(Fear not, there'll be no math on this examination!)
Why does every state have the same amount of U.S. Senators, but not the same amount of U.S. Representatives?
Name the three branches of Government?
Which branch of government has the authority to declare war?
Who is the President of the Senate?
This next one is a bit easier:
Name the three top cable news channels?
What year is the next Presidential Election?
Name three political show hosts/pundits/commentators?
The first quiz is one that most natural born U.S. citizens would fail:
It's the USCIS (The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) exam. This is the same exam that all immigrants must pass before being naturalized as citizens of this country. At the heart of the USCIS exam are the civics and history of this nation, the very foundation of this society's existence.
Has anyone noticed that the words politics and government are often used interchangeably? While politics and government are related, thinking of them as synonymous terms would be like an electrician telling someone he or she was an engineer. An engineer may have a knowledge of electric circuits, but it doesn't define what an engineer is. The very same is true for government in relation to politics.
Politics is a tool of government, not the government itself. A government is a system of common agreements and practices which a society uses to ensure safety, security and prosperity. Politics is defined by Merriam-Webster's dictionary as: b) the art or science concerned with guiding or influencing governmental policy.
What we see on cable news networks is about politics. What we see on television is rarely about government or policy, because neither of those topics is very exciting. The only places to honestly see government in action or real discussion about government would be one of the CSPAN channels or a local access channel showing a city council/school board meeting, but how many of you have ever watched or could consistently watch any of those channels? I would guess not many.
Politics, in a matter of speaking, is about what happens when different perspectives, ideas and opinions come together. When a child wants to have more dessert after dinner and decides to ask one parent over the other parent because by doing so he or she believes there is a better chance of getting the desired dessert, that child is engaging in politics. When a group of friends get together to play a pick-up game of basketball and before playing, agree on rules of how they'll play that game, that group is engaging in a form of government.
It is our society's complete ignorance of civics that has, in part, contributed to such a disdain for government, even though most people don't know what it is. The disdain most people feel about the state of this country is actually about politics and not government. However, because only the politics of government gets attention and politics creates such a strong reaction in people, people believe they hate government.
People living in a monarchy or a theocracy might have plenty of reasons to hate the government because those forms of government often make decisions that none of its citizen have any power to inform or change. Ours is a democratic republic form of government, and as such, is directly connected to the citizens that it governs. Hating government in the United States is quite the same as a person hating the mirror they're looking into when s/he doesn't like the reflection they see.
For better and for worst, we are the government and the government is we. It does a great job of reflecting what we are as a country and just like the mirror, hating it will not do anything to help us look or feel any better. The only thing that will fix the ugly reflection we see in government's mirror is to take effective action and address the real issue which is the person standing in front of the mirror.
So, are we going to go buy another mirror OR are we gonna figure out what we need to do to take better care of ourselves so that we can once again smile at the reflection staring back at us?
It is our society's complete ignorance of civics that has, in part, contributed to such a disdain for government, even though most people don't know what it is. The disdain most people feel about the state of this country is actually about politics and not government. However, because only the politics of government gets attention and politics creates such a strong reaction in people, people believe they hate government.
People living in a monarchy or a theocracy might have plenty of reasons to hate the government because those forms of government often make decisions that none of its citizen have any power to inform or change. Ours is a democratic republic form of government, and as such, is directly connected to the citizens that it governs. Hating government in the United States is quite the same as a person hating the mirror they're looking into when s/he doesn't like the reflection they see.
For better and for worst, we are the government and the government is we. It does a great job of reflecting what we are as a country and just like the mirror, hating it will not do anything to help us look or feel any better. The only thing that will fix the ugly reflection we see in government's mirror is to take effective action and address the real issue which is the person standing in front of the mirror.
So, are we going to go buy another mirror OR are we gonna figure out what we need to do to take better care of ourselves so that we can once again smile at the reflection staring back at us?
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