Cleaning up the effects of poor civics education

Does the spectacle of our national elections and state of government appall you? Here’s my point of view about it.

Never before has the American people’s protest against the status quo, and the so-called professionals who direct political and government activity, reached such a level. Just look at the crowds who have gone to personally see Sanders and Trump — compared to the pitiful turnouts for establishment candidates of both parties. In many ways this protest exceeds the public upset leading up to the US Revolutionary War.

And why not?

American deaths or injury from government incompetence or corruption is accelerating. Statistically, death by government agent (“afraid for their lives”) is in the top 12 ways to violently die as an American. Even averaging in 9/11 deaths, American death by terrorist doesn’t even statistically beat death from nature (lightning strikes, etc.) This is ignoring all the misery and hardship our current economic conditions perpetrate. It may be hard to believe, but the answers to this political sewage are in our political heritage.

Recognizing this, the Alaska Legislature honored their oaths of office. They unanimously passed a resolution to form a task force this year to investigate and then make recommendations about civics education in Alaska. We must hope or pray that the task force has the courage to look into how not practicing elements of our political heritage underlies the political sewage we’re suffering from.

How is our political sewage traceable to a lack of knowledge and practice of elements of our political heritage?

First, Americans have been allowing our nation and states to be elected monarchies, supported by elected nobilities, all of which gets guided by an aristocracy of special interests. We are supposed to be a constitutional republic where the executive branch is checked and balanced by law-making representatives, and a law-interpretative judicial branch — all under the influence of ordinary people.

Next, it’s provable (as shown to Alaska House and Senate Education Committees) that the definition of “represent” taught and used today is NOT the one used by our founding fathers! The political definition now used is “be an agent or official on behalf of.” Now the Founders had no dictionaries like we have. Instead, their understanding of words came from the Latin or Greek origins of English words. Hence, to them, “represent” meant to “show or present again.” So it’s the people’s output that is represented — not just the output of Democratic/Republican party elites, lobbyists, experts, and campaign funding donors. This original definition of “represent” naturally aligns with the idea that America has government of, for, and by the People.

But under compliance to the modern corrupted definition, elites take it upon themselves to decide what’s best for the people. By their conduct, to them we’re all at most mentally challenged barking dogs — needing to have their betters decide and conduct their care. Accordingly, agreeable propaganda goes out and events like elections are staged for entertainment that seemingly shows how well we, the ruled, “determine our fates.” Yet when feel-good democratic processes aren’t going the way the Establishment wants, obvious corruption wells up as with a backed-up toilet. Thus, all the people necessary for widespread election fraud and voter suppression in US primaries — as we’ve seen these past months — blatantly justify brazen philosophical treason, even to themselves.

Next, weak or incompetent civics education suppresses the understanding that predominance of lobbyists and special interest influence is a symptom of forms of aristocracy (rule by elites,) not a burden of so-called representative government. It’s self-evident. If constitution-based government by the people through effective representative leaders was actually practiced, money and special interest manipulation of government officials would be too impractical. In effect, an involved citizenry actually protect their government officials from corruption — no matter how imperfect those officials are!

It will take nearly a generation to clean up the effect of poor civics education. More people need to start rejecting being treated as glorified slaves or peasants — who just have to be cared for and protected. More people need to start expecting their representatives to seek their input on how to solve state and national problems. In so doing, these same people will start bearing the true burdens of liberty — and its wife justice. And only then will America return to truly being government of, for, and by the People.

Stuart Thompson is a resident of Wasilla. This column is the opinion of the author and does not necessarily represent the views of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman or its parent company, Wick Communications.