Read widely. Think carefully. And sift everything through your experience and common sense, and you will come closer to the truth.
JVF
The preamble to the Constitution lists the principal roles of government: “In order to establish a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty. . .”
To achieve these goals, it is “self-evident” that citizens must be protected from criminals, borders and property should be secure and laws obeyed. Additionally, the collective efforts of the people through the government should be to provide roads, energy, and education for children.
I attended K-12 in public schools. This basic education prepared me for college and then medical school at UT Memphis for my career choice. But most importantly, my basic education afforded me the skills for a lifetime of learning. Hopefully, one never stops learning.
Entropy is a principle of physics that states all systems lose energy over time. A simple example is a top, which you wind up and start spinning. But eventually it winds down and falls over. The Saturday Night Live exercise duo Hans and Franz understood entropy, vowing to “Pump you up!”
All systems in the universe must have energy constantly added. The possible exception to that is the constant motion of the subatomic quantum world from the original creation … but I won’t digress.
All my life, I have worked to further my education and understanding. But none of my education prepared me for stump grinding or burying a horse.
I’ve felled a lot of trees on our wooded property, but I’ve never needed to remove a stump. Ordinarily, I just move on and leave the stump to rot over time. But that was not possible, because after cutting a tree, the stump remained where we are building a shed. And all my efforts of chopping, severing roots, and even attempting to pull the remaining stump with my John Deere tractor were unsuccessful. That’s when Benny of “Stumped? Professional Stump Grinding” educated me on the fine art of stump grinding using professional equipment and services.
I love my two daughters, one of whom lives next to us on our small farm property in the UT Hospital area. My Knoxville daughter loves horses; me not so much. Unfortunately, one of her horses was quite old and failing, and recently died. Aside from the sadness, the problem was burying a 1,200-pound horse in South Knoxville’s rocky and clay-infused ground.
Fortunately, stump grinder Benny had a grandson who is a skilled backhoe operator. So, I rented a backhoe and trailered it to my farm, where I met “Boom Boom,” who dug the massive hole for our just departed Diva. It required a team effort to pull the horse to the hole with my tractor and push Diva into her final resting place in the midst of a thunderstorm and a southern gully washer.
What an afternoon! (I’ll wager that my readers find this story more educational and entertaining than some dry medical topic.)
I believe future historians will refer to our time as the Information Age. We have at our fingertips the world’s knowledge. We no longer have to go to the library, check out books or go to the information librarian to find answers. We now can even ask Siri or Google or Grok to further our education.
Many famous people, like Abraham Lincoln, were autodidactic (self-taught). I am sure Abe had some basic formal education, but he largely educated himself, as did Ben Franklin. Perhaps we moderns, to a certain extent, can claim the same. My formal education was science-based. But I have studied the humanities (history, art, literature, language, philosophy) over the last half of my life.
Several years ago, I read “What Paul Meant” by classicist, historian and Christian author Garry Wills. Wills educated me about the Greek word “pistis,” which in scripture can contextually mean either faith or trust. As a Christian, I have faith because I trust in Jesus and his message. By analogy, I have faith in the results of a properly done scientific study because I trust the scientific method of analysis.
And this brings me to my final point on the topic of education. We have an important primary and general election on August 6 (early voting July 17 – August 1) and I believe that it is the responsibility of citizens to educate themselves on who is running and their positions on issues. Furthermore, I believe it is imperative that you vote because low turnout has helped actual communists to be elected.
Yes, I know it is sometimes difficult to be educated because of information and misinformation. If I’m conflicted, I ask others whose opinions I trust. And if you apply the Ferguson strategy at the top of this essay, you will come closer to the truth.
As examples, my research revealed that Knox County Democrat mayoral candidate Beau Hawk journeyed to Venezuela six years ago to march in support of the communist ruler Nicolas Maduro. His support of Maduro cannot be chalked up to youthful naïveté. Michaela Barnett, running unopposed in the Democratic primary, will challenge Tim Burchett for the District 2 House of Representatives in November. She opposed DOGE, the One Big Beautiful Bill and its tax cuts, she opposes the war that defanged the terrorist and apocalyptic Iran, and she ludicrously alleges that Trump is destroying the Constitution.
You don’t have to trust my research; do your own. But it’s time to step up and resist socialists, communists and leftists who openly vow to destroy our constitutional republic. I challenge you to read the party platform of the Democratic Socialists of America.
We have all seen what is happening in New York City: homeless encampments, crime, buildings crumbling, rats, bed bugs and wealthy taxpayers leaving along with $11 billion in tax revenue. Now there is an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in Mamdani’s socialist utopia. I want none of that in Knoxville.
In a recent essay, I admitted voting for Democrats in the past. But the John F. Kennedy and Phil Bredesen Democrats no longer exist. The ideology, power and energy of the Democratic Party are with the leftists who now control the party. And until Democrats abandon antisemitism, communists and socialists, I will vote against anyone with a D after their name. In reality, you are what you vote for.
