dissident dad

Preparing Our Kids for the Future

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I heartily accept the motto, — “That government is best which governs least”; and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically. Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also I believe, — “That government is best which governs not at all”; and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have. Government is at best but an expedient; but most governments are usually, and all governments are sometimes, inexpedient. The objections which have been brought against a standing army, and they are many and weighty, and deserve to prevail, may also at last be brought against a standing government. The standing army is only an arm of the standing government. The government itself, which is only the mode which the people have chosen to execute their will, is equally liable to be abused and perverted before the people can act through it. 

– Henry David Thoreau, Civil Disobedience 

I don’t think we can stand around any longer and just send our kids off to school and hope it will all work out. Globalization and tremendous advancements in technology have led to fundamental changes, which in my opinion, have left traditional public schooling in the dark ages.

Assembly line education is simply not working out for young people any longer, and ironically, many of these kids are so ignorant they actually think their problem is that they need even more “education.” In reality, the dumbing down of their minds with indoctrination and a focus on political correctness has made them grossly unprepared for life outside the sheltered cocoon of formal schooling.

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The Dissident Dad – Teaching Children to Save in a 0% World

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At the age of 5, I clearly remember walking into my local Bank of America to open up my first savings account. It was almost a thrill, receiving my small, beige deposit book, where my father noted the first entry: $260.

I had found a wallet on the floor of a hotel about 6 months prior to that. After no one claimed it, the hotel mailed me a check. Perhaps it’s because I’ve always had an interest in finance, but opening up that first savings account is one of my earliest memories. It ended up helping me to become a disciplined saver from an early age.

Moving along, in the late 1990s, I remember opening up a 1-year CD at 6% when I was barely an adult. Looking back, depositing money at a bank made sense at the time. Fast forward to today, and I don’t think teaching my children to store their money in a bank is prudent, or even a smart thing to do.

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The Dissident Dad – Our Family Manifesto

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I live in Texas, I pay taxes to the IRS, and I follow every law required of me. I am not looking for any trouble from the U.S. government. That said, my family and I have elected to sever ourselves from the cancerous monster that is Washington D.C. every chance we get.

We don’t vote or honor the state in anything we do. My money is completely outside of the U.S. banking system, via precious metals, digital currency, and whole life insurance contracts, which is nothing more than two private parties in a financial agreement. The stocks I own are in Canada or international businesses listed here in the U.S.

I wish the U.S. and its citizens the very best, but when it comes to the statists and banking elite — who ultimately form an oligarchy — I try to ignore and resist the beast in every way I can.

Over the past few months, I have felt in my heart the need to openly state exactly what mom and dad believe and what we desire for our family. These are just some basic principles. It’s not like a cult, religion, or government pledge, but more like a private business with a mission statement and declaration. My fear as a father is that without some sort of a family declaration, the dark fruits of the empire may become appealing, since as the kids age, they will come under an enormous amount of peer pressure to accept the statist mindset.

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The Dissident Dad – No TV for You!

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I am all about freedom of choice, with one exception: I am the TV Nazi in my house.

According to a 2013 report from Nickelodeon to its advertisers, children today are watching 35 hours of television a week! That’s like a full-time job. Heck, if TV watching was a job, these kids would qualify for Obamacare and a 401k employer match.

My first born didn’t watch TV for the first two years of his life. Today, he watches about 3 hours a week. The kids have access to the one TV in our home, for 1 movie a week with their grandpa, and two cartoons geared towards education, such as Leap Frog, Super Why, or a nature documentary. In addition to that, we probably watch about 30 minutes of YouTube videos, either educational videos or pranks in any given week. Sorry, but we just love watching a good prank – especially the Scary Snowman.

I’ve actively denied them TV and will continue to do so. As an anarchist-libertarian dad, I want to encourage freedom, the ability to think for yourself, and to help my kids pursue their passions. Nevertheless, I wouldn’t allow an elderly person with Alzheimer’s to enter a busy street alone, or a friend who is brain damaged to get behind the wheel of a car. As a father, I have to step in when it comes to my children and television.

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The Dissident Dad – 10 Things I Had to Unlearn That My Children Won’t

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This list could grow to 1,000 ideas, but I’ve kept it down to ten. In the future, I might update it and add some more.

There are a lot of bad ideas that dominate the world we live in today, most of which are uncritically accepted as the norm and fully embraced by society.

As a millennial myself, I’ve noticed my peers seem to accept most of these as conventional wisdom. Hook, line, and sinker.

Here are some ideas I was propagandized with that I hope my children will never have to “unlearn.”

1. Violence is normal.

Presidential candidates today are fighting over who can kill better by using drones or boots on the ground. By constantly threatening the use of violence against other countries, statists have conditioned the population into thinking that killing tens of thousands of people is normal behavior, instead of the immoral, dangerous provocation it is. Rather than being charged with murder, politicians and others that help support this behavior are often paid $250,000 or more a speech after they leave office, and referred to as Mr. President or former Chairman of the Federal Reserve.

Video games, movies, television shows, and even toys all have a common theme: death and destruction. For example, there’s nothing like teaching your child about policing in 2015 America via these Playmobil toys:

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Practicing Non-Violence in Our Home

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Screen Shot 2015-02-27 at 10.19.14 AM“Go to your room!”

“Wait until your father gets home… “

“Do you want me to use my belt?”

This is what I remember as a child when I was in trouble. My mother spanked me with a wooden spoon. My father used a thick leather belt. Some of you reading this may have similar memories.

A 2002 ABC News poll reported that by about a 2:1 margin, American parents spank their children. In fact, according to the U.S. Department of Education, in Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama, Tennessee, Oklahoma, and Louisiana, school-sanctioned spanking is still widespread.

Hitting children is still normal. Most of us who were spanked may observe that we turned out fine, but the truth is we will never know. None of us have any idea how we might have turned out without any spankings – perhaps better, or perhaps worse.

What we do know today is that scientists can prove that physical violence in a child’s life by a parent can not only alter the brain in a traumatized way, but evidence also shows that the child will possess less gray matter in its brain development.

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Education vs. School – Why We Are Homeschooling Our Children

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Screen Shot 2014-11-20 at 3.33.14 PMSit down, listen, and shut up. The universal lesson in any classroom you have ever stepped foot in.

Bringing my brain back to a state of usefulness after 12 years of being pounded with information that the central planners wanted me to learn was no easy task. Much of it was meaningless information that I only learned for the day of the test, and this life experience has prompted us to decide not to institutionalize our children.

After recently starting my son in a homeschool program, my wife and I soon realized just how much time is wasted going to school. My wife, who was previously an elementary school teacher for 7 years, used to tell me the horror stories about the “one size fits all” educational curriculum America’s kids are taught. About how the teachers essentially have to teach according to the test, regardless of its application in real life.

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The Youth Are Our Future – The Challenges of Raising Free Thinking Minds

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Screen Shot 2014-11-12 at 1.06.09 PMWhen recent headlines range from a women going to jail for not mowing her lawn, to the tracking technology embedded in each of our cell phones, you can get easily depressed and discouraged simply by being aware of the world you live in.

I remember when I first announced that my wife and I were expecting a child. I received a multitude of angry feedback from my YouTube channel subscribers about how it is reckless to bring a child into this world. My response then, as it is now, is that we should never allow the oligarchs to dictate or alter our life choices. You choose your destiny; not JP Morgan, not the FED, and not the bloated bureaucrats in D.C.

Looking back 3 kids later, I am very happy my children are in this world with me.

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Why We Should Treat Our Children as We Wish to be Treated

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Screen Shot 2014-10-15 at 2.07.06 PMDon’t just take things, that’s what the criminals and the government do…

That’s something I told my son yesterday when he ripped a book right out of my daughter’s hands. Respecting others and their property, and using conversation to express our wants and desires, is how I am raising my children. Essentially teaching them to grow up to become the opposite of an oppressive state.

Early on as a father, I regularly used spankings to discipline my children, even though it never logically made sense to me. My oldest daughter or son would hit each other, only to have me come in as the authority and spank them, while at the same time telling them to stop hitting each other.

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