I was sitting in church last week in my normal spot, second from the back row because I’m not a back bencher. You cannot avoid overhearing what people around you are saying when you are sitting in church.
There was a group of older ladies talking about their dismay and disappointment with the way kids are these days but how happy they were knowing that their children were raised in the church so they weren’t “that way”.
I couldn’t help but speculate how their kids were. But then it occurred to me that even though their kids were raised in the church, they were citizens of the world and away from the church, their kids had to compete with other kids who didn’t have the benefit of Christian teaching. And even then, temptations of the world are the biggest magnet for pulling kids raised in the church away and into the secular world. That learning the lessons in Sunday School might expose you to God’s messages, but that alone didn’t prevent other “preachers” from offering competing ideas.
So who are those other preachers? Well, our public school system is the place we send our kids to learn. So the preachers who are in the pulpit most of your kid’s life are teachers in whatever school your kids attend. If your kids go to Sunday School on Sunday then go to public schools Monday through Friday, which one do you think will have the greater influence?
That’s right, the teachers in the public schools have your kid’s attention five or six or seven hours during the day, five days per week. Under ideal circumstances, those teachers are exposing the class to Reading, Writing and Arithmetic along with Science, History and Social Studies. If you teach a kid to read, that child can accomplish almost anything. If you can’t read, you will be challenged to learn any of the other essentials. If you can read, you can teach yourself almost anything. If the public school system has one mission, it’s to teach kids to read. And yet, the failure rate for elementary school age children in learning to read has never been higher than today.
This little rant is one I often land on. If education has one vital function, it’s to teach reading and reading is the heart of our body of learning. Give a kid a weak heart and he will be handicapped the rest of his life.
Because I am a pundit, I wanted to insert myself into that conversation in church, but I did not. I didn’t have to bite my tongue, I just sat there silently.
Kids raised in the church on Sunday and in a Christian school during the week have a better chance of being a competent reader than kids in public schools because in my view, if you can’t read, you can’t read your Bible. But being in a Christian school doesn’t guarantee a Christian education.
Who makes the decision about who is teaching our kids and what they are being taught matters. The people in decision making positions decide who and what will be taught. So in your circle of influence, who is making those decisions? Do you know the names of your school board members? Do you know any of them personally? How about the principal at your kid’s elementary school? How about your kid’s teacher?
You put your kids into the care of these people and you probably don’t know enough about them to say with confidence they are teaching my kids the things they will need to know to be successful in the world or conversely, that they are not teaching your kids things that will undermine the values you think are important in your family.
I have to admit, today, I do not know the names of the school board members in our school district. My daughter and her kids are all well past public school age. I will say that when they were in school I did know most of the people in those positions.
Not everyone knows that typically, your public school district is the largest employer and business entity in your community.
When I shot my mouth off in 1987 and was critical of the city, I ran for city council because I thought my ideas made more sense than the ones I saw coming out of city hall. It could just as easily been a run for the school board.
I saw my local government heading in the wrong direction and rather than staying quiet, I spoke up and ran for office. I was advised by people I respect to stay quiet because I was in business in town. I answered with a typical STEVE HAS SOMETHING TO SAY answer. “The reason we are in this pickle today is because we stayed quiet and the ones now making the decisions have their own agenda.”
And that is my core message in everything I write about. The decisions that affect every aspect of our lives are made by the people at the table or the ones out in front. From 1987 until 2021, I served in some capacity governing the city of Snohomish Washington. Not because I they couldn’t get someone else to do it, but because the other people wanting the job had a different agenda than mine.
I put my business and my family at risk because I believed serving is our obligation and because a number of the other people wanting the jobs believed in different principles.
I recently wrote about Capitalism vs Progressivism. I am the Capitalist, they are the Progressives. A city’s first obligation is public safety. If people are not safe, what other function can a city provide that makes living there worth the risk? For all my years in government, I prioritized economic development because I understood that services like public safety (cops and firefighters) are paid for with taxes and in our state, sales taxes coming to the city are the life blood of spending. Are you with me? I’m the Capitalist on the council. I’m focused on making money for the city. Many of my council colleagues were the Progressives. All they could care about was how to spend the money. Sadly today, nearly all the council members are Progressives.
I ran for office because I thought, If not me, then who? Remember, I’m a near back bencher so that little pearl resonated with me. Send me Lord.
The most impactful lesson I learned during my thirty-four years of public service was the importance of showing up, to serve, to criticize and offer alternatives or to support the ones that do.
I started this essay today talking about learning to read and reading our Bibles and who is teaching our kids. If I had been motivated to run for school board rather than city council, my life would be different today and my school district would be different as well. The people sitting in those school board seats have a lot to do with what your kids are taught and what they are not taught. The quality of education in our country is determined by the ones who show up; to run for school board, to serve in the PTA to serve as a volunteer or teacher’s aid. Multiply that obligation by the number of school districts in the state or the country and you will see the scope of the job. But the lesson wasn’t a generic who, it was “will it be YOU?”
I don’t want to be too churchy in this, but one of every pastor’s core messages is “Nobody can do everything, but Everybody can do something.” There is an obligation to serve in some capacity in our churches, our schools, our cities, counties and states. Nobody is asking you to serve thirty-four years like I did, but you should do your compulsory duty to serve for a few years, even if it’s only during the years when your own kids are in school.
The decisions about what your kids are being taught are made by people who believe things differently than you do. Are you really surprised when you find out that the kids can’t read, or write, or do arithmetic? When I was in the restaurant business, I added a simple third grade math test to every job application I passed out to kids applying for work in my restaurant. If they couldn’t do third grade math as seventeen year old juniors in high school, I couldn’t hire them. My employees needed to know how to read and do simple math. And sadly, there were a disappointing number of kids who couldn’t fill out either side of the application.
The ones that showed up made the decisions about which kids were left behind. Or which ones were dragged along even though they couldn’t read.
Our country today is over run by almost fifty years of “graduates” from the public education system that cannot read or do simple math. Our education system is cranking out millions of kids heading off to college that cannot read, write a complete sentence or work a simple logic problem.
We get what we settle for. I was never willing to settle for less because that was all the system required.
If you wonder how you kid will fare in the world with the poor quality of her education, ask yourself one question, “What was MY contribution to a successful outcome for my child?”
Our school systems are screwed because we left the decisions to other people that showed up. Our city governments, county governments, state governments and our federal government are screwed up because most of us left the decisions to other people who showed up and they got their way and your kids got shafted.
We as a people don’t even bother to participate at the level of voting for the candidates who run for office. You don’t have to commit for four years, you just have to show up on election day and you won’t even do that.
Those ladies in that group at church don’t realize the ripples on the pools of their lives have such profound effects on their own kids and the others. We get what we deserve if we don’t bother to serve.
Get off your butts and pitch in doing something for the betterment of your community. Not only will it serve the now, it will serve the future by modeling positive behavior for your kids who are more likely to serve if they have a parent who served.
I actually wrote a book about public service and why some serve and others do not. It will be coming out here on my Substack in 2027.
I also have an essay I’m writing about how important education and participation in the system protect and promote liberty and freedom in America.
FIND ME FOR LONG FORM PUNDITRY AT SUBSTACK AS WELL http://www.theteapartypundit.substack.com/
No Loss for Words 
The Freedom to Stand for Something
by Steve DanaTHERE IS A QUIET SHIFT TAKING PLACE IN OUR COUNTRY
It doesn’t arrive with headlines or breaking news. It doesn’t come with sirens or speeches. It shows up in smaller ways—in how we speak to one another, in how we honor our commitments, in how we think about right and wrong.
It shows up in what we are willing to tolerate. And perhaps more importantly… in what we are no longer willing to stand for.
So let me ask a simple question. “What happens to a free society when its people no longer believe in the value of self-restraint?”
A SYSTEM BUILT ON CHARACTER
When the founders designed this country, they did something remarkable. They created a system of government built not on control, but on trust. But that trust was not blind. It rested on an assumption—one so obvious to them they didn’t feel the need to spell it out in detail. They assumed the people would be guided by a moral compass.
Not because the government forced them to be. But because they believed it was the right way to live.
They had seen the alternative. They understood that when people cannot govern themselves, someone else eventually steps in to do it for them. And that someone else is rarely gentle.
NO STATE RELIGION… BUT NOT A MORAL VACUUM
There is something else the founders understood, and it is often misunderstood today. They rejected the idea of a state religion. But they did not reject the importance of religion itself. In fact, they believed just the opposite.
They believed faith—particularly the moral teachings that had shaped their culture—was too important to be controlled by government. So, they made a deliberate choice: They would separate church from state… But they would not separate morality from society.
They assumed that the ethical framework shaped largely by the Christian tradition would continue to live in the people—in their homes, in their communities, and in their daily decisions. Government would not enforce it. The people would carry it.
That was the design.
FREEDOM REQUIRES SOMETHING FROM US
We like to talk about freedom as if it is something we possess. Something we inherited. Something we can hold onto simply by defending it from outside threats. But freedom is not self-sustaining. It requires something from us. It requires discipline. It requires restraint. It requires millions of quiet decisions made every day by ordinary people:
These are not acts of government. They are acts of character. And without them, no system—no matter how well designed—can endure.
THE DRIFT WE ARE EXPERIENCING
Today, we are watching what happens when that foundation begins to weaken. We are more connected than ever before, yet we trust each other less. We have more laws than any generation in history, yet compliance feels increasingly optional. We talk constantly about rights, but far less about responsibility. And when something goes wrong, we are more likely to ask: “Can I get away with it?” Rather than: “Is it right?”
That is not a small shift. It is a fundamental one. Because when internal restraint declines, external control begins to rise.
Not because it is desired—but because something must replace what has been lost.
THE WRONG CONVERSATION
In times like these, we are tempted to look outward. To blame institutions. To blame leaders. To blame other cultures or belief systems.
And while there are certainly real challenges in the world around us, that is not where this story begins. A society does not lose its moral footing because of outsiders. It loses it when those inside no longer believe in what they once stood for. That is the harder truth. And it is the one we must face if we are serious about preserving what we have been given.
STANDING FOR SOMETHING – NOT JUST AGAINST SOMETHING
We are very good these days at telling each other what we oppose. We argue. We criticize. We dismantle. But we are less certain about what we are building. And that is where the danger lies. Because if we do not stand for something positive, something enduring, something rooted in principle, something else will fill the void. Something louder. Something more rigid. Something less forgiving.
History has shown us that again and again.
EDUCATION: WHERE THE FUTURE IS DECIDED
If a moral and ethical society is not enforced by government… then where does it come from? The answer is simple. It is taught. It is passed down. It is reinforced over time.
And that makes education—not just schooling, but education in the broadest sense, the most important institution in a free society. Because every generation must be taught what the previous generation believed. Not forced. Not coerced. But taught.
We do not need to hand every child a Bible and require belief. That was never the model. But we do need to teach the lessons that sustained a free people:
These are not just religious ideas. They are civilizational ones. And if we stop teaching them, we should not be surprised when they disappear.
A SOCIETY THAT TEACHES NOTHING, STANDS FOR NOTHING
We have, in many ways, stepped back from teaching moral clarity. Partly out of a desire to avoid offense. Partly out of a belief that values should be entirely personal. But the result is not neutrality, it is confusion. And confusion does not build strong societies. It weakens them.
Because when young people are not given a framework for understanding right and wrong, they will live in a value-free world. They will adopt whatever framework is loudest, most persuasive, or most convenient. And that framework may not support the kind of society we hope to sustain.
THIS IS NOT ABOUT CONTROL
Let’s be clear about something. Teaching moral and ethical behavior is not about control. It is not about forcing belief. It is not about placing a burden on the individual. It is about preserving the very thing that makes freedom possible.
Because when people choose to live by a moral code, they reduce the need for external control. They make room for freedom. They create trust. They build stability.
That is not oppression. That is the foundation of a healthy society.
THE CHOICE BEFORE US
We are at a point in time where we have a choice. We can continue down the path of moral uncertainty, where everything is negotiable and nothing is anchored. Or we can make a conscious decision to stand for something.
To teach it. To model it. To live it.
Not because we are forced to. But because we believe it is right.
THE STANDARD WE SET
In the end, the question is not whether our system still works. It is whether we are willing to meet the standard it requires. A moral and ethical society cannot be legislated into existence. It must be chosen. Individually. Daily. Imperfectly, Yes—but sincerely.
AND THAT IS THE REAL TEST
We can debate policy. We can argue about culture. We can analyze trends and point to problems. But none of it will matter if we lose sight of the foundation beneath it all. A free society does not survive because it is protected. It survives because it is practiced, every day. By people who understand that freedom is not the absence of restraint… But the ability to choose what is right.
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