Some words are more fun than others. I still remember leaving the White Bear Theatre in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, way back in 1964, singing supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.
The fun word for this column—and for the next year—is semiquincentennial, which literally means “half of five hundred years.” Next Fourth of July will mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
The ideals expressed in the Declaration have particular significance for the ongoing debate about homeschool freedom, which I described in the last issue of the HSLDA Magazine as a “worldview watershed”—a tipping point that could lead to drastically different outcomes. That significance comes into sharp focus when we consider two recent publications, which illustrate the foundational differences between two competing visions of the family and the state.
What follows is a preview of a formal journal article I’m writing that will address these two events. Hold on to your hats—we’re about to get wonky.