Second Ten Postings of Gravitas

The following list of titles and accompanying dates refers to past postings on the blog, Gravitas: A Voice for Civics Education, that have been deleted.  After each title and date, the entries below include the first paragraph of each respective posting.  If you care to receive a copy of a particular posting, send your request via email to gravitascivics@gmail.com .  One posting per request.IS CIVILITY A LEGITIMATE CONCERN FOR CIVICS EDUCATION?

(October 11, 2010)

On a practical level, parents and teachers should, and I would observe are, concerned with the extent to which we live in a civil society. After all, should not civic education and social studies in general be about giving our youth the knowledge and skills to be pleasant and constructive citizens and promote a citizenry disposed to helping one another? Upon reflection, different people might have differing views on this question.

CIVILITY AND VALUES EDUCATION

(October 17, 2010)

The question of whether or not civility is a legitimate topic for civic education might be a touchy one for some. When you get into issues of civility, you roam into normative questions: what is proper and improper behavior? Do public schools have the responsibility of imparting appropriate values?

OFFENSIVE HOUSE OF WORSHIP?

(October 18, 2010)

As I was writing the first draft of this posting a few weeks back, the television news and commentary was teeming with the uproar over a curious concern. Apparently in New York City, there was (and I believe still is) a political storm over where to place a house of worship. Actually it is better described as a cultural center with an area for prayer, but why get stuck on the details? Islamic adherents of that city decided to build a “mosque” a block and half away from ground zero. That is, the center will be built a short distance from where the World Trade Center towers were attacked by Islamic terrorists. This is seen by many as an offense to the victims of that attack and their loved ones.

ANOTHER APPROACH

(October 22, 2010)

In my last posting, I suggested an ideal process for those involved with placing an Islamic cultural center near Ground Zero in New York. The planned placement of this center has caused much distress. Summarily, I called for those involved to have been able to foresee the outcry and to take a proactive approach designed to avoid this conflict. I do not believe that what I proposed is necessarily the most practical or the only way the conflict could have been avoided. I do not even claim that it is or was at all possible. What I do claim is that the scenario I outlined reflects a different approach to public issues than the one exhibited by the participants of this New York drama.

CONSTITUTIONALITY OF A POWERFUL GOVERNMENT

(October 25, 2010)

In our current political campaigns for the upcoming Congressional elections, several ideas are being bandied about that need to be seriously addressed and, at least, questioned. These ideas are coming from the far right and primarily are part of the message the Tea Party is spouting. I hesitantly choose this issue because this blog is not meant to be partisan. However, there are a host of claims that relate to our constitutional makeup and the intentions of our founding fathers that I believe to be inaccurate.

There is nothing more central to civics education than clear ideas as to what our constitution means. Unfortunately, for what seems to be political reasons, current policy debates are being argued not from what would be prudent courses of action, but from what is constitutional. When the Constitution is being abused, responsible political discourse should identify such abuse. But when the argument is about what is good or best for the country in terms of specific courses of governmental action, then the issue is not the constitutionality of that policy. Attempts to conflate prudence with constitutionality tend to do harm. Those who engage in such efforts – as is being done in the current campaign season – are popularizing misinformation.

THE OTHER CONSTRAINT ON POWERFUL GOVERNMENT

(October 29, 2010)

Let me pick up where the last posting left off. Again, civic understanding must cover the basic Constitutional elements. In the last posting, I might have left the impression that the only constraint on government under our system was the procedural process by which legislation is adopted. My point was that for most policy proposals, this process is what most effectively restrains the actions of government. But process is not the only limiting provision. Of course, the Bill of Rights is a set of protections for sustaining liberty. These cannot be underestimated as a pure constraint on governmental power.

MORE FORMAL EVIDENCE OF INCIVILITY

(November 1, 2010)

Early on in these postings, I alluded to the fact that many have expressed concern about the lack of civility in our society. I further mentioned that due to this concern and other practical realities associated with this alleged deficiency, civics education should, to a much greater degree, address the manifestations of incivility. But perhaps you are skeptical about the extent of the problem.

AN ELECTION STORY

(November 5, 2010)

Let me tell you a story. There was a Congressman who represented a district in the South. The district has within its boundaries a state capital and two universities. Fairly well-educated area. The electorate repeatedly voted for this fairly conservative Democrat and he was considered to be what they call a Blue Dog.

PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY AND CITIZENSHIP

(November 8, 2010)

Many of us are currently concerned with the economy. How do civic conditions affect the current economic problems? To some this might be a bit of a stretch, but I do believe there is a connection. To have you see the connection, I have to reveal, in a more detailed fashion, my civics construct. In the November 1 posting of this blog, I utilized Robert Putnam's idea of social capital. Paraphrasing Putnam's definition, social capital is a societal quality characterized by having an active, public-spirited citizenry, egalitarian political relations, and a social environment of trust and cooperation; it speaks to communal bonds and cooperative interactions. It hints at a level of meaningful selflessness. While this whole notion has to be developed (I am not talking about instituting a pie in the sky nirvana), Putnam's idea does refer to people looking at their society as something greater than their immediate interests and ambitions. I will write a great deal about what exactly I am promoting by my use of the concept, social capital. For the sake of simplicity, let me just write that good citizens are those who embrace social capital as a positive ideal and are willing to seek its qualities in themselves and in their associations and community.

DEMANDS OF CONSISTENT THINKING

(November 12, 2010)

What characterizes a populace that is well educated in civic affairs? Reasonably, we can expect a populace to be consistent and rational in its expressed opinions concerning political and governmental conditions of the day. It should be able to see the more obvious and reasonable consequences of its favored political policy options. Do we, as a people, meet this standard?