I think we are clearly seeing the result of high schools no longer requiring that Civics be taught before you can graduate. So in the interest of educating certain Republican members of the House of Representatives and members of the Tea Party I will attempt to set a few things straight.
1. There are three branches of government, not four. Yes, I’m looking at you Representative Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma. His exact quote. “This country isn’t ran by just one individual it’s ran by four branches, but three branches that are in control of this,” And after reading that I think perhaps English grammar is also no longer being taught in American high schools.
2. Over the weekend Tea Party activist and birther Larry Klayman said at the WWII Memorial “I call upon all of you to wage a second American nonviolent revolution, to use civil disobedience, and to demand that this president leave town, to get up, to put the Quran down, to get up off his knees, and to figuratively come up with his hands out.” He later corrected the final word to be “up” as in surrender. Okay, there is no religious test to hold elected office in America. The framers of the Constitution were very clear on that point. So it wouldn’t matter if we had a president who was Muslim, or worshipped the Great Spaghetti Monster. Let me repeat this — There is No Religious Test to Hold Office In the United States of America! Got that?
3. There are only two ways to repeal or overturn legislation that has become the law of the land. The Supreme Court rules the law unconstitutional (the ACA was found to be Constitutional). Or you win elections, and have enough votes to repeal a particular law. You do not threaten to shoot the country you profess to love in the head in an effort to have a law repealed.
I’m sure tomorrow will bring a whole slew of new examples of Why We Need to Teach Civics in High School, but this is a depressing enough list for one evening.
True colors of RepubliKKKan sub-section of their party is becoming manifest daily
I think Klayman needs to be taught US History as well. He refers to a “second American nonviolent revolution”. What was the first? I seem to recall that the original American revolution was VERY violent, resulting in many deaths.
I think Klayman is trying to avoid falling afoul of the Sedition Act. He’s at least that cunning.
And I hope we all enjoy the fall off the debt limit cliff. I think it’s going to happen. What a shame John Boehner proved to be such a weak man.
As a criminal defense attorney, I have known for quite some time now that civics is no longer taught in our schools.
I didn’t need to see the Republicans, who are more than happy to turn America into a third-world country because most of them already mooch off us, anyway, and could use a more-exploitable workforce, act all Republicanny.
One look at anyone in power in America today is enough to show that civics is dead because civics created a more level playing field for all Americans.
If you want to have a rule of men (in this case, Republicans, whose women are just showpieces) instead of a rule of law, civics is the first thing that you have to stop teaching.
Well democracy only works if the people are educated!
Perhaps Business Ethics 101 needs to be taught in University as well…
Couldn’t agree more, Mark when I see what went on in the big trading firms leading up to the financial collapse. They really were living with the mantra “greed is good”, and they still are. Their bonuses were barely touched, CEO’s receive obscene compensation when compared to average workers. My dad, who was a very successful business man, is spinning in his grave. His company employed 170 people. He provided high end health care. He set up funds to help them get their kids to college, he paid well and people stayed with the company for decades. We lived upper middle class, but everybody who worked for him was solidly in the middle class. He was a man who handshake was his bond. He never broke his word.