What Would Washington Think?

Regardless of your politics, it’s fair to say that as a country we’re in a real mess right now.  Many factors contribute to our current situation, but at least one thing could dramatically improve the situation.

          Citizenship 101.

          Americans need a good refresher course on basic government and citizenship.  Actually, for the younger generation any citizenship instruction should make an enormous difference since Civics and Government as high school course offerings generally disappeared with the demise of Home Economics in most curriculums.

          In the case of Home Economics, the loss makes life a little less pleasant at times (e.g., occasional gastrointestinal disorders resulting from a lack of basic cooking skills and streets filled with people wearing wrinkled clothing), but the entire fabric of society (no pun intended) won’t crumble because the furniture is covered in dust and only military personnel know how to make a bed.

          Understanding why and how the government works, however, is entirely different.  Without this basic knowledge, appreciation, and understanding, we as a people will ultimately be governed less by the U.S. Constitution and more by Lord of the Flies.

          As an attorney, it’s pretty stunning to me how little the average person understands how government is supposed to work and their own role in it.  When participants don’t know the game at all chaos is inevitable.  It would be like handing bats, balls and gloves to a group with no concept of baseball and telling them to go out and play to win.  Most likely, they’d simply end up hurling balls at one another, punching each other with their gloved hand and beating each other over the head with the baseball bats.  When it comes to “winning,” unfortunately, it is usually our primal instincts that kick in first. Rules and maintaining order don’t naturally come to mind.

          Unfortunately, that seems to be the situation we’re in now as we attempt to participate in following the rules of our Republic.  Quiz the average person on the Bill of Rights, for example, and even some of our most educated citizens will answer incorrectly.

          For example, the First Amendment grants us freedom of speech.  Many people interpret this to mean we can say anything we want anytime and anywhere without reservation.  Actually, the First Amendment says that the government can’t make laws restricting our speech.

          Lots of people get this wrong, but sadly in percentages this is the Amendment most would get right.  It’s pretty much downhill from there.

          How many people know how and why our government was organized the way it is with three coequal branches of government? Who has heard of The Federalist Papers which was written to provide an explanation behind this reasoning?  Who has ever heard of the authors of said Federalist Papers (James Madison, John Jay, and Alexander Hamilton) aside from those lucky enough to snag a ticket to Hamilton on Broadway?

          When I was a kid, the school day began standing beside your desk, hand over your heart and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.  Pictures of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln were hung proudly on either side of the flag. Studying government in school wasn’t unusual.

          Over the years, we lost all that.  Not only did we consider such displays of patriotism albeit for three minutes a waste of useful school time, but we slowly decided that other courses in school took greater precedence over learning the basics of how our country is supposed to work so that we all don’t end up assaulting one another.

          A high school friend of mine suggested that we start a course called “How Not to Suck at Citizenship.”  He’s great at naming things and he acknowledged there could be a more artful course title, but I concur completely with his sentiment.  We all need to either refamiliarize ourselves with the basics and if we don’t know them, we need to learn.  If schools won’t teach our kids basic Civics, as parents, we need to do that, too.  Just add it to the list of all the other things you teach your kids so they can live successfully and productively in society.

          Even if they never make their beds, try to instill an appreciation in them to be active citizens in local, state, and national governments. That means not only voting but also understanding why we choose to vote the way we do.

          Otherwise, don’t expect things to improve.  Know that things will likely only get much worse.