In Florida, it is never too soon to learn about the dangers of Communism! Governor DeSantis just signed a bill to teach about Communism in schools from K-12.
Some questions:
1) Will students learn about the dangers of Communism or the dangers of dictatorship?
2)Will students learn only about Communism only in Cuba or will they also learn about it in Russia, China, Vietnam, and Cambodia, and elsewhere?
3) Will they learn about the dangers of fascism and study the Nazis and their ideology?
4) Will students learn about dictatorship, whether Communist or fascist, and the ideology and practices they have in common, e.g. censorship of books and public media, suppression of dissent, jailing of dissidents, subservience of the judicial and legal authorities to the dictator, control of what is taught in schools and universities, persecution of ideological enemies, etc.? Assignment of books such as Brave New World, 1984, and Animal Farm. Will students be allowed to study examples of censorship and suppression in our society?
Ryan Dailey writes in The Orlando Sentinel:
Flanked by veterans who served in the Bay of Pigs invasion, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday signed a measure that will lead to the history of communism being taught from kindergarten to the 12th grade in public schools.
“We’re going to tell the truth about the evils of communism,” DeSantis said at the bill signing in Hialeah Gardens.
State lawmakers overwhelmingly approved the measure (SB 1264) during the 2024 legislative session that ended last month. Under the bill, lessons on the history of communism will be added to required instruction in public schools starting in the 2026-27 school year.
The lessons would have to be “age appropriate and developmentally appropriate” and incorporate various topics related to communism, its history in the United States, including tactics used by communists.
“Atrocities committed in foreign countries under the guidance of communism,” also would be required as part of the lessons.
“All of this will be spread across the curriculum K through 12,” said Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. The Department of Education will draw up academic standards for the lessons.
DeSantis signed the bill on the 63rd anniversary of the Bay of Pigs Invasion and was joined at the bill-signing event by people who fought in the invasion in an attempt to overthrow the Fidel Castro regime…
Florida students are already taught about communism in high-school social studies classes and in a seventh-grade civics and government course. A high-school U.S. government class required for graduation also includes 45 minutes of instruction on “Victims of Communism Day.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
A friend of mine who grew up in Florida didn’t know the Holocaust occurred at all until she was in college, & then just because she happened to watch a TV documentary about WW II; & that was long before De Santis. I imagine Florida will continue their fine educational tradition.
The left controls education, so you can blame leftists for your friends historical ignorance. Your example may explain why so many of our students are on the side of terrorist Hamas.
Funny, having worked in US education for about five decades, I have never witnessed “the left control[ling] education.”
You believe everything the Reichwing propaganda sewer spews, don’t you, Jacquilen?
Throughout my entire life, I have dealt with rightwingers who presented roadblocks to innovations in education. And so I find it incredibly rich when rightwingers start talking about “the left controlling education.” Where did that ridiculous idea come from? Well, our culture IN GENERAL has moved way beyond where rightwingers are. The culture IN GENERAL, not just in schools, accepts gay and lesbian and transgender people, thinks that we ought to have universal healthcare, thinks that women and not legislatures should control their bodies. And rightwingers imagine that it’s the schools. It’s teachers doing indoctrination. Let me clue you in, Ms. Hardt: even really leftwing teachers (there are a few) don’t do that in school because they would almost immediately be fired by what are, by and large, conservative administrators. Don’t believe everything you read on Alt Nazi sites, Jacqui.
Would you be willing to underwrite this absurd claim with the tedious formality of, you know, evidence?
yup
I taught down the hall from a fellow who told his students that the Civil War had nothing to do with slavery and was all about the rights of free Southerners to govern themselves.
He wants to teach about communism? Perfect. All kids should know that communism is a stateless, classless, moneyless society in which the workers control the means of production and all basic human needs are met.
That’s the theory, not the reality. In the USSR, the workers got nothing.
I wonder about how Communism will be taught in kindergarten: sharing equally is bad?
TRUE Communism: “It’s never been tried” – said since 1917 by apologists for Communist dictatorships in the Soviet Union, China, North Korea, Cuba, Albania, etc.
Kent – did the workers own the means of production in the Soviet Union? No? Then it’s correct that communism has never been tried.
One of the closest attempts in the modern world, however, is Cuba. Sure, they suffer badly from the American embargo, but given the little they have, they all share relatively equally, no one goes hungry, homeless or medically untreated, and they even export doctors around the world. Is it perfect? No (see American embargo above). But is it preferrable to millions of people living on the streets, going bankrupt from medical treatment (or not being treated at all) while the obscenely rich live in their own walled cities? Yes, by far I’d say.
The workers in Cuba do not own the means of production. 65 years after the revolution, Cuba is a deeply impoverished country.
Yes. Again, that part about “American embargo”.
I am totally opposed to the American embargo. Nothing would threaten the Cuban form of dictatorship as much as lifting the embargo.
And, the workers in Cuba do not own the means of production.
The American embargo against Cuba is an obscenity. It’s evil. Full stop. It needs to freaking end.
I thank dienne77 for being honest in her support for the totalitarian regime in Cuba. Her mindset explains all of the numerous nutty comments that she has posted on this blog. I am willing to pay for a one-way airfare for her to permanently relocate to Cuba where she can enjoy the civil liberties that the natives there have had since 1959.
Thanks, Kent. I spent 10 days in Cuba several years ago. Yes, there is income inequality. The best job is working in a hotel, where waiters get tips. The rulers live very well. Most people are poor. There is an underground free market. Our group ate every night in expensive private restaurants. Ordinary Cubans couldn’t afford to walk in. We bought art from artists who sold their work in their homes at NYC prices. We paid by sending a check to their Swiss bank. An unfree market encourages subterfuge. Those with money live very well. Most don’t.
In kindergarten I would teach how the Pilgrims tried communism and how it failed, so they switched to free markets.
Any system that incentivizes freeriding will fail, obviously. But the modern Socialist states of Europe–the happiest states in the world–don’t do that. They strike a golden mean between communal property and cutthroat rapacious red-in-tooth-and-claw Capitalism. How? By having competitive free markets and private ownership BUT by having steeply graduated taxes that support a reasonable social services network for all. So, in the United States, most seniors walk around with a mouth full of decaying and missing teeth that they can’t afford to get fixed, and in civilized Denmark or Germany this is unheard of.
Kent MichelsWhile I share your sentiment about agent 77. It is a little disingenuous to compare Cuba to MI-AMI. Why not compare Cuba to the rest of Latin America. Compared to Guatemala Cuban authoritarians come out smelling like roses. Why not compare the standard of living and GDP of Cuba to that of the other triangle countries El Salvador, and Honduras, of almost equal size. The Triangle has had American support not sanctions. There are no Communist Countries. China has beaucoup Billionaires and in America “we all too often have socialism for the rich and rugged free enterprise capitalism for the poor” There are no free markets just decisions being made as to who gets what .
So, welcome to my island. There is one banana tree. It belongs to me. There is one fishing net. It belongs to me. There is one freshwater well. It belongs to me. That’s all there is. However, there is a free market for these. If you have bananas (you don’t), you can use them to buy time with the fishing net. If you have a fishing net (you don’t), you can use it to catch fish to trade for bananas. If you have fish or bananas, you can trade them for water from the well.
It’s an entirely free market. No one is making these decisions. It’s all about what the market decides.
ROFL.
When did the Pilgrims try communism? I mean, not that either communism or capitalism really existed back then, but the indigenous people were pretty close to communism – resources shared in common, no private property – and they thrived for hundreds of years. The Pilgrims were a much more class based, moneyed society and the only reason they survived at all was because of the indigenous people who had tended the land to provide the bounty the Pilgrims called “wilderness”. Once that bounty ran out because the Pilgrims didn’t know how to cultivate it, then they had to implement a work-driven, heirarchical, struggle and die, agrarian society to survive, which most of them didn’t.
During the first winter, MORE THAN HALF of the Pilgrims died of starvation, and starving people are not given to communal sharing (LOL), so of course they jettisoned this idea at that time, not because they made a decision that it was best to practice free market Capitalism (that’s an utterly idiotic notion), but because they were behaving in the “everyone for himself or herself” or, at best, “everyone for himself or herself and his or her family” sort of way THAT PEOPLE DO WHEN THEY ARE STARVING. So, Ms. Hardt and the historian she is basing her comment on are clueless about the personal and interpersonal dynamics of that moment. That a professional historian, of all people, should draw such an anachronistic conclusion (that they DECIDED that communitarianism didn’t work), is utterly ludicrous, given the actual situation that the Pilgrims were in. They should go try starving for a couple months to see what state of mind they are in. It is NOT a ratiocinative one. ROFL. They Pilgrims went through The Starving Time and, at the end of it, weren’t inclined toward sharing.
All kids should know that communism is a stateless, classless, moneyless society in which the workers control the means of production, and all basic human needs are met.
yes
Does Florida have any plans at all to return to Constitutional government?Because right now, it is no longer operating under our founding document. It’s operating as a dictatorship.
It’s ironic that dictator DeSantis wants kindergartners to learn about the dangers of communism when it is far more important that they learn to tie their shoelaces. No joke to someone that has seen little ones hit their heads on cinder block walls! The GOP should explain their rationale for siding with Russia and blocking aid to Ukraine, a sovereign nation, that was invaded by Putin regime. The GOP today is an ideological servant to Donald Trump.
This law is an token enticement to Floridian Cubans in order to encourage them to stick with the GOP. Florida Republicans are unhappy with their dwindling numbers among younger Cuban Americans. Democrats should reach out to the younger Cuban Americans to attract them to the party.
DeSantis; Panderer in Chief.
More questions:
Is “Pre-Cognition” or unveiling the future, a useful tool of analysis?
Is mind reading (divination) a useful tool of analysis?
Are Degrees, based on test scores, as valid as the test scores?
If the state had intended to have Teachers in charge of schooling, why aren’t the Teachers in charge of schooling?
Oh, some capitalist entrepreneur is gonna publish a picture book on this. I have the title: Karl Marx for Kids. I like the alliteration.
OK. I’m game. Let’s do it.
Karl for Kids
love it
We could start with an overview for kids of the basic tenets of Marxism. Then we could conclude that no Marxist/Communist state has ever actually been created, just a few Fascist states that coopted the name. The end.
I have a hunch that PragerU already has a K-12 online-video curriculum ready to sell.
It will be amusing to tear that apart. ROFL.
On another note, have you noticed that Donald Trump seems to think that the word unbelievable means really, really great. Gettysburg. What an unbelievable battle. LOL.
No, Donald, it means “not believable,” like everything you say, Donald, you lying sack of shit.
BTW, here’s your Moment of Zen:
(12) Facebook
As Robert E. Lee said, “Wow, that was a big mistake.”
LOL. And then he said, “Do you think we could get In-and-Out Burger to open a shop in Virginia?
Don’t forget “beautiful!” He’s a moron.
NB: The Biden administration is currently considering MASSIVE tariffs on Chinese imports. THIS IS A TERRIBLE MISTAKE. It is pandering to the anti-Chinese mob in the US (created in part by the racist portrayal of China by the Trump maladministration) in an election year.
My grandma used to say, “You catch more flies with honey, baby.” Exactly. Consider this: Russian imports from China in 2021 were 76 billion. US imports from China in the same year were 506 billion.
We need them. They need us. And that mutual dependence makes the world a much, much safer place. The last freaking thing we need to be doing is giving the Chinese a taste of weaning themselves from sales to the United States.
Yay, Temu. Yay Ali Express. You guys are making the world safer for us all.
Cooperation. Not cooption. Not confrontation. Not an eye for an eye until the whole world is freaking blind.
Which does not mean that China should not be subsidizing exports to eliminate competition. We created anti Trust laws for just that purpose. The EU is also claiming China competes unfairly.
That’s what trade negotiations are for.
As in any policy position, whose interest are those Trade negotiations negotiated in. Why are manufacturing jobs expendable but Government enforced monopolies that drive up the cost of vital life saving drugs and of Technology at the top of our trade priorities.
Why has a (low wage) worker been deemed by the Taliban court knowledgeable enough to have known better, when it comes to an employment agreements. Agreements that sign away his legal rights when he takes a Job at say a fast food chain. Yet American mega corporations with banks of Lawyers , Accountants ,Economist and of course the smartest people on the planet sitting on their Boards , deemed to be too feeble when they sign agreements in order to get access to markets or cheep labor.
Will they learn the difference between Socialism and Communism? The GOP loves to confuse the two and use one to vilify the other.
We aren’t talking about Theory, students need to learn about it in Practice. In practice The Russians called themselves Socialists. If you take time to watch their conferences on youtube ( I have), you will find that they use the terms interchangeably. Communism is fueled by unbridled envy and it is completely evil. All you need to look at is the human carnage.
Diane and I have both recommended that people have a look at The Black of Communism, which makes a start at detailing the astonishing death toll wrought by countries that HAVE CALLED THEMSELVES Communist.
However, State Socialism as practiced in, say, the Soviet Union or the Eastern Block under the Soviet Union is NOT Communism as described by Marx and Engels. And with regard to Cuba and China, we could have achieved A LOT MORE by practicing friendly relations with them. “You catch more flies with sugar, baby,” my Grandma used to say. Our policy throughout the twentieth century of supporting Fascist dictators around the globe and failing to support left-leaning grassroots movements was breathtakingly shortsighted and stupid. Yes, we should have opposed the Bolsheviks and Stalin and the flunkies who followed them. But we should have embraced Mossadegh and Allende AND even Castro because over time, those countries and ours would have established mutually beneficial and democratizing relations. This is now possible with China, if we had leadership with any freaking sense on the Repugnican side.
Just a heads up, Ms. Hardt. You will probably want to go to all the schoolboards in Arizona and get them to take this book of the shelves immediately because it is FULL of crazy Socialist ideas like these. Or you could use these to start your own chapter of Christian Socialists in Arizona.
You shall not oppress your neighbor, . . . but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.
—Leviticus 19:13, 18
For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt.
— Deuteronomy 10:17–19
When you reap in your harvest in the field, and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it. … When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over the boughs again. … When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not glean it afterward; it shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless and the widow. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this.
— Deuteronomy 24:19–22
Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.
— Psalms 82 (81): 3, 4
Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in his commandments! … He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever; his horn is exalted in honor.
— Psalms 112 (111): 1, 9
Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. … [C]ease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow.
— Isaiah 1:15–17
He who loves gold will not be justified, and he who pursues money will be led astray by it. Many have come to ruin because of gold, and their destruction has met them face to face. It is a stumbling block to those who are devoted to it, and every fool will be taken captive by it.
— Sirach 31: 5–7
But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. Before him all the nations will be gathered, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will tell those on his right hand, ‘Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry, and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you took me in. I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to me.’
Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, and feed you; or thirsty, and give you a drink? When did we see you as a stranger, and take you in; or naked, and clothe you? When did we see you sick, or in prison, and come to you?’
The King will answer them, ‘Most certainly I tell you, because you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ Then he will say also to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you didn’t give me food to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink; I was a stranger, and you didn’t take me in; naked, and you didn’t clothe me; sick, and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’
Then they will also answer, saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and didn’t help you?
Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Most certainly I tell you, because you did not do it to one of the least of these, you didn’t do it to me.’ These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.
—Matthew 25:31-46
“There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
“Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.’
“Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’ Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, Father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’ “
—Luke 16:19-31
On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
“What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
—Luke 10:25-37
Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up for treasure for the last days. Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you have kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.
— James 5:1–6
All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.
— Acts 2, 44–45
All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions were his own, but they shared everything they had.
Acts 4:32
I believe that this is the same jacquilenhardt who was confidently predicting that Trump was going to win the country by a landslide in 2020. LOL.
Yeah. But he did win, don’t you know. You see, Biden imported hundreds of thousands of “mules”–reptilian aliens from Alpha Draconis–who entered the country via a space port beneath Hilary’s pedopizzaparlor and trucked ballots printed by Satan’s workshops in Venezuela to drop-off boxes all over the country set up by those other illegal aliens and murderers trucked in by caravanload by George Soros, who ordered said already completed ballots from Venezuela using Hunter Biden’s laptop. So, Donnie really won. Really. Rudy Gouliani and Mike Nite-Nite Pillow and Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale are going to reveal the STARTLING EVIDENCE that proves this ANY DAY NOW as soon as Mike can get back into his warehouse and there will be a do-over that gives Trump, rightfully, the third term that he deserves after this THEFT. ROFL.
It would be great if the right could learn the difference between socialism where the means of production belong to the state and democratic socialism where citizens pool resources for services administered through the government: roads, bridges, police, fire and public education. In most Western countries it includes healthcare as well.
A lot of what Marx said was prediction of his future, which is us. Any treatment of Marx needs to answer the question of why Marx has not been accurate up to now and what he got right. Marx predicted the collapse of capitalism, which has not happened, but he did not predict the rise of powerful labor within democratic society. Marx advocated for actively pushing society in what he considered an inevitable direction, but many thought of his ideas as utopian, organic in their unfolding.
Let’s make sure first graders learn all that.
ROFL. The reason why what Marx and Engels predicted did not happen is that Capitalism ameliorated its worst excesses. If it had continued in the form that Marx and Engels met it, it would have met inevitable collapse. It was not sustainable. There would have been eat the rich moments everywhere.
Bob, I apologize for saying it was Trump, not Biden, who wants to raise tariffs on China. Trump wants to raise them in all Chinese imports. ESP cars. Biden announced today that he wants to triple tariffs on Chinese steel to protect jobs in the U.S. steel industry.
Steel and aluminum. But yeah, at least Biden’s proposal is rational (see Joel’s comments above). Trump’s is his usual expression of utter ignorance. The fools still thinks that when we put tariffs on a country’s goods, that country pays them. Trump is an utter idiot. He has no idea what whatever he is saying even means. Clueless. And the terribly shocking thing is that his audience doesn’t know this. They are so ignorant that they don’t know that Trump is just making stuff up to get them mad so that they will vote for him. Just pulling it out of his enormous tushy.
Biden considers steel like chip manufacturing to be a matter of national security. If we cannot trust China, Biden wants the US to have the ability to produce its own steel if we have to cut ties with China. He’s getting the US ready for when China invades Taiwan.
“Inevitable” is a foolish word to use.
Yes, and there was a lot of foolishness in Marx, starting with his determinism. A really big couple of examples of foolishness were these: a) that he didn’t describe what his Dictatorship of the Proletariat was going to be like and how it would operate and b) didn’t explain how that would wither away. He had a pretty inflated view of his abilities, that one. I did a speech once to my Rotary Club on foolish prognostications throughout history. Putting that together was great fun. The moral: Yogi Berra’s “The Future Ain’t What It Used to Be.”
I was simply using it in terms of cause and effect, jsr. If these conditions had been met (Capitalism had continued to be monstrously exploitative everywhere.), then this would have been the result (Revolts by the poor and working class). I think that that’s reasonable. What’s not reasonable is imagining that one knows what conditions are going to exist in the future. We know some of these. But there’s more that we don’t know.
Teacher: “Now, children, make sure you ask Mommy and Daddy, ‘Are you now or have you ever been…?'”
yup
The Ron DeSantis version of citizenship education is what we’ve done in public schools for a long time, and that’s just to TELL kids what to think and believe, even if it’s dead wrong.
DeSantis has stated that Florida is the place where “woke goes to die.” What he means implicitly, though, is Florida is the place where public schools are NOT committed to the core values and principles embedded in the U.S. Constitution. To be fair it’s not the only place.
As Pew Research reported in June of 2023, “About seven-in-ten Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents (72%) said K-12 public schools were having a positive effect on the way things were going in the United States. About six-in-ten Republicans and GOP leaners (61%) said K-12 schools were having a negative effect.”
You know, “woke” and all.
As I have noted here before, the early education reformer Horace Mann viewed public education as “the balance-wheel of the social machinery” in a democratic society. In Mann’s view, public schooling was critical to the development of democratic character and critical thinking. Students should be educated with “the power of reason and the sense of duty” so that they “become fit to be a voter. Education must bring the practice as nearly as possible to the theory.”
In a democratic republic, Mann thought, “self-government can not be born and matured in a day…No one can consciously obey the laws of reason and duty until he understands them…Education is our only political safety.”
Safety from what, one might ask? From tyrants? From unconstitutionality? From liars and cheaters and racists and seditionists? From this?
https://www.usatoday.com/picture-gallery/news/nation/2021/01/07/front-pages-capture-chaos-riots-us-capitol/6577931002/
Other education thinkers agreed with Mann’s premise. University of Chicago social scientist Earl Johnson, for example, wrote that “the supreme end of education in a democracy is the making of the democratic character.”
The democratic “character.” What is it?
As related by Thucydides in ‘History of the Peloponnesian War,’ Pericles described the elements of democratic character in his funeral oration: a belief in and commitment to popular sovereignty, equality, justice, freedoms, and promoting the general welfare.
Thus, those imbued with democratic character subscribe to a government “of the people, by the people, for the people.” They believe in and will vote for “liberty and justice for all.”
Indeed, in 1819 (McCullough v. Maryland) the Supreme Court reaffirmed that the U.S. government was “a Government of the people. In form and in substance, it emanates from them. Its powers are granted by them, and are to be exercised directly on them, and for their benefit.” Thus one of the direct purposes of government is to promote the general welfare. FOR the people.
What has happened in Florida under Ron DeSantis? As Time magazine reported a year ago, “More than four years into the DeSantis governorship, Florida continues to languish toward the bottom of state rankings assessing the quality of health care, school funding, long-term elder care, and other areas key to a successful society.”
The new initiative in Florida reminds me of this:
Another magnificent post, Democracy. I could read your stuff all day long.
Randy Newman – Sail Away (Live in London) (youtube.com)
Kind words, Bob. Thanks.