Some Thoughts on US Civics (Or Lack Thereof)

Okay, let’s start with a topic near and dear to my heart: American Civics.  I spent a whole year in high school studying American Government and Civics with a Daughter of Charity who knew her stuff at the head of the classroom.  Sister Beatrice was a level-headed, open-minded instructor.  She encouraged us to THINK about what we read and saw- in our texts, in the news, in the world.

How many of us can accurately debate over the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence?  How many of us actually KNOW how our branches of government are supposed to work, or even what they are? (Executive, Legislative and Judicial, in case you’d forgotten).  Do you know your Congressional representatives or your Senators?  How about your local people? 

And when was the last time you voted?

Most people take the liberties we have in the USA for granted.  But if you’re not white, male or Christian these days, life may seem more than a little dicey politically. 

I see arguments all over the internet – on Facebook as well as other places – that make me sigh in frustration.  People misquoting the Constitution and Declaration of Independence is my biggest one.  People not realizing what the First Amendment in the Bill of Rights means is another one.  People who are not getting the Church/State separation issues and First Amendment issues on the “gay marriage” votes around the country is the latest. 

Then there is vaguely worded legislation that comes back to bite people on their bums later (the latest fiasco in North Carolina leaps to mind).   The uproar country wide over trying to protect women’s rights is simply astonishing to me as well.  (I mean, come on, we’ve had the right to vote for almost 100 years, get with the program!)  The sheer hatred being encoded into the laws of the land is shocking to someone who grew up with a father who encouraged her to love and respect her fellow humans above all else. 

So back to Civics, now that I’ve wandered a bit.  My Merriam-Webster dictionary defines Civics as “a social science dealing with the rights of citizens.”  Wow.  That’s a heck of a thing to study!  The rights of citizens.  Sit and let that simmer like a wonderful melting pot of soup for a second.  We have rights, we citizens.  But how many of us know what they are?  A recent study found that many Americans can’t even pass the citizenship exam given to immigrants – and the civics part was where we fared the worst.

One of the things I adored about my Civics class was reading the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights.  What amazing reading!  So much to talk about, debate about and savor.  But we’ve lost that ability in the sea of misinformation, lack of willingness to let teachers teach creatively within guidelines and in our seeming inability as a country to constructively argue our points.  Many of my younger friends never even covered Civics in their high school classes.

We NEED to “deal with the rights of citizens”.  All over the country, people are trying to take away the “right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” for all kinds of groups, with women and LGBT folks being the most recent two target groups.  In states like Arizona and Virginia, women are suffering setbacks that impinge on their lives and freedom.  In North Carolina among other states, LGBT folks are suffering under legislation that now also will cause havoc for their straight friends as well.  Not good, in my opinion.

If America is to be truly the land of the free, we must be also the home of the brave.  It’s time to use our hearts and our brains and give our neighbors and ourselves the opportunity to be who they are and what they are – as long as they do not violate another’s freedom or safety. 

Yes, it may make you uncomfortable to see a gay or lesbian couple kissing in public, but fifty years ago it would have been an interracial couple causing the havoc – something commonplace today.  We have to change, to evolve as a country.  ALL our citizens need to have the rights our Declaration of Independence supports, not just the people we are comfortable with.

It’s time to be civic-minded.

Interested in seeing what’s covered on the Citizenship test? 

Grab this Study Guide PDF which includes the answers: 

http://www.xavier.edu/americandream/programs/documents/5CivicTestpowerpointfinalPDF.pdf

And here’s the Xavier University’s Center for the American Dream Study. 

Makes for some interesting yet sad reading:

http://www.xavier.edu/americandream/programs/documents/5CivicTestpowerpointfinalPDF.pdf