The Latest Thievery: Best Friends

by Jonah Goldberg - June 23rd, 2010 - Townhall.com

There's a great moment in the 1993 movie "Searching for Bobby Fischer." Ben Kingsley plays a coach for a 7-year-old chess prodigy named Josh. Kingsley wants the boy to stop playing chess in the park and devote himself completely to Kingsley's tutelage. Josh's mother doesn't like the idea, because she's a jealous guardian of her son's childhood. "Not playing in the park would kill him. He loves it."

Kingsley complains that her decision "just makes my job harder."

"Then your job's harder," she responds.

As the father of a 7-year-old myself, that scene comes to my mind all the time. Most recently, when I read a profoundly depressing story in the New York Times about how "some educators and other professionals who work with children" don't think kids should have best friends.

I frequently have little use for the center right Jonah Goldberg. There are times when I wonder what he truly believes, if anything. His subtle sabotaging of Sarah Palin leaps to mind as a perfect example of Jonah's... I don't know what to call it. Perfidy comes to mind, but then I have no proof. Just a lack of trust that I cannot get over. He seems a good man but...

Yet Jonah does have a knack of writing about important things and coming down on the side of common sense. Our schools have been sabotaging education for a couple of generations. Now they are trying to sabotage any act that interferes with their ability to brainwash our children. This is truly important stuff. So it is impressive that Jonah is on the right side almost immediately. Again.

Like his book "Liberal Fascism", this article is an early and excellent summation of what is true and why we should be concerned.

Ignoring my personal unease about Jonah, this article is a must read for those who love freedom, love our nation and do not believe allowing teachers to brainwash our kids to be tolerable.