Presidential protestors don't
understand America
Those who carry
signs declaring that Donald Trump isn't their president demonstrate an abysmal
ignorance of American government and constitutional republics – and for that we
can thank our education system.
The inauguration
of Donald Trump was remarkable in many ways, not the least of which was that
six different individuals offered prayers, with four of those prayers ending in
Jesus' name and the other two openly quoting from the Bible. Clearly absent was
the typical government-mandated politically correct prayer. Ministers were once
again allowed to pray according to the dictates of their own conscience, as
originally intended by the U.S. Constitution.
Another unique
feature of his inauguration was the large number of protestors present. Most
were Millennials, and while some focused on single subjects (e.g., immigration,
global warming, ObamaCare), others were still protesting the general election
results. Among the latter group, a common protest sign was "Trump is not
my president." But that statement says more about our education system
than it does about those who held the signs. It affirms the failure of American
education in four areas: American history, government, Constitution, and truth.
First, the sign
was intended to express their outrage over the fact that Hillary won the
popular vote by 2.9 million votes (out of 128.8 million cast) but lost the
presidency – an outcome they believed was unprecedented in the history of
American elections. Only it wasn't. The identical thing has happened in several
other presidential elections. Shame on schools for not teaching basic American
history and why such outcomes occur.
Second, the
message on the sign was rooted in the protestors' mistaken belief that America
is a democracy. But we are not. Those who formed our government hated
democracies and wisely protected us from them. For example, James Madison
affirmed that "democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and
contention [and] incompatible with personal security or the rights of
property." Founder Fisher Ames warned, "A democracy is a volcano
which conceals the fiery materials of its own destruction," and John Adams
lamented that democracy "never lasts long….There never was a democracy yet
that did not commit suicide." For thousands of years, democracies have
consistently proved to be a source of lurking disaster – an unpredictable form
of government where passions and selfishness are allowed to prevail over reason
and deliberation. America was therefore established as a constitutional
republic – what John Adams described as "a government of laws and not
of men." Shame on schools for not teaching basic American government.
Third, the
"Trump is not my president" sign affirmed their unawareness of how presidents
are to be elected according to the Constitution – an election process that
mirrors our federal bicameral system. For example, Wyoming has half-a-million
citizens, but California has 39 million. So in the U.S. House, Wyoming gets
only one congressman while California gets 53, and California will beat Wyoming
on every vote in the House. The popular vote of the House will always prevail
in that chamber. But in the Senate, California gets only two senators – the
same as Wyoming; the representation is solely by state, and every state has
equal voting strength with all others. This is a prominent feature in our
federal system. A bill is not passed merely by the House, which reflects the
popular vote; it also must be passed in the Senate, which reflects the vote by
states.
The protestors
believe that only the national popular vote matters (which Hillary won –
barely). But even though she garnered the votes of most of the largest cities
in America, she did not win the majority of the states, cities, or counties. In
fact, Trump won 30 of the 50 states, more than 80 percent of America's 3,141
counties, and an equally lop-sided percentage of its 35,000 cities. The
protestors were unaware (as are most Americans) that the Constitution
establishes an election system that balances diverse measurements. Shame on schools for not teaching
the Constitution.
Finally, the
declaration that "Trump is not my president" establishes personal
opinion as the ultimate measure of right and wrong – that truth is whatever I
believe or declare it to be. (Polling today shows that two of three Americans
believe that there are no moral absolutes – that every individual is his own
arbiter of what is right and wrong, or moral.) But the problem with this is
that there are absolutes. Jump off the Empire State Building and see what
happens. On the way down you may personally object to what is happening, or be
offended by it, or even vehemently disagree with it, but none of that will
change the results. There is no alternate reality. None. Shame on schools for teaching
students to elevate personal opinion above absolute facts.
It's time that
Americans demand that their schools once again teach American history (so
students know that the popular vote winner does not always win the presidential
election), American government (so they know we are a republic and not a
democracy), the Constitution (so they understand our bicameral federal and
election system), and absolute truth (that personal opinion must submit to
truth and reality). If we don't make these changes, we will not want to
imagine, much less experience, the horrifying results from Abraham Lincoln's
warning that "the philosophy of the schoolroom in one generation will be
the philosophy of government in the next."
God help America
if citizens don't act to change our schools.
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