ideals than that of our nation. But the ideals that informed and propelled my narrative and that of my parents were not based in the progressive thought dominating our nation’s modern political landscape but hearkens to those debates in the Continental Congress of Philadelphia, in the impassioned petitions of John Jay, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison within the Federalist Papers, within the Declaration of Independence, and within the Constitution of 1787. And that is why I am here at Centennial Institute, because I want a better nation for my children and their children, a nation with values and a solid moral compass. I am here because I am convicted that it is the duty of all Americans to preserve our republic and I am very concerned that we are losing that duty. I, like most Americans, do not want to see an America of 2076 as an irrelevant nation that has passed the torch of global leadership to another country but as a nation renewed and convicted in its role as a global leader. Above all, I am a concerned American who wants to foster a revival of the Spirit of 1776 in our nation - - a spirit that created what is now known as the greatest experiment that the world has ever witnessed, that of our democracy. Let us not be naïve to see that our nation has great challenges ahead of her; an enormous deficit that seems insurmountable, a war on multiple fronts with a virulent and violent enemy, failing schools struggling to compete on a global scale, a sluggish economy as well as a rising unemployment rate, a society mired in a degradation of traditional values, and a government unresponsive to common sense approaches. I will stop here because our role is not to merely articulate a litany of issues but to find solutions to them. Indeed, the state of our democracy is predicated on our search. Some may ask: “Where is the Spirit of 1776? Where is our nation going?”  I would answer that the Spirit of 1776 is here: it’s in the coffee shops and diners, it’s in dinnertime conversations of families, it’s in the workers of a coal mine punching in, it’s in the ranches and farms of rural America, in the junior baseball leagues, in our servicemen and women, in the pastors writing their sermon for their Sunday service. In short, the Spirit is in you, it’s in all Americans who love and care for our republic. The way this spirit will manifest and direct our people will determine 2076. Let us not forget the absolute providence that has guided our nation since its conception and to this point in our nation’s history. Let us take solace in the fact that this spirit, properly guided and convicted, in conjunction with providence has and will always lead to miraculous events and glorious beginnings. My name is Karthik Venkatraj and I am a concerned American, analyzing and revering our past but looking at our future. I take solace in the fact that there are millions of Americans like me, who want America to not only see another centennial but to see its best centennial ever. I believe in the inherent goodness and exceptionalism of our nation and its people and I look forward to our progression towards a better America together. As we say in the military, it’s something worth fighting for. Your fellow patriot,Karthik    

Former Colorado Education Commissioner William Moloney and former Heritage Foundation education analyst Krista Kafer, both now serving as Centennial Institute Fellows, are featured on Issue Monday, Jan. 31 at 7pm at the CCU Beckman Center, with a briefing on the institute's latest policy paper, "Much Better Schools on Much Lower Budgets."  All are welcome at no charge, but reservations are required.  Send your name and the number in your party to Centennial@ccu.edu.

National Journal Online today asked contributors to its Education Experts Blog for ideas on what 2011 may hold in school reform, since divided government in Washington means "it's likely that any changes on the federal level will be incremental. That means it's up to the folks at the local level--the school boards, the superintendents, and the unions--to turn around the failing schools and lift up the ones languishing in the middle." Colorado's Bob Schaffer, one of the experts surveyed, posted this response with praise for Centennial Institute's recent policy brief on "Much Better Schools on Much Lower Budgets." The Best Answers Are Indeed LocalBob SchafferChairman, Colorado State Board of Education, and former U.S. Congressman There’s certainly nothing good about a flat economy. There’s even less that’s positive about the precarious actions our federal government has tripped through over the past three years that have made matters worse. Economic uncertainty, however, should be embraced by school leaders as good enough a reason as any to insist upon structural reforms to improve education systems. Treating teachers like real professionals instead of union workers comes to mind. So does, applying more market forces to demand quality improvement. It’s always a good time to treat more parents like customers and children like real Americans. The most pragmatic answers about school improvement are indeed local in nature. Solutions that fail to acknowledge the Constitution’s placement of these matters squarely within the jurisdiction of the states, local communities and ultimately parents, are European-style fads that rarely work very well and never work for long. Former Commissioner of Education for Colorado, Dr. Bill Moloney recently released an uplifting issue brief suggesting we can achieve “better schools on lower budgets.” Produced for the Denver-based Centennial Institute, Moloney’s paper makes a sobering analysis of situations in Colorado that are similar to those of other states. In his report (CLICK HERE), he makes a compelling case for questioning contemporary fads that have sidetracked America’s public schools, for discarding many of them and for abandoning academic distractions that tend to divert precious classrooms resources. For example, class-size reduction has shown little beneficial impact, he asserts, certainly not for the money. Dr. Moloney’s report is worth a read by anyone serious about education policy, reform and management. Attention to what states and school districts can actually do offers the promise of yielding far greater practical results than does the current federal inclination to hurl larger grenades of yet-to-be-printed cash in the general direction of the country’s most serious academic crisis points. Dr. Moloney is right when he points out, “nothing is beyond our reach, if we care enough.”  

Next Monday, Dec. 13, Centennial Institute will assist President Bill Armstrong in welcoming Gov. Bill Ritter for a return visit to the CCU campus.  Ritter spoke here during his campaign for governor in 2006.  He joins us again during his final month in office *** Scroll down for a complete calendar of events, December 2010 to April 2011 *** for a noontime talk in the CCU Events Center to review the accomplishments, challenges, and lessons of the past four years.  Anyone may attend, but you will need a reservation.  Email us with your name and the number in your party at Centennial@ccu.edu. A month from now, Centennial will start the New Year of 2011 with a bang on Wednesday, Jan. 12, when advocates from the left and right face off in a debate on immigration policy.  Rosemary Jenks of Numbers USA and former state Sen. David Schultheis will make the conservative case.  Daniel Carroll Rodas of Denver Seminary and state Sen. Lucia Guzman will make the liberal case. The debate will be held just off the CCU campus at Lakewood Cultural Center, 470 S. Allison Parkway, 7pm on Jan. 12.  Once again, anyone may attend, but you will need a reservation.  Email us with your name and the number in your party at Centennial@ccu.edu. Click for more on the immigration debate: Immigration Debate Jan. 12 And scroll down for our full calendar of Winter-Spring 2011 events.  You are always welcome! CENTENNIAL INSTITUTEEvents, Winter 2010-2011----------------------------------------Monday, December 13, 12 noonCCU Events CenterHonored Guest: Gov. Bill Ritter“A Vision for Colorado’s Future”------------------------------------------Wednesday, January 12, 7pmLakewood Cultural CenterImmigration Debate: “Which Way America?”Rosemary Jenks & David Schultheisvs. Daniel Carroll & Lucia Guzman-----------------------------------------(Invitation Only)Friday, January 21, 730amBusiness Council Breakfast“Making Poor Nations Rich”Dr. Benjamin Powell----------------------------------------  Thursday, February 10, 730amDowntown Policy Breakfast“New Hope for the Inner City”Dr. Robert Woodson----------------------------------------  (Invitation Only)Friday, February 18, 730amBusiness Council Breakfast“Will Obamacare Survive?”Dr. Sally Pipes----------------------------------------Monday, February 28, 7pmCCU Beckman CenterIssue Monday: “Better Schools on Lower Budgets”William Moloney & Krista Kafer----------------------------------------(Invitation Only)Friday, March 18, 730amBusiness Council Breakfast “Free Speech & Campaign Finance”Dr. Bradley Smith-----------------------------------------(Invitation Only)Friday, April 15, 730amBusiness Council Breakfast “Ten Books that Worsened the World”Dr. Benjamin Wiker-----------------------------------------Thursday, April 21, 7pmCCU Music CenterForeign Policy Debate:“United Nations Pro & Con”Presenters TBA------------------------------------------AND BACK BY POPULAR DEMANDFriday, July 29 – Sunday, July 31Denver Marriott City CenterWestern Conservative Summit 2011Presenters & Pricing TBASee WesternConservativeSummit.com------------------------------------------Admission Free except where noted Reservations RequiredReserve at Centennial@ccu.edu  Or Call 303.963.3424John Andrews, Director