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Voting and The State of the Union

13/5/2020

 
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The United States is hailed by the rest of the world as its most successful democracy. Yes, we are guaranteed great freedoms and we are the most diverse superpower.  But, according to iNK author, Elizabeth Rusch, we have a long way to go to become "a more perfect union."   Her new book, You Call This Democracy? How to fix our government and deliver power to the people, is an eye-popping exposé of all the ways the wealthy oligarchs have gained overarching power and what can be done by young people to fix it.   

 The premise of democracy is one person, one vote, majority rules. Simple, no?  That is true for all elections in the United States save the one for president and vice president, which is determined by electoral representatives.  But there's more, Rusch reminds us: Four times, in our history, popular vote  winners lost the presidency. Then she explains not only why but how this can be corrected, not by doing the impossible and adding another amendment to the constitution, but by another method entirely called the "National Popular Vote" interstate compact.    In her highly readable book she says:
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          "The compact will take effect once states representing a total of 270 electoral
             votes--the number needed to win the presidency--have signed on.  The endeavor
             is two-thirds of the way there, with just seventy-four more electoral votes needed. 
             Efforts are afoot in a dozen or so states, which could get the tally to the magic 270."

 Wow!  I learned something new.  And I continued to learn, in subsequent chapters, about  specific problems stymieing many voters from making their vote count.  These include: geographically redistributing  party votes (gerrymandering), under-representation of populous states in the Senate, dark money influencers (lobbyists and legal contribution loopholes), lying with impunity for politicians, voter suppression, votes denied to the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, where Americans are stateless, and more.  

But this book is not just a litany of woes.  As Rusch says in her introduction:

         "I admit, working on this book often made me angry--even outraged--when
           I saw clearly how some aspects of our democracy hurt fellow citizens.  But my
           research has made me hopeful, too.  Countless people, young and old, are
           already working to form a more perfect union......this book is, ultimately,
           a book of solutions."

Elizabeth Rusch, whose work I know from her many accurate and accessible science-related children's book, (sometimes on the same subjects that I, too,  have explored) is extremely qualified to give me a civics lesson. (What ever history and civics I know has come to me independently of my formal education.) She first became interested in politics from an eighth-grade trip to the U.S. Senate.  She has a master's in public policy from U. C. Berkeley and has served as a Jacob K. Javits Fellow in the U.S. Senate.    In keeping with her target audience of young adult readers, she has also established an interactive  website:    https://www.youcallthis.com/ where they can find actionable items in their own states.  

You Call this Democracy? is a how-to book for saving what is valuable in our country and a practical, actionable guide to young people who are tasked with creating a brighter future out of the immense challenges we now face in the wake of this pandemic.  

It is a timely and very valuable addition to home libraries of teen-agers and their parents.

An Honorable President

19/2/2020

 
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Painting by Rembrandt Peale (1778-1860)
I am not a historian. But one of my greatest joys has come from reading history as written by iNK history writers. Yet my knowledge has gaps, which I try to fill.  For the past few days, the History Channel has run a miniseries on George Washington.  Suddenly, he is no longer a clichéd
"father of our country" or the somewhat sour face on a dollar bill.  Despite his flaws which included his strong temper and depending on enslaved people to run his farm, this series illuminated how his most important trait, his character, was built.  

In the eighteenth century honor was an important concept.  First,  it meant that you were your word.  You met declared obligations. (Period!)  You had an internalized sense of right and wrong.
You owned your mistakes and you fought for your beliefs, especially when they pertained to the greater good.  For Washington, there was no higher calling than being a soldier.  In his youth he fought many battles for the British Army, hoping to earn his way to becoming a commissioned officer.  Most of them he lost; but he learned.  When he finally realized that the British generals looked down on him as less-than-officer material at a time when the colonies were becoming restive under the rule of King George, III, he was ready to do his duty and take command of the rag-tag militia of the colonies to fight for freedom from English rule and for self-government of the United States.  It was a formidable task.  There was no greater fighting force at that time than the British army and navy.  

Second, he didn't quit when things got tough.  There were several last-ditch, do-or-die feats that he commanded with audacity and grit.  One event was crossing the Delaware on a bitter Christmas eve to ultimately win the battle of Trenton-- the crucial first-needed triumph to keep the colonists engaged in the war. 
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Washington Crossing the Delaware by Emanuel Leutze, MMA-NYC, 1851
He died in 1799 and his life and work have been scrutinized by many.  He did not want power for its own sake.  He did not want to be president.  He served two terms and passed the baton on to John Adams.  King George could not understand how he could take a pass on being, well, a king.

The series was produced by presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin who said that "Resilience and humility and empathy” were Washington's chief character traits. He was worried about the emergence of a rancorous partisan divide in our fledgling country.  In his farewell address, which was published in newspapers as a letter to the American people, he warned us [about] 
 “the baneful effects of party spirit, of the spirit of revenge, of sectionalism, and the worry that if we endure such things it could lead to foreign influence and corruption.” 

Our current electorate who bought the slogan "Make America Great Again," still needs a history lesson from our first most honorable president.


When Rules Get in the Way

3/8/2019

 
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In the simplest terms, we Americans call ourselves a democracy that is "of the people, by the people and for the people." The act of voting establishes our power. So, just how well are we doing?

In in 1787, after the colonies had won independence from the tyranny of Great Britain, they sent delegates to Philadelphia to "frame" the rules for the citizens of our new nation.  The result is the Constitution of the United States of America-- a four page document with 4,591 words, including signatures.  Over the years, another 3,048 words have been added in 27 Amendments.  But according to iNK author Cynthia and her husband, Sandford Levinson, authors of  271 page book for the YA audience,
Fault Lines in the Constitution: The Framers, Their Fights, and the Flaws that Affect Us Today,  following our Constitution, as it is written, has its problems.  These are not unlike the work that a playwright has to do on a script  after the actors start reading it.  The questions about such texts are: What works and what doesn't?

For those who don't know much about the Constitution, it is defined by the Levinsons as "an agreement that describes how an organization is governed.  It is different from a collections of laws.  The purpose of a constitution is to determine who makes the laws, how those decision makers are chosen, how long they serve, and what powers they have......it is intended to help a group of people accept leadership and reduce friction.  That's the idea at any rate."

Each chapter starts with an incident  or event that conflicts with  or has no obvious resolution within the Constitution as it is written.  Outlining the problem and its resolution requires the attention of the reader.   This is a challenge for its YA audience, and even for adult readers who think they know a thing or two (like me!).  The Levinsons have broken down the problem into eight parts beginning with a Preamble (which means "walks before" and a Post-amble (backmatter, including a timeline, notes, etc.).  It is a book to guide study in a course on civics.  It should be digested bite by bite and be required reading for students who have ambitions for careers in public service in politics, law enforcement, and justice.

The Levinsons chose the words "Fault Lines" for their title because:
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"The metaphor of fault lines come from geology and refers to shifting tectonic plates beneath the earth's surface that can cause rumbles ranging from mild vibrations to catastrophic earthquakes and tsunamis. Architects safe-guard residents in these zones by construction buildings that can withstand shaking.

"But what if you lived in a building that got a C on an earthquake safety test?  Assuming you decided not to move, you'd want your home shored up.  That's what we believe the Constitution needs--reinforcement.  And it's up to all of us to provide it.."


The book ends with a debate between the authors (who are also husband and wife) who disagree on what we should do next.  Both Levinsons do agree that the Constitution needs to be fixed.  They each have ideas on how this is to be done. 

Their conversation is a model for civil discussion that is supposed to take place on the floors of Congress as well as classrooms around our country. 

The updated paperback revision of this book is available now.  
   


Putting Citizenship Back in the Curriculum

8/4/2018

 
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Eric Liu, founder of Citizen University and Executive Director of the Aspen Institute’s Citizenship and American identity program. Photo by Vicki Cobb
On April 7, 2018, I returned to Teachers College, Columbia University for their Academic Festival, a celebration of the mission of this premiere graduate school founded on the principles of John Dewey as stated on the wall over the  TC reception desk: 
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photo by Vicki Cobb
The title of the keynote address by Eric Liu was "Teaching Civic Power." It was a rousing reminder that, as Dr. Liu quoted Sandra Day O'Conner: " 'Compulsory public education was instituted in the country in the first place to create citizens,' not wage workers, not customers, not capitalists, but citizens capable of governing themselves and their country." He believes that all teachers, no matter what subject, are also teaching civics through their own behavior.  He also recollected that in 1814, 25 years after the founding of the United States, John Adams said, "There never has been a democracy yet that has not committed suicide." 

On the up side, Liu said,
 "The United States today is not quite suicidal but it is definitely in a state  of self-inflicted fragility."  This is not a recent phenomenon but has been growing over the last forty years  "of erosion of common purpose of the leaders of both parties and .....of devaluation of public education in general and civic education in particular." 

We the people have ceded our collective power (the capacity to make people do what you would have them do)  over the years to special interests, to those who have wealth and to corruptive influences.  According to Liu, "Power doesn't so much corrupt as it reveals character."  The good news is that Eric Liu is optimistic about the future:  

 "Despite the sickness of the body politic right now, let me tell you why I am so hopeful.   In part, to be honest, it is because of the man who currently occupies the White House. After all, he alone, as he likes to say, he alone has sparked the greatest surge of civic  engagement this country has ever seen. Millions of Americans are stepping off the  sidelines and participating. .... People are swarming like antibodies to a virus … the immune system of the body politic is now kicking in.  The goal now has to be civic renewal—we need a new network of mutual aid, civic, social and moral character."  


How this can be done is by returning to the principles of John Dewey who believed that learning comes, not just from books, but by doing.  Eric Liu embodies these principles and he is speaking to wake us up. Thus the teacher, the writer, and the citizen of a democracy are all  practicing acts of faith, where learning and the thriving of a democracy become true through our best practices.
It will come, according to Dr. Liu, with the "savvy realization that we're all better off when we're all better off."

 
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I'm expressing my gratitude to the inimitable John Dewey.

     Vicki Cobb

    *Award-winning author of more than 90 nonfiction books for children, mostly in science.
    *Former Contributor to the Huffington Post
    *Founder/President of iNK Think Tank, Inc.
    *Passionate advocate for the joy of learning for every child and teacher.


    Disclaimer: All opinions, typos, and grammatical errors are my own,  especially small word omissions which I often don't notice in my fervor.  

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