Read Here: Civics and Civility
Editor's Note: The following is excerpted from "A Republic, If You Can Keep It," by Neil Gorsuch Copyright © 2019 by Neil Gorsuch. Excerpted by permission of Crown Forum. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Due to the clear “Editor’s Note”, I am precluded from posting the article. You can go to the link to read the “excerpted” portion.
Summary:
In this excerpt from 'A Republic, If You Can Keep It,' by Neil Gorsuch he talks about how civics and civility are necessary to sustain our republic. This experiment that we all live in called the United States was created so that the citizenry could self-govern with a government created by The People which would exist to protect the civil liberties of its citizens.
What Judge Gorsuch is saying is that since this nation's inception, the founders knew that what they had created was a very fragile thing. In order to maintain things every citizen would need to be knowledgeable regarding our government's structure and how it works from the local to the national level. This knowledge is required since we are a self governing people, and if The People ever became lazy or complacent then a ruling class could develop due to the ever-day citizen having lost the knowledge of how things should operate and that they could be a part of it. As he puts it, "For us, civic education and engagement are not just ideals; they are indispensable." He then goes on to quote Jefferson, "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free ... it expects what never was and never will be. "
He drives home the point that it isn't just our rights that we must be familiar with, but we must also be familiar with the structures that protect them. Understanding of the limitations of each branch and their separated powers are necessary in order to take full advantage of our rights as well as protect them. Today many Americans are unable to name the branches of government or explain the purpose behind our government's structure. This is because Civics is no longer an important subject in the public school curriculum.