“Those who expect to be both ignorant and free, expect what never was and never will be.”
Whatever Happened to Civics?
For several years now I have been increasingly disturbed by the decline of civics instruction in our public schools. But when I express this concern most people look at me as if I had suddenly begun speaking in ancient Greek, or some other unintelligible language. If they are in their forties or younger they appear to have no clue what I am talking about. I don’t know exactly when it happened, or how those who determine educational policy in our public schools decided to remove Civics from the curriculum. I just looked up one day and it was gone!
Yet civics was the only course in our educational system that is designed to teach students how our political system works and the proper functions of government. A vital part of civics instruction is the systematic study of current events, which provides a basis for making intelligent choices once we are old enough to vote. When I was a boy civics was an integral part of public school instruction, and it has determined my approach to understanding the responsibilities of citizenship as an adult.
The first responsibility of citizenship in a participatory democracy with contending political forces is to educate yourself on the issues so that you can make informed decisions at the ballot box. In a racist, sexist, predatory capitalist system where the struggle for the necessities of life is becoming increasingly Darwinian – i.e. dog eat dog and only the big dogs shall survive – making the right choices in the voting booth is a life and death matter. One need only look at the Social Darwinst proposals of the Republican Party to recognized the danger facing the working class in America. Already they have become invisible; nobody even mentions their name anymore.
For a while, I felt like I was the only one who recognized the end of civics instruction as a crisis that is rendering America’s participatory democracy dysfunctional. This was clear to me in the results of the first congressional elections after the inauguration of President Obama, when the Republicans took control of the House of Representatives only two years after their policies had wrecked the nation’s economy. (see: “On Our Dysfunctional Democracy” on this blog) And what’s more, the most potent force in the New Republican coalition is the “Tea Party,” an ultra-right band of iconoclast who ran on an anti-government platform.
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Amazingly, the Tea Party has managed to convince millions of Americans that the government they elect is their enemy. This has led to the Extraordinary spectacle of masses of struggling Americans voting against their economic interests in the belief that they are striking a blow for freedom. The full extent of this absurdity was made clear to me when I was traveling in Georgia and came upon a demonstration against “Obamacare” led by a snaggle tooth red neck with a mouth full of rotten teeth. From the look of things the guy had never seen a dentist in his life., but here he was vociferously fighting against a program that would make it possible for him to finally visit a dentist.
This absurdity of supporting people and policies that is against one’s interests is repeated in myriad ways by the working class whites who make up much of the Republican base. Why, they even applauded the Supreme Court’s decision in the Citizens United case; which is a major step in transforming out participatory democracy in which candidates from all classes could run for public office in an effort to promote policies that address the interests of working people, to a system where only the rich or their representatives can effectively contest for office.
How does one explain this kind of self-destructive behavior? Why would people vote against their best interests? And what does it harbor for the future of American democracy? Succinctly put, it is the epidemic of political ignorance among the electorate that propels this self-destructive behavior. Thomas Jefferson warned of this danger during the founding of the American Republic.
“An enlightened citizenry is indispensable for the proper functioning of a republic. Self-government is not possible unless the citizens are educated sufficiently to enable them to exercise oversight. It is therefore imperative that the nation see to it that a suitable education be provided for all its citizens. “
Given the complexity of American society today, a mass society of several hundred million people composed of diverse races and ethnicities residing in a continental nation extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans, Jefferson’s words are far more relevant now than they were in the 18th century, when America was a simple agrarian society composed of small towns and villages about a third of the size we are now. Hence the study of civics is needed now more than ever, when citizens are confronted with problems of amazing complexity that they are ill-equipped to analyze.,
One of the groups that recognize the gravity of this problem and is calling for the restatement of civics instruction is the New York Bar Association. After studying the problem of widespread ignorance among the citizenry about how our government and politics work, they tell us in a in a recently published document titled Report and Recommendations of the Law, Youth, and Citizenship committee on Civic Education.
“A constitutional democracy flourishes only if the constitution reflects democratic values alive in the citizenry. In the past decade, nearly every measure of Americans’ knowledge, understanding and appreciation of democratic values and fundamental constitutional principles has reflected a shocking level of decline. Despite New York’s adoption of the ‘Participation in Government’ requirement for graduating high school seniors over a decade ago, a sense of political disengagement has worsened in our state due to a lack of civic knowledge and the skills necessary to be an effective citizen.” On this score all the observable evidence suggests that the State of New York is the State of the Nation.
It is this gross ignorance of the legitimate functions of government, as well as our political history, that allows Republican Congressman to feel safe while committing a crime against humanity by cutting eight billion dollars from the federal food stamp program at the same time they are denying a couple of million unemployed Americans extended benefits during an economic crisis where there are no jobs that pay a living wage.
Many of these citizens have worked hard all of their lives but now face hunger and homelessness while these same Republicans give every possible benefit to the rich. Furthermore, these same Republican shills for the plutocracy are vociferous opponents of minimum wage laws and have voted repeatedly to repeal the Affordable Healthcare Act,while concocting a web of lies to discredit this benefaction to the American people.
A politically enlightened electorate would throw the bums out! Instead millions of voters know so little about how our government actually works they cannot distinguish the progressive Democrats who have tried to pass Jobs bills based on investment in rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure, from reactionary Republicans who only want to cut all government benefits for working Americans and give extravagant tax holidays to the super rich.
Hence we are being told by the political numbers crunchers that the Republicans will not only retain Control of the House of Representatives in the coming elections….but might well gain control of the Senate. This would be a catastrophe, because if these reckless Republican fanatics – and the spineless opportunists who know that this is foolishness but go along to get along – gain control of both Houses of Congress there is every reason to believe that their policies would wreck the economy again, entangle the nation in more foreign conflicts that extract a high cost in blood and treasure, create permanent gridlock in the government, and perhaps even impeach the President on trumped up charges! If ever we needed an enlightened electorate it is now.
John Boehner
The Worse House Speaker Ever!
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Playthell G. Benjamin
Harlem, New York
The Pardu's Scroll 