Whatever happened to civics classes in our schools?

Election 2014

The following was written by me on behalf of a candidate for Congress who sadly failed in his bid to represent his party. 

As if it wasn't bad enough they eliminated civics from the curriculum, now, under Common Core, they're making a mockery of civility and the Constitution. In a recent survey, more high school students could name the Three Stooges than could name the three branches of government. Obviously, the educators who design our schools' curricula couldn't care less. Why should you?

The simple answer as to why we should care about civics is that poorly educated members of our society are making poor decisions that lead to our nation's problems. The following statement that appeared in a Czech newspaper editorial says it best:

"The danger to America is not Barack Obama but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the Presidency. It will be far easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to have such a man for their president. The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails America . Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince. The [American] Republic can survive a Barack Obama, who is, after all, merely a fool. It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools such as those who made him their president." 

Sadly, this foreign observer got it right. We are voting like fools, not only electing fools, but also returning them to office repeatedly despite their poor performance.  

There are, of course, many who will disagree vehemently with the contention that President Obama is a prince of fools and that there is any evidence that America will not survive. Likewise, obviously, their opinions only argue my point for me. 

We need civics classes returned to our schools if we are to have any chance of surviving. Students aren't going to be prepared to vote intelligently if they don't understand the basics of our society and our government. They can't resist the siren song of tyrants who promise to fundamentally transform America if they don't know what America is and the only transformation it needs is to return to a state of limited government as described in the Constitution.

Our students must also learn to value liberty and to cope with the responsibility that it entails. Classes, such as those proscribed in Common Core only serve to prepare them to live under tyranny. Take for example this recent example that is passing to us across the Internet in which sixth grade students were assigned the task of removing two of the original ten amendments in the Bill of Rights and propose two replacements. Couldn't this time be better spent encouraging these sixth graders to know and appreciate the rights guaranteed to them by the Constitution?

This lack of knowledge and love of the Constitution is in large measure why I changed my opinion and now support term limits for all elected offices. Previously, I felt that term limits were silly. Why, I asked, should we be required to force good representatives from office just because others kept returning poor ones to office? Now I understand. Maybe, one day after civics returns to our schools and citizens are better prepared to vote, we can be trusted to send only the best to our local, state, and national governments.