Here's Hoping History Does Not Repeat Itself

 

I am reading These Truths, Jill Lepore’s insightful history of the United States from 1492 to 2016.   Her description (on page 244) of Congress during the war with Mexico in the 1840s rang a warning bell:

Nearly as soon as the war with Mexico began, members of Congress began debating what to do when it ended.  They spat venom.  They pulled guns.  They unsheathed knives.  Divisions of party were abandoned; the splinter in Congress was sectional.  Before heading to the Capitol every morning, southern congressmen strapped bowie knives to their belts and tucked pistols into their pockets.  Northerners, on principle, came unarmed.”

 

            Charles Dickens was in the U.S. at the time and wrote, “It is the game of these men, and of their profligate organs, to make the strife of politics so fierce and brutal, and so destructive of all self-respect in worthy men, that sensitive and delicate-minded persons shall be kept aloof, and they and such as they be left to battle out their selfish views unchecked.”  Meetings of the House of Representatives, he observed, were “the meanest perversion of virtuous Political Machinery that the worst tools ever wrought.”

            The struggle, of course, was over whether new territories acquired from Mexico would be slave states or free states.  In two decades, the Civil War would give an answer.

            As 2021 began, we saw a deadly insurrection in the U.S. Capitol, spurred on by a President who lost the election and wanted to reverse the will of the electorate.  We saw many Republican Congress members support the President as other members called for impeachment.  We saw metal detectors installed in the entries to the House chamber and at least one Representative vowing to bring her gun to her desk. 

            Let us hope that, as the impeachment trial looms, Congress can maintain discipline and respect for the oaths that its members have taken—and respect for the citizens they serve.

Looking Ahead: The New Elections Environment

 We have just come through one of the ugliest post-election periods in American history.  Donald Trump, who spent the past four years of his Presidency courting the far-right wing of the Republican Party, lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden.  Instead of accepting his loss, he spent the next two months complaining that he had won in a landslide, that the election had been rigged against him, and that multiple states had committed election fraud to keep him from a second term.  He went to court multiple times to challenge state elections and lost every time.  Then, when the House of Representatives met to confirm the election results, he instigated an attack on the U.S. Capitol that took five lives and brought into sharp focus the deep racial and class animosities that had helped put him into office.

            Joe Biden will soon be inaugurated and will have the threat of insurgency as yet another concern that will likely distract the nation from ending the corona virus pandemic and from responding to the growing economic and social crises that the pandemic has generated.  Mistruths about the election—which have activated a national network of right-wing extremists—will make it difficult to find common ground.

            For the record, I do not believe that the 2020 presidential election was rigged in any way.  That said, I do think that, in recent years, the election process has adapted, in part, to the availability of new technologies and, in part, to social changes as the Information Society has matured.  The pandemic spurred on those changes as States sought to ensure effective voter access in a time of social distancing.  In response, States provided greater mail-in balloting, early voting, and use of newer voting machines as examples. 

These changes are valid, to be sure.  However, the misinformation around the 2020 election have created voter distrust in the system, which continues to fuel a backlash.  Looking ahead, we need to build public confidence in both the social value and the operational validity of this new voting model that reflects social and technological changes that will be with us for many years to come.

            While there is no need to analyze the voting processes in each state to look for widespread fraud, I do think that the public interest would be well-served if President Biden would appoint a commission to look at the new election environment and identify best practices that States can use to ensure effective access to voting for all and allow the public to have full trust in the election process.  The goal is not to reject these innovations, but to educate the public and give voters in all states confidence that the process is valid and to protect the rights of all voters.  Some items to consider:

·      The issue of “gerrymandering.”  The Commission should look at how states determine their electoral districts and identify ways to best organize districts that avoid gerrymandering, ensure that all citizens have equal opportunity to have their voices heard, and ensure that districts are not gerrymandered to artificially create an advantage for any one party.  Gerrymandering remains an important issue; the public needs shared guidelines for how to define a voting district in a way that promotes fair access by citizens.

·      Mail-in Ballots.  This voting method was especially popular in 2020 due to the corona virus pandemic, which made people reluctant to stand in long lines to vote. The dramatic acceptance of this voting method caused many to be suspicious of the process.  The Commission should look at how different States organized mail-in balloting and recommend to the States models that proved to be most successful in the 2020 election.  The result would be standards that would build confidence among voters.

·      Early Voting.  This is the other major change in how citizens had access to voting this past year.  The Commission should compare how different States handled early voting and then identify some best practices that States could follow in future elections.  One challenge is to identify practices that will ensure that all voters—regardless of age, race, employment, etc.—have equal and effective access.

·      Record Keeping.  With multiple opportunities for voting—mail-in, early, and on the traditional election day—people will want to be sure that their votes are always counted but also that the process is protected from the idea that people would try to vote more than once.

·      Counting the Vote.  When should mail-in ballots be officially counted?  When should early voting be tabulated and recorded?  How can states best ensure that all votes are recorded and that there are no duplicate or inappropriate votes counted? 

It is essential to ensure that all voters have confidence in the election process—the most sacred of our Constitutional rights—so that they do not fall victim to lies in future elections. 

Educating for Democracy

 

When I was in high school in the first half of the 1960s, the idea of democracy was integral to the curriculum. We were still in the midst of the Cold War—a situation made more dramatic by the space race.  But the country was also facing a Civil Rights battle, the early stages of the War in Vietnam, and the beginning of the youth rebellion, as early Baby Boomers reached their teen years inspired by the achievements of role models who had come of age in the late fifties.  Many of our teachers were WWII veterans or had family who fought in that war or in Korea. 

The post-war goal of creating citizens who could protect democracy and solve social problems was built into the social studies curriculum.  Ninth grade social studies devoted one semester to Pennsylvania history and another to the structure of government.  Tenth grade was western civilization.  Eleventh was U.S. history.  Twelfth grade was Problems of Democracy, a year-long focus on the Constitution and historical and current Constitutional issues. 

We graduated into the chaos of Vietnam, youth rebellion, the civil rights movement, rock and roll, and the technology revolution.  Interesting times, for sure.  That high school curriculum helped us steer our way through the social changes that surrounded us.

When I look around at the world today, I worry whether young adults in the 2020s are being prepared by their high school curriculum to respond to the social challenges of a multicultural, global society in a global information-based economy.  I checked out the social studies curriculum at my high school alma mater.  It looks like this:

            Ninth Grade:               Western Civilization

            Tenth Grade:               U.S. History

            Eleventh Grade:          Civics and Government, plus an Elective

            Twelfth Grade:            Electives

Elective choices include:  Western Civilization, Advanced Western Civilization, U.S. History, Advanced U.S. History, Civics and Government, World Cultures, Human Geography, Social Issues, and Psychology, along with some dual enrollment opportunities.

            I use my own alma mater as an example, confident that it is not too far from the norm. The curriculum potentially covers a lot of ground when you include electives.  The question, though, is whether everyone gets the basics needed for a graduating senior to successfully participate in the social, political, and civic environments of today’s global information society.  That is:  Are we educating our students to be effective citizens?

It is a question that came home to roost yesterday, when a large number of extremists invaded the U.S. Congress in a insurrection prompted by the sitting U.S. President that took four lives and embarrassed our nation internationally.  How do we, as a nation, educate ourselves out of this situation?  After January 20, the educational community should come together to ask what we can do to better educate our citizens—all of our citizens—to succeed in their role as citizens of a constitutional democracy.

A Lesson from James Madison

 

I am reading These Truths, Jill Lepore’s comprehensive history of the United States from 1492 to the present.  The chapter I’m reading now focuses on early attempts to organize a national government and the shift from the Articles of Confederation to the U.S. Constitution.  She notes that, in 1787, as this transformation was in process, James Madison drafted an essay called “Vices of the Political System of the United States,” in which he looked what a new Constitution must achieve. 

 

One concern, Madison noted, was “the people themselves,” the inherent danger that the majority represented to the minority.  “In republican Government,” he wrote, “the majority, however composed, ultimately give the law.  Whenever therefore an apparent interest or common passion unites a majority what is to restrain them from unjust violations of the rights and interests of the minority, or of individuals?”

 

In other words, Lepore writes, “What force restrains good men from doing bad things?  Honesty, character, religion—these, history demonstrated, were not to be relied upon.  No, the only force that could restrain the tyranny of the people was the force of a well-constructed constitution.  It would have to be as finely wrought as an iron gate” (p. 119).

 

It is a concern that is very relevant today.  The two major political parties have each moved to extremes, leaving the political middle ground with few champions in the parties, thus encouraging extremism.  On one hand, we cannot allow the majority to ride roughshod over minorities if we are to have a truly equal society.  On the other, we cannot let an elitist minority make it impossible for the majority to find a productive and happy life.  We need to honor a “well-constructed constitution” that protects all citizens from extremism.  Especially in today’s environment, we need to focus on keeping our government wed to the Constitution and not let idealogues lead us from it. 

 

It is amazing how Madison and the other framers of our Constitution continue to teach us.