When I went to school, we had a class called Social Studies. I guess they still call it that today. Before that they taught civics as a stand alone course of instruction. In the 1930’s progressive thinkers thought history, geography and economics were closely related and should be taught as one subject, social studies. As with most ideas it took some time to become accepted.

Civics, as a separate course of study, was eliminated in the 1960’s in almost every elementary and high school in America. What caused this to happen? Well, the truth is the topic of civics became divisive and unpopular. That was during the early stages of the cold war, when the commies were the enemy. Communism and socialism were being viewed in the same way. Discussion and study in either of those ideologies was simply glossed over as, bad! End of discussion.

An unfortunate consequence of that decision was creating a population that knew little about their own government beyond the basics. We just learned the basics. I was no different than anyone else in that regard. I confess I had little interest in any of that beyond passing the course. Saying we had a democracy was an acceptable answer! A constitutional republic? Didn’t hear that much, as least I don’t recall that from social studies class.

No, we were taught about the three branches of government. A system of checks and balances. The supreme court gave their opinion on everything and then the congress and the president could argue about that. We did learn it took a majority to win! Two out of three. Seemed simple enough. In actual practice the complexities of that system often stymie legislation.

Ah, politics. We were taught to not discuss religion and politics in polite company because it always created such a fight. That was the reason civics was removed from the curriculum. It was alright to mention that different political systems existed, but we weren’t going to talk about them. We would just settle on calling our government a democracy and leave it at that. In that way avoiding any controversy. Now that’s progress!

Civics, living in a civil society is a part of the human experience. Civics is about the law and the responsibility of citizenship. Many people today do not realize that citizenship is a responsibility, let alone any knowledge about discharging their civic duty. Many believe their civic duty is to vote, that’s it. You know why? Because that is all they were taught.

Beyond the right to vote in federal elections every citizen has an obligation to pay taxes, obey the law, serve on a jury when called, and if a man, register for the selective service. Yes, males are required to defend the nation! We haven’t become so progressive as to demand that of the ladies, but we will allow them to volunteer. There are other civic functions that citizens can engage in as well, such as running for office or participating in local governments.

We just had a midterm election. I’m encouraged that so many know what that means today, not so many years back I’m thinking many would not have known about the various term limits, election cycles, and all of that. Today, on social media we have experts in every field of government! In fact, social media has become the new civics class! And we can all see the problem with that!

The class is uncomfortable at times. If you’re a republican today you are disappointed, disgusted and a bit skeptical. This cycle didn’t go as the republicans had hoped. I’ve always aligned myself with the party of Lincoln, still do. In general, I agree with their platform. There are also areas I don’t agree with.

I remain confident in the republic! It isn’t a simple democracy where a simple majority is enough. In order for any drastic change to take place a super majority is required. That’s a lesson that will be under review over the next two years. We will all be learning about that: again! It is the sole reason that “getting out the vote” is of paramount importance.

I think it was a mistake to combine all those subjects in one class called social studies. Civics, how your government works should be as familiar to you as knowing how to read and write. Thing there is, you should learn about that stuff before you have a “dog” in the fight. That’s the only way to gain an unbiased understanding of the principals involved.