The Best Headline Ever!?
Not sure if this would qualify, but when I saw it in The Sacramento Bee I thought it was a bold testament to the current state of affairs: "A Passion for Liberty Languishes." The article is a local take on the findings of a recent Knight Foundation survey of 112,000 high school students on the First Amendment. The survey, and information on "The Future of the First Amendment" can be found here. Among its findings:
(1) Nearly three-fourths of students either do not know how they feel about the First Amendment or admit taking it for granted.
(2) More than a third think it goes too far in the rights it guarantees.
(3) Not quite half say newspapers should be allowed to publish freely without government approval of stories.
Additionally, three-fourths think that flag burning is illegal. What does this say about the character of American youth? Probably less than it does about the quality of the education they are receiving. David McCullough, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Truman and John Adams, once related a story about a lecture that he gave to a rather prestigious Midwestern liberal arts college. He spoke about the Revolutionary War, and after his talk a young woman (a student) came up to him and thanked him. She told him that prior to his talk she was totally unaware that the 13 colonies were located on the East Coast. To say the least, McCullough was astounded.
Admittedly, it is difficult to get Americans generally worked up about anything resembling constitutional abstractions. But in a vigorous democracy, every citizen would be keenly aware of the history of liberty and continuum of controversies encountered through the ages. The struggle for freedom is central not only to the Anglo-Saxon-American political experience, but also to the story of humankind.
On the other hand, the political class is certain to be happy that the citizenry is largely ignorant of their heritage, for it makes them ever more malleable even as their lives, liberties and sacred fortunes are stripped from them -- not just their right to free speech and association.
If the passion for liberty languishes for American students and the people generally, it is conspicuously absent from the minds and hearts of their representatives.
(1) Nearly three-fourths of students either do not know how they feel about the First Amendment or admit taking it for granted.
(2) More than a third think it goes too far in the rights it guarantees.
(3) Not quite half say newspapers should be allowed to publish freely without government approval of stories.
Additionally, three-fourths think that flag burning is illegal. What does this say about the character of American youth? Probably less than it does about the quality of the education they are receiving. David McCullough, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Truman and John Adams, once related a story about a lecture that he gave to a rather prestigious Midwestern liberal arts college. He spoke about the Revolutionary War, and after his talk a young woman (a student) came up to him and thanked him. She told him that prior to his talk she was totally unaware that the 13 colonies were located on the East Coast. To say the least, McCullough was astounded.
Admittedly, it is difficult to get Americans generally worked up about anything resembling constitutional abstractions. But in a vigorous democracy, every citizen would be keenly aware of the history of liberty and continuum of controversies encountered through the ages. The struggle for freedom is central not only to the Anglo-Saxon-American political experience, but also to the story of humankind.
On the other hand, the political class is certain to be happy that the citizenry is largely ignorant of their heritage, for it makes them ever more malleable even as their lives, liberties and sacred fortunes are stripped from them -- not just their right to free speech and association.
If the passion for liberty languishes for American students and the people generally, it is conspicuously absent from the minds and hearts of their representatives.
posted by Nikos A. Leverenz @ 4:57 PM
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