Tell a lie make it a big lie then keep repeating the lie.&"

Case Study in Nazi Journalism 101 By Ken Mercer SBOE District 5 Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas Adolf Hitler & Joseph Goebbels the Nazi Reich Minister of Propaganda & National Enlightenment had power over all German press radio cinema & theatre. They used a method of political propaganda that can best be described as:

1. Tell a lie
2. Make it a big lie and
3. Keep repeating that lie until it is perceived as truth.

This is the same method used by current Communist dictators; and unfortunately we saw this method used in our own state of Texas this year.     In March of 2010 leftist groups in Austin coupled with their political handmaidens (the editorial boards) began a propaganda campaign stating that conservatives on the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) erased or excluded Thomas Jefferson from the new Social Studies  standards. It was a lie a big lie; and it was repeated over and over. Consistent with my previous fours years on the SBOE the major editorial boards of my district (Austin American-Statesman and the San Antonio Express-News) never called me as their local SBOE member for a verification of the facts. SBOE Chairman Gail Lowe (R-Lampasas) immediately submitted a statewide rebuttal where she strongly emphasized: Apart from Thomas Jefferson the only historical figure with more emphasis in the Texas Essential Knowledge & Skills standards is George Washington. Chairman Lowe concluded her statement: To say the State Board of Education has excluded Thomas Jefferson from the curriculum framework is irresponsible and untruthful. Even though Gail Lowe is the chair of the SBOE a Board that makes important decisions affecting 4.8 million public school children and millions of educators the major newspapers in Texas were so biased they did not even publish her op-ed.  The national media feeding off the liberal Texas media also began to spread the lie.  Texas became a laughing stock because after hearing the lies repeated so many times Americans began to believe that the SBOE had indeed deleted Thomas Jefferson from the Social Studies standards. The Social Studies TEKS posted online for the entire world to see prove that the far-left propaganda machine was wrong:   http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index2.aspx?id=3643 For example the conservatives on the SBOE successfully implemented a newly required Celebrate Freedom Week" where all twelve grades are to study the authorship purpose and impact of the Declaration of Independence.  Our new Social Studies standards explicitly state:

The study of the Declaration of Independence must include the study of the relationship of the ideas expressed in that document to subsequent American history including the relationship of its ideas to the rich diversity of our people as a nation of immigrants the American Revolution the formulation of the U.S. Constitution and the abolitionist movement which led to the Emancipation Proclamation and the womens suffrage movement.

Must we remind the liberal editorial boards that the author of our Declaration of Independence is a man named Thomas Jefferson?  Students obviously cannot study one without studying the other! The SBOE also added a brand new standard requiring that during Celebrate Freedom Week each school district shall require that students in Grades 3-12 study and recite the following text:

We hold these Truths to be self-evident that all Men are created equal that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness--That to secure these Rights Governments are instituted among Men deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed.

Students will identify and discuss how the actions of U.S. citizens and the local state and federal governments have either met or failed to meet the ideals espoused in the founding documents. Fifth-grade students will study Thomas Jefferson and his contributions during the American Revolution. Eighth-grade students will learn about the history of the United States from the early Colonial Period through Reconstruction including the study of Thomas Jefferson and the contributions he made to our nation. High school students who take U.S. Government will identify the contributions of the political philosophies of the Founding Fathers on the development of our Constitution and government.  Included in that list of patriotic heroes is the author of our Declaration of Independence Thomas Jefferson; and that course is required for high-school graduation in Texas. In fact if the editorial boards had done a simple online word search in the new 2010 Texas Social Studies standards they would have found that Celebrate Freedom Week alone will add more than 23 times that Jefferson will be studied in Grades 3-12. Nazi Propaganda 101 begins with telling a lie a big lie such as Conservatives Erase Thomas Jefferson from American History."  The propaganda machine then repeated that lie until it was perceived by many Americans as the truth. Now the far left is repeating similar lies before the November 2 2010 General Election when I am up for re-election to the SBOE. My friends we have been lied to by the leftist media and editorial boards repeatedly. Lets not let them influence us again. It is past time to Take America Back." Ken Mercer (R-Bexar County) represents 1.5 million Texans State Board of Education covering 12 counties including: Blanco Burnet Caldwell Comal Gillespie Guadalupe Hays Kendall Llano and parts of Bell Bexar and Travis Counties.