Tag Archives: Constitution Day

Civics At Home

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Author:  R. Alan Harrop, Ph.D.

A very unusual thing happened to me on Election Day, as I was providing voter information outside the election site.  A man walked up with his grandson who looked about ten years old. He asked me if I would explain to his grandson how the voting process worked and why it was important.  I responded with a short summary of how our government is controlled by the people and how important it was for all citizens to vote.  After a short discussion, the man took his son inside to observe the voting process and to vote himself.

I did not ask the man why he felt a need to do this, but he volunteered that he was not certain that the public schools were teaching his grandson the civics he had learned when he was a student.

This incident, which I found refreshing, reminded me of an article I read recently about a patriotic family and how they observe Constitution Day.  Most of us may have heard of Constitution Day, but most likely do not celebrate or recognize it. What the family in the article does is gather as a group and take turns reading the U.S. Constitution from start to finish.   They have been doing this for several years with family members taking turns reading. Takes about 30 minutes.

Both of these events demonstrate that we, the parents and grandparents, can make sure that children not only are exposed to the essential elements of our country but they learn that we as adults believe that these things are vitally important.

Given all the woke nonsense that children are exposed to, we cannot be certain that civics is being taught and emphasized in the schools. The recent election of Mo Green, leftist Democrat, as the state Superintendent of Public Instruction, is not reassuring to me; quite the opposite.

When my grandchildren visit me for Thanksgiving, I plan to do a group read of the Constitution. You might want to try it yourself.

According to the North Carolina Civics Coalition:

NC requires one high school civics course for graduation.
Several states also have a middle school civics class. NC
does not. In K-5, social studies often shares instructional
time with science and is rarely taught daily.

Unfortunately the requirement for a high school civics course is not actually being enforced. Rather than have a separate civics course, schools are including civics in other courses. In most cases, the subject of civics is not getting the individual attention that is needed.

NOTE:

In 2011, The North Carolina legislature passed The Founding Principles Act, House Bill 588. This bill required local boards of education to teach a semester course, “American History I – The Founding Principles” to includes at least the following:

    1. The Creator-endowed inalienable rights of the people.
    2. Structure of government, separation of powers with checks and balances.
    3. Frequent and free elections in a representative government.
    4. Rule of law.
    5. Equal justice under the law.
    6. Private property rights.
    7. Federalism.
    8. Due process.
    9. Individual rights as set forth in the Bill of Rights.
    10. Individual responsibility.

A passing grade in the course shall be required for graduation from high school.

Is your school board following the law?

A City That Has Forgotten Its Heritage

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The Daily Caller is reporting today that the City of Boston is being sued by Liberty Council for refusing to include a Christian flag in a 248-flag display on Constitution Day in 2017 and 2018.

The article notes:

“The city’s application policy refers to the flagpoles as a ‘public forum’ open to ‘all applicants,”’ Shurtleff said in a statement, “City officials have never denied the ‘messages’ communicated by Boston Pride and the pink and blue ‘transgender’ flag, and even the flags of Communist China and Cuba, but will not allow the civic and historical Christian message of Camp Constitution.

Boston has allowed the pride flag, Turkish flag, communist Chinese flag and Cuban flag — among others — to fly high and proud above city hall. Their reason for disallowing Camp Constitution’s Christian flag: no non-secular flags permitted, the lawsuit filed by the group says.

However, the Turkish flag is not secular. Turkey is one of 21 different nations with an Islamic symbol on their flag.

The article concludes:

“Censoring religious viewpoints in a public forum where secular viewpoints are permitted violates the First Amendment,” said Liberty Counsel’s Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said in a statement. “Boston city officials may not ban the Christian flag as part of a privately-sponsored event when they allow any other flag by numerous private organizations. It’s time for the court to stop the city’s unconstitutional censorship,” he added.

Camp Constitution executives are optimistic about “key undisputed facts” that will compel the court in their favor. They say the city changed their parameters about the flags after their application and that the refusal is “content-based” discrimination.

The City of Boston’s press office did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation for comment at the time of publishing.

Christianity is a major part of America’s heritage. The Judeo-Christian moral principles form the basis for our legal system. It seems a little odd to allow the Islamic flag to be flown and not allow the Christian flag to be flown.

Looking Past The Obvious In The Internal Revenue Service (IRS)Scandal

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It has become an accepted fact that under Lois Lerner the IRS targeted conservative groups. However, if you look at the IRS BOLO (be on the lookout order) relating to the targeting, there is another group of organizations that is targeted.

According to an article in yesterday’s Washington Post:

According to the inspector general’s report (pp. 30 & 38), this particular IRS targeting commenced on Jan. 25, 2012 — the beginning of the election year for President Obama’s second campaign. On that date: “the BOLO [‘be on the lookout’] criteria were again updated.” The revised criteria included “political action type organizations involved in … educating on the Constitution and Bill of Rights.”

The article points out that the BOLO is not “viewpoint-neutral.” It does not target groups obfuscating or denigrating the Constitution–only those educating Americans on what the Constitution says. Learning about the Constitution is seen as a danger to America. Wow! We’ve come a long way from our Founding Fathers, who believed that educating future generations on the Constitution was one of the things necessary to preserve our Republic.

The article further reports:

This is a new low for American government — targeting those who would teach others about its founding document. Forty years ago, President Richard Nixon went to great lengths to try to conceal the facts of his constitutional violations, but it never occurred to him to conceal the meaning of the Constitution itself, by targeting its teachers. Politicians have always been tempted to try to censor their political adversaries; but none has been so bold as to try to suppress constitutional education directly. Presidents have always sought to push against the constitutional limits of their power; but never have they targeted those who merely teach about such limits. In short, never before has the federal government singled out for special scrutiny those who would teach their fellow citizens about our magnificent Constitution. This is the new innovation of Obama’s IRS.

The article concludes:

Five years ago, Obama, our constitutional law professor-in-chief, presented his first, ringing Constitution Day proclamation: “To succeed, the democracy established in our Constitution requires the active participation of its citizenry. Each of us has a responsibility to learn about our Constitution and teach younger generations about its contents and history.” Quite so. Perhaps this year, Obama could explain why his IRS would target those who answered this call.

Teach your children well–your future and theirs depends on it.