Below is a letter to the editor delivered to the T.R.Commercial-News on 1/16/02.

Three Rivers’ City Commission has decided that we are to become a ’City of Character!’ and to reach that goal they wish to implement a program called ’Character First!’ Gretta Schermerhorn is the only person on the commission who voted against this program.

‘Character First!’ is published by Character Training Institute (CTI) in Oklahoma City. It is an offshoot of the Institute of Basic Life Principles (IBLP) in Chicago. The IBLP is the brainchild of an evangelist Christian guru named Bill Gothard. The ‘Character First!’ curriculum is based on Gotherd's teachings, overt references to God and Christianity are edited out.

Here is my take on this program. Obedience is the key factor to make this program work. If your company or leadership decides to adopt this program, the doors are open to approximately four years of mind control. They can teach you how to live your once personal lives, spend your own money and maybe keep others from spending theirs. There are so many ways they can teach you if you are only obedient.

Here are a few of the program’s 49 character traits; I found them on the Internet:

Obedience vs. Willfulness - Quickly and cheerfully carrying out the direction of those responsible for me.

Most of us do what we are told by our bosses, and they have our respect. The obedience spoken of in Bill Gothard’s program is much different than a few fluffy words on a pretty poster. To understand this you need to find ’Little Soldiers in the Culture War’ on the Internet. (http://www.rickross.com/reference/fund16.html) It will give you an insight on what Bill Gothard is all about.

Obedience is being forced to attend a class you may not believe in. Maybe you don’t want to be force-fed someone else’s idea of what good character is. Do you have a choice? Can you keep your job if you don’t attend meetings? Do you have any constitutional rights? Are we still living in a free country?

Meekness vs. Anger - Yielding my personal rights and expectations with a desire to serve.

Thriftiness vs Extravagance - Allowing myself and others to spend only what is necessary.

Maybe I can make a citizens arrest if I observe someone spending too much money at the mall.

There are 46 more gems. Who knows what they can do with those! If this program were so good, then why have those pushing it been so secretive about it? Are they trying to deceive people with fluff? This program must have an agenda that runs much deeper than enforcing character. Communism didn’t work in the Soviet Union. It won’t work here either. This may be a worst case scenario, but this program leaves the doors wide open.

Please don’t endorse this program until you know what it is really all about. There is a danger in thinking it is OK for others to lose their freedoms. If your company, church, club or school adopts this program, you may soon lose your own.