Scouts

I'm a little behind in reading some of my magazines, so today I was reading an old Citizen magazine from last October. The article was about the Girl Scouts. Now I was a Brownie and a Girl Scout growing up and had fun doing it. As an adult I have learned that the Girl Scouts have drastically departed from their roots. I gathered the following information from the article. The Girl Scouts began in the early part of the 20th Century. According to the first handbook it was meant to help girls develop "honor, duty, loyalty, kindness, comradeship, purity, cheerfulness and thrift." Former Girl Scout Jane Chastain says now "the Girl Scouts have become a training ground for the left-wing feminist agenda." In 1974 the co-founder of the National Organization for Women was asked to join the board. She transformed the Girl Scouts to a liberal organization that connects itself to the ERA and Planned Parenthood among others. It's become more of a political movement that has lost the focus of it's original intent. Some local troops don't follow the leadership of the national group, but are still associated with them. Basically they still do their own thing without stuffing liberal agenda into the girls. As for cookie sales, only a small amount actually goes to the troop that does the work of selling them.

I recently bought some popcorn to support a local Boy Scout troop. I'm proud of the Boy Scouts for standing up to the liberal attacks and attempts to change them and disintegrate their core values. The Girl Scouts on the other hand have caved to the pressure and changes and no longer stand by the values with which the Girl Scouts were intended. I haven't bought cookies in years because the money goes to support women's rights movements and a pro-choice agenda. Sure there are good things in the Girl Scouts, but it's unfortunate that the pot has been spoiled by politics.

Some have started a new group for girls called American Heritage Girls, founded in 1995. I heard about them years ago, but there weren't any local chapters. It sounds like a great group, seeking to build integrity and values in girls. It's still small compared to the Girl Scouts, but I think they have the right idea.