Dreyfuss has it right IMHO.

Of all people, Richard Dreyfuss apparently agrees with you regarding teaching civics:
https://www.theepochtimes.com/actor-r...

In his book, Dreyfuss asserts that civics has not been taught in American public schools for over 50 years.

Civics has not been completely abandoned by schools, as many schools teach a subject named civics,
but they do not teach about how the republic governs itself, and the requirements vary from state to state.
As a result, students lack proficiency in civics.

Peter Wood, president of the National Association of Scholars, said in a 2018 report (pdf) that large
percentages of college students could not answer basic questions about the American political order
because most of them never had any basic instruction in civics.

This reflects “the neglect of traditional civics instruction at every level of education, from grade
school through college,” Wood said in the report.

The Association of American Colleges and Universities said in its 2012 report commissioned by
the Department of Education (pdf) that “only 24 percent of graduating high school seniors scored
at the proficient or advanced level in civics in 2010, fewer than in 2006 or in 1998.”

“Among 14,000 college seniors surveyed in 2006 and 2007, the average score on a civic literacy
exam was just over 50 percent, an F,” the report said. “Half of the states no longer require civics
education for high school graduation.”

Wood said that civics in the traditional American sense meant learning about how the republic governs itself.

Wood said civics should include instruction about the government branches, the obligations of
citizenship, constitutional rights, and the system of checks and balances that divide the states
from the federal government. Students should learn how citizens take responsibility for their
government, which includes voting, serving on juries, running for office, and serving in the military, Wood wrote.

Civics also teach people how to get along with the human proclivity for having different opinions, Dreyfuss said.

“No one expects everyone to have the same opinion,” he said, adding that the idea that everyone
should agree came about because people stopped defending republican democracy via the Constitution.

This country is defined by the Constitution, Dreyfuss said.

“It requires a dissent. And it requires an argument. That’s called perfection,” he said.

During a Q&A session at the Hunter College event, Dreyfuss said that civics should be taught
“from kindergarten on and in every class,” not just in the highest grades, likening it to how the Ten
Commandments are being taught every Sunday to religious believers.

People should learn the Constitution “because it’s the largest step forward in moral progress in the
history of the human race,” he added.

Dreyfuss said at the event that he wrote his book to remind people that they are “the sovereign
power in America.”

If someone gets elected to Congress, that official is not the people’s boss, Dreyfuss told the audience.

“They’re not our boss. They are our servants, public servants,” he said.

If they do not do what people ask them to do and if they do not constantly ask what people want,
people should “get rid of them and take over the government that they took from us,” Dreyfuss said.

James Madison warned against it and vetoed such a bill sent to him by Congress. It was also noted by the following:

“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed through this sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; From spiritual faith to great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to selfishness; From selfishness to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage.”
― Alexander Fraser Tytler

IMHO we're into the dependence stage as a nation bordering on bondage...

Published in the same year as The Fountainhead.
I bought a first edition with jacket in very fine condition on Ebay for $15 in 2001.
Today the only first edition is a library copy in only fair condition with no jacket for $199.
I wish my other 'investments' were as good. ;^)

I suppose thats it in a nutshell. The problem is the our government can take from ONE and give to ANOTHER. Take that power away and all this crap stops

I like the idea of a robot bartender, or a robot chef for that matter. How about a cherry 2000 (was a movie years ago). And start off with 100% kiosks done right in all fast food places. Maybe regular restaurants also....

Exactly.

Our biggest problem is that our government is allowed to take from ONE and give to ANOTHER. That should NOT be allowed. The government is allowed to exist to serve the people as cheaply as possible in the interest of citizens safety and protection of their rights. Thats ALL. No butthead regulating transportation, no czar of education or medical care or banking, etc.

I'm finding it bit of a tough read so far, but very interesting.

Some of her comments about education being socialist indoctrination sound like today's headlines. And it was published in 1943! It's been going on much longer than I thought. Reminds me of Paul Simon:

"When I think back on all the CRAP I learned in high school,
It's a wonder I can think at all. "

Excellent book. 👍

I am currently reading "The God of the Machine" (Paterson) and she makes the same point. Voting was originally, and still should be, limited to property owners. They at least have some "skin in the game". She traces the flaw back to reconstruction, when the states no longer controlled voter registration, but were told they had to let everyone vote.

And every potential voter must pass the final exam at the polling place before any vote can be cast.

I think that people who take money from the government should do so with a tradeoff: their ability to vote. Same thing for those who want to do drugs.

That's not to say I don't thing we should be teaching civics classes every year from first grade... We should. Every high school student by the time they are eligible to vote should be able to tell you the three branches of government and their roles - not only what the can do but what they can't. They should be able to tell you who their specific Senators and Representatives are. They should be able to tell you what a Whig was. They should be able to tell you who participated in writing the Federalist Papers and what the major arguments were both for and against having a Federal government. They ought to know what a Federal government is and the difference between it and the States - and where the lines get drawn on who holds authority.

I could go on but I think you get the point.

Not necessarily. We might never know for sure if Obama was born in Kenya or Hawaii. With the technology of today I bet anyone could produce a birth certificate saying any state or country they desire.

Very colorful way to put it! LOL!

Interesting materials. Hard to believe I never heard of him until now. Being born in India, wouldn't that make him ineligible for POTUS?

I know ppl who say they get news from multiple sources - & have CNN on all day.

Plus plus plus++++

Agreed. One term only. No reelection.
No moving from House to Senate or to POTUS. No lobbying.
One term and get back to real work or starvation if too lazy to do real work.

yes, we NEED term limits of some fashion

welfare parasites
government worker parasites
the mentally ill (trans, ect)
those hoping for government checks

will for democrat no matter what

politics today is all about acceptance of propaganda, and people today have been trained to be emotionally driven, which sets them up for propaganda. Facts take a back seat to emotionally charged propaganda today, and its too bad. When I see a statement from people today, I immediately look for the hidden agenda and pretty much discount the emotional content o the statement

Universal suffrage was and is a mistake.
Half the people could not pass a simple math test and they shouldn't be able to vote
without the ability to understand a budget and balancing a bank account, not to mention
understanding the limits that the Constitution was intended to place upon government.

Far too many have far too much to lose if/when all the dirty laundry gets aired! For this reason we are not likely to ever see it. For those of us here who actually think our Republican/Conservative reps are without sin, you might want to think again. The drain at the bottom of the swamp is clogged with plenty of red and blue turds.