Civics: A Necessary New Beginning…
We start the New Year with the ravages of COVID continuing to steal our lives and an assault by domestic terrorists who tried to lay waste to our democracy. Yet even before January 6, even before insurrectionists ravaged the capitol, we have known that hate and fear are combustible forces. Now we have witnessed how fatal that combination can be. We saw a home-grown insurrection unleashed - as deadly as COVID, and, perhaps, longer-lasting in impact.
Racism, anti-semitism, violence, and hate for The Other leave us a country divided as severely as it was during the Civil War. How do we as a people survive the quickening eruptions? How do we protect our children from trauma and create an oasis of emotional and intellectual safety where they can continue to thrive?
The answer is something we already know. Children need structure and order to make them feel safe. They deserve honest answers to their questions. They want love and laughter so that they know in their bones that their world is whole. They need role models of ethical and socially appropriate behavior. They need mentors who live by a moral compass and demonstrate responsible activism and citizenry.
Civics used to be interwoven in our educational systems. We need it back. It embodies the characteristics and goals we all want to embrace, including:
Conversation with civility and honesty to achieve the goal of respectful collaboration.
Integrity and a culture of inclusion in our words and actions.
Values, based in the rule of law, that honor our allegiance to American democracy.
Intellectual curiosity to understand and appreciate different perspectives and possibilities.
Courage to set aside differences and find common ground for the common good.
Study of the rights and responsibilities of citizenship in our daily lives and in the political arena.
Above the entrance to the Supreme Court are engraved the words “Equal Justice Under Law.” The late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the late Congressman John Lewis fought for that ideal their entire lives. In our democracy, civics at its very core is itself about equity and civil rights for each of us and all of us.
We are at a crossroads in our country. We must choose between saving our democracy for the many or seeing it dismantled and replaced by autocratic power for the few. The choice is easy, but defending democracy is hard. The restoration and reintroduction of civics into our national conversation and educational culture is an opportunity for a new beginning and a safeguard for the future of our republic and its democratic principles.