A Little Assigned Reading

So I have a confession to make...

About a week ago, I was playing a trivia board game (Know it or Blow it!) with some friends. Now the questions can get pretty obscure (ex. Name 9 movies in which John Wayne's character dies) and the one I got was "Name the first 10 Amendments to the Constitution". In detail. As in particular phrases that sum it all up. And I'm ashamed to say I only got 6. Out of 10. That's pathetic.

This is a serious problem. If someone like me--who loves the Constitution, owns a copy of it, makes a point of reading it occasionally--can't name all the parts of the Bill of Rights then what does everyone else know about it?

Thinking back on this I realized that it's highly doubtful that most people know what's in documents like the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. Because of my upbringing and my own interest in the subject, I've studied them personally but I don't ever remember studying them in school. At least not in detail.

I remember learning about it in 5th grade (we even had a Revolutionary War! ...which makes me wonder if school is too PC to do that now...). The next time was my junior year in high school in AP US History. Even taking that class I don't think we spent much time on the actual documents although we did talk extensively In AP Government of all classes I'm pretty sure we drew a picture of one amendment in the bill of rights and of course everyone chose the easy ones.

It's frightening what's been done to history classes. Granted, it's not a school's responsibility to teach us, but it's strange that history has become so diluted (can you tell I'm writing this during chem lab?). In the future, will it matter to any of us what day the Battle of Harlem Heights was fought on? Doubtful. But will it be important to know what our Constitution says?

Well, in my opinion, if people actually knew what our government is and is not allowed to do, we'd have run at least half the politicians out of Washington. Soooo, I'd say yes.

Go get a copy of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. They're not expensive. If you listen to right-wing talk radio you can usually get them for free (although you'll be badgered by organizations for the rest of your life after they sell your name). Then read. Then study it. And then you'll have to decide what you're going to do about it.