I wrote this article in response to some people’s queries in regards to the difference between a caucus and a primary, but more importantly, in response to the studies I found on the web describing the failure of most Americans in basic civic education.<\/p>\n
An Enlightened Citizenry<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n Thomas Jefferson said that \u201c\u2026whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government; that, whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, they may be relied on to set them right\u201d\u2014but just how informed are U.S. citizens on the workings of government and their civic duties?<\/p>\n With the Iowa caucuses over and the focus shifting to upcoming primaries and the presidential election in November, the role of active, informed citizens helps to ensure that issues of importance to the general populace are part of the campaign agenda as well as helping to maintain the integrity of the election process.\u00a0 But is there a crisis in America in regards to civic education (civics) and the process by which citizens become well-informed on matters involving the workings of our government?<\/p>\n In the book \u201cTeaching America,\u201d a collection of essays written by a diverse group of authors representing both conservatives and liberals, editor David Feith asserts that there is a civics crisis in America, and that a lack of general civics education has led to a citizenry that is less competent (ignorant) in the overall political community and process.<\/p>\n Jefferson himself placed education as the very foundation of democracy<\/a> and as a prerequisite to vote.\u00a0 He understood that civic ignorance and self-government could not exist together.\u00a0 Furthermore, he understood that tyranny and a despotic government could only restrain its citizens and deprive them of their rights while they were ignorant.\u00a0 Believing that only a popular government could safeguard democracy, he stated that \u201cEvery government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone.\u00a0 The people themselves are its only safe depositories.\u00a0 And to render them safe, their minds must be improved to a certain degree\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Unfortunately, recent surveys have shown that the rate of civic \u201cilliteracy\u201d is growing in the U.S., and that there is a correlation between this illiteracy and a basic lack of both history and civics classes being taught in our educational system.\u00a0 In a survey conducted in 2009 by the American Revolution Center, 1,000 adults were asked if they believed they were proficient in regards to the American Revolution and to the founding documents and principles.\u00a0 Eighty-nine percent of those surveyed believed they had a passing knowledge of these subjects; but on the basic test administered, 83% failed.\u00a0 Most didn\u2019t know the three branches of government, their functions, or how laws are made; even fewer had the basic knowledge to engage in a democratic policy discussion.<\/p>\n Dr. Bruce Cole, former chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities and past-president of the American Revolution Center, believes this illiteracy rate reflects both the increasing lack of American history and civics education being taught in our schools in combination with historic textbooks that are \u201cdiluted and dull.\u201d\u00a0 According to Dr. Cole, \u201cAll of this matters because if Americans have no understanding of the past\u2014of the great charters of our liberty, of the men and women who risked all to obtain and then safeguard our freedoms, and of the people, places and events that forged our collective memory\u2014then they are like trees without roots, victims of what the great historian David McCullough calls American amnesia.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOur citizens\u2019 unawareness of their own history not only steals their past, it robs them of a compass to the future.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t know where you\u2019ve been, it\u2019s hard to figure out where you need to go.\u00a0 Americans unfamiliar with the creed of the Declaration of Independence or Constitution\u2019s blueprint for our nation or the guarantee of their freedoms contained in the Bill of Rights can\u2019t exercise their civic duties fully.\u201d<\/p>\n And civic duties stretch well beyond voting.\u00a0 A government \u201cof the people, by the people, and for the people\u201d requires an engaged, informed citizenry to make certain that the Founding Fathers\u2019 vision of representative government is kept alive.\u00a0 Without civic literacy, we cannot maintain our democracy.<\/p>\n \u201cCivic literacy is the prerequisite for developing the ties that bind us together as a nation.\u00a0 It enables us to disagree and pursue our interests and the common interest.\u00a0 Without these tools, we are now moving in a different direction, heading toward what the philosopher Michael Sandel calls a \u2018story-less condition,\u2019 in which \u2018there is no continuity between present and past, and therefore no responsibility, and therefore no possibility for acting together to govern ourselves.\u201d\u00a0 (Brennan Center for Justice Report, 2011<\/a>)<\/p>\n With the November election looming large on the horizon, we need to remember our shared commitment to freedom.\u00a0 \u201cAs we learn more about the American political tradition, we may see a shared commitment to freedom and equality behind partisan disputes,\u201d Peter Berkowitz, senior fellow at Stanford University\u2019s Hoover Institution. \u00a0Let us become an enlightened citizenry, for \u201cDemocracy cannot long exist without enlightenment.\u201d (Thomas Jefferson)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I wrote this article in response to some people’s queries in regards to the difference between a caucus and a primary, but more importantly, in response to the studies I found on the web describing the failure of most Americans in basic civic education. 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