Texas Home School Coalition

Political Action Committee

Celebrating over 2 decades of political action

to protect and promote home education in Texas!

A Critical Election Message from Tim Lambert

THSC PAC 2008 General Election Endorsements

This fall will mark yet another battle in the ongoing culture war that has been raging in our country for several decades.  One of the battlefronts in that war is the one involving parental rights, especially those involving the right to direct the education and upbringing of their children-the most common expression of which is home schooling. 

I was reminded of this a couple of years ago as I watched the movie, Flags of our Fathers, which was based on the book by the same title.  The story was written by the son of one of the men who was photographed raising the flag during the World War II battle of Iwo Jima.  As this son researched the story, he discovered that most of the men in that picture had been killed in later battles on that island.  The three men who were hailed as heroes did not consider themselves to be so.  In fact, they agonized over their comrades whom they had been forced to leave on the battlefield while they were ordered to lead a public relations effort to support the war effort back in the U.S. 

In the course of the story, we learn that all of these men had their shortcomings and that they were very uncomfortable with the roles in which they had been placed.  Yet they had been given that important job because the country had grown tired of war, and people were questioning whether the U.S. could win the war.  In fact, the photo of the raising of the flag on Iwo Jima gave hope to the entire country that not only could the U.S. win that war, but that we were doing so.  In that time of doubt and faltering support for that brutal and critical war for freedom, these unlikely men were appointed to a task that they did not choose and did not want-to inspire their fellow citizens to support the war effort financially and otherwise. 

I left the theatre with a sense of history and the realization that in every generation there are wars to be fought in which the outcomes are uncertain and the stakes are high.  There are those who argue that the battle for home school freedom is over, and political action either is not worth the effort or does not make a difference.  Winston Churchill comes to mind as such a leader whose challenge to prepare for war was rejected as fear-mongering and extremism until his country finally entered the war and had to fight for its very survival.  In the darkest days of the modern history of the British Empire, he gave his most famous speeches, leading the British people by example and proclaiming that they would fight in the air, at sea, and on land and that they would never, never, never give up. 

The comparisons to our day seem obvious to me.  Our country is still at war against a difficult enemy in foreign lands, and there is historic uncertainty with regard to some major financial institutions.  The uncertainties in the home school community are also on the rise across the country as we see state governments all over the country begin to seek reversals of the trend of the past twenty-five years allowing more and more freedom for home school families. 

For over twenty-five years Texas home school parents have fought in the courts, rallied in Austin, and worked for or against certain candidates in order to garner the freedom to teach their children in the manner they wished, using the curriculum of their choice, and without the interference of local or state officials.  While we have had great success in that area, today we are fighting to restore parental rights in Texas, which have been eroded resulting in hundreds of fit parents being taken to court by grandparents who disagree with decisions made concerning the parents' children.  You can read an in-depth discussion of this issue on the THSC PAC Web site.  We also continue to address the issue of out-of-control CPS workers against innocent families, which also needs to be addressed with legislation. 

Today virtually no candidate will say that he is opposed to home schooling, but many who claim they are supportive of home schooling have refused to respond to THSC PAC's questionnaire, and some who have responded will not state opposition to ANY regulation of home schooling.  Others of our friends are being challenged in the general election and face uncertain outcomes.  THSC PAC has tried to sound the alarm and rally our troops to support candidates who will defend our freedom in the Texas legislature; the response has sometimes been disappointing. 

Walk campaigns for these candidates have been poorly attended, and home schoolers have been "too busy" to help many of these candidates.  I am gravely concerned that we could face more losses from the ranks of conservative, home school heroes in the Texas legislature who could be replaced by those who, when the battle for our freedom is engaged in the next legislative session, will respond to the teachers unions instead of home school parents.  When that happens, it will be too late to take action; and our freedom will once again be at risk, because we were too busy and unwilling to participate in the grassroots efforts during the campaign season to defend our friends and oppose those who would take away our freedom. 

We are entering the last weeks of the campaign, and the outcome of many races will be decided by the work of volunteers who go door-to-door, make phone calls, and work the polls on Election Day.  The deadline to register to vote is October 6th, 2008.  Please remind your friends, relatives, and coworkers, and encourage them to register.  If you have any questions about Texas Election procedure, please visit the Secretary of State's Voter Information page. 

I implore you to make this a time during which you focus on the required course of study of good citizenship, and you spend all the time that your family can possibly afford in working for candidates who are friends of home educators.  I beg you to see this effort not only as an educational opportunity for your children but also as an investment in our freedom to teach our children at home.  This will be an investment not only for our children, but for future generations as well. 

Please do not mistake this message as an effort to move you to action for partisan purposes.  If candidates represented by teachers' unions are successful in their efforts this fall against more of our friends in the Texas legislature, these unions will be emboldened to target more home school heroes.  We must not make the mistake made in the 1930s by those who sought "peace in our time" instead of preparing for war and opposing those who were incrementally taking over countries and enslaving peoples.  Now is the time to take action-before our losses escalate, before we are weakened to the place that we can no longer defend our freedom, and before our supporters are in the minority.

Home school volunteers could very well make the difference between the victories and defeats of candidates in close races.  If you live close to any of the candidates we have endorsed, please work to help them win so they can continue to protect our freedom.  Please review the candidates that have been endorsed by THSC PAC.  Choose one that is near you and volunteer your time to help him or her in this last week. 

Finally, we need your help financially to get this message out to the home school community and to support the candidates that we have endorsed.  If you could support us with a contribution to THSC PAC, it would be a great help in electing officials that will aid us in restoring parental rights in Texas and protecting our home school freedom.  You can make a contribution online.  When you get to the section with a blank for special instructions, type "PAC contribution." 

Please join us this fall in making a difference in these campaigns for our friends and for freedom for home schoolers in Texas.

God bless you!!

In your service and His,

Tim Lambert

THSC PAC Chairman