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The C H A P   E-Newsletter

Welcome to the December issue of the CHAP E-Newsletter. Thank you for
your kind response to this publication. If you have friends and
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www.chaponline.com.

Politicians Are All Crooks, Right?
By Bruce K Eagleson, M.D.

It seems that we are in an age where the goal of politicians is to
obtain and keep power at all costs. Any tactic is acceptable if it
increases wealth and power. The battle between Governor Bush and Vice
President Gore has done nothing to improve our view of politicians.
Machiavelli would be proud to be part of the movement. 

Even in the state House of Representatives times seem rough. The house

had several members indicted on criminal charges this session. One
individual ran for re-election while on parole. How are we to keep
respect when we read about these facts?

This year our family participated in HSLDA's (Home School Legal Defense
Association) federal lobbying program and the CHAP  HELP (Home Educators
Lobbying Program). These two events gave me a very different view of
both the federal and state legislature. I'll illustrate with some
stories from the lobbying days. 

In March we were at a press conference held just outside the federal
capitol. The goal was to announce a bill to expand the educational
savings accounts. The organizers of the event wanted a backdrop of
homeschooled children. A young girl was shivering in the cold March air
and the Congressman from Erie, Pennsylvania took off his suit jacket and
put it around her to keep her warm. He then did his portion of the
presentation in shirtsleeves so this homeschooled girl could stay warm.

My son, Nathan and I were meeting with the legislative aid for the
federal congressman from the second Pennsylvania district, an inner city
Philadelphia district. We were lobbying for education reforms that it
seemed unlikely which they would support. After we made our presentation
the aid pointed out that they would not be on our side in this, and that
he doubted it would pass the education committee. He was very
forthright, but not hostile in the least. The conversation then turned
to hiking on the Appalachian trail. I was struck by the thought that
even though we disagreed on the issues, we could still be friendly with
one another. He was not our enemy.

At the CHAP HELP day in November we visited Representative Dempsy. He
welcomed all eight of us into his office. He listened to our
presentation and shared with us that one of his best friends in the
district is a homeschooling father. He stated that he was a big fan of
homeschooling. He next turned to the topic of his future. He is retiring
after 12 years in the house. He shared with us what an honor and a
privilege it was for him to have served his district. He stated that it
was the greatest thrill of his life.

During the state lobbying day Doug Rothgaber, another CHAP board member
took our children and his to visit a few of the legislators. One of the
offices they visited was Representative Thaddeus Kirkland's. He
represents Delaware County. We had no reason to think he would be open
to homeschoolers. He welcomed them with open arms. He was very friendly,
forthright and was very open to homeschooling. He asked Doug some hard
questions on how the poor can homeschool. Later he came down to the CHAP

 table to get his picture taken with Doug and the children.

To return to the opening question, Politicians Are All Crooks, Right?
The answer is no! Our experience lobbying has taught us that just like
any group of people some of them may be crooks, but most of them are
decent people just trying to do a hard job to the best of their ability.
Even those who disagree with our opinions aren't villains, just people
with different opinions. They need our help. We need to be praying for
them. We need to support them. We need to educate them about home
education.

Have you hugged your elected representative today?


What Should You Do?
The following are ways that every homeschooler can help to get a less
restrictive homeschool law:

1) PRAY! This should be #1 on all of our lists as we seek our Lord's
guidance and His will in this matter.

2) Get to know your state senator and representative NOW. Be visible
with their staff. Let them know you are a homeschooler and that you
value your personal freedoms and less government control in your life.
Always be congenial even when disagreeing with their position. Ask them
how you can pray for them or their family and request that they would
let you know when they receive an answer to prayer. One family that we
know of developed such a rapport with their representative over several
years of time that the representative now has a daughter homeschooling
his grandchildren.

3) Buy and read Howard Richman's book the Story of a Bill and learn
about the previous efforts to change the law. It will give you a glimpse
of how difficult it is to change the law. This book is available from
Pennsylvania Homeschoolers (Howard and Susan's business), R.D. 2, Box
117, Kittaning, PA 16201. They have generously made this book available
to download at their web page. Go to Pahomeschoolers.com, go to the
order page and click on Story of a Bill link.

Staff
	Editor		Bruce K. Eagleson
	Publisher	Doug Rothgaber

Christian Homeschool Association of Pennsylvania
PO Box 115 
Mount Joy, PA 17552-0115
717-661-2428
www.chapboard.org
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