THE BLAINE AMENDMENT 3/17/98

The reasoning most commonly offered by teacher unions and Liberal politicians for their opposition to school choice which includes religious schools is that it would violate the constitutional provision for the separation of church and state. This is a bogus claim in that no such provision existed with regard to education until it was placed there by anti-Catholic bigots in the middle of the previous century.

It was during the time of the Irish potato famine when anti-Catholic sentiment ran high, that a candidate for Congress by the name of James Blaine used this public sentiment to launch his political career. He was a member of the "Know Nothing Party" because when asked to divulge their platform, members, who took an oath of secrecy, would say: "I know nothing". They were nativists, bigots actually, who couldn't abide the tide of Irish and German immigrants breaching our borders. When Blaine was elected to Congress, our system of public schools was in its infancy. He proposed federal legislation that would have denied tax dollars to schools with religious content. Other Congressmen, wise enough to see the inherent Constitutional violation, defeated his proposal. Blaine and his allies, however, persisted at the state level and were ultimately successful in getting what's now known as "Blaine language" inserted in most state constitutions.

Our system of funding public schools is unconstitutional. It was designed to oppress Catholics and people of religion in general. The abysmal condition of our society is testament to the need to restore choice in education.

-DRC