What I Am Most Proud Of

In his Atlantic article, “Are We Doomed?” George Packer has two lines that went to something I’ve been saying ever since the rise of Trump. Packer wrote:
“It’s hard to accept that the foundation of democracy is quite this fragile.”
and
“Can Civics Save America?”
I taught government or civics for a couple of years back in the 80s. Over and over, I emphasized that this democracy and the government that bears it is held together by spit and chewing gum (bailing wire is in the somewhere, too), i.e. it takes each citizen to hold it all together and make it work. I wrote a blog item a while back titled “What I Am Proud Of.” I just thought it needed repeating because maybe one or two of my students are thinking about that now.

6 Comments

  1. 伟思礼 says:

    Took Hitler less than nine years to go from prison to absolute dictator. Two months after becoming Chancellor. Was it Trump’s incompetence or our “checks and balances” that kept Trump from doing in four years what Hitler did in tw months?

    1. Sandra Verbeke says:

      With all respect on Your post. The degree of difference between Hitler and tRump is Not clear-cut …. far apart. IMO… 80 years apart… Different Continents ……
      the IMmoral, the spasms of Suffering, the Terrifying venom that tRump instigated and encouraged will last for Generations .. … so much hidden beneath ground of comprehension ……..

      YES, of course hitler had his grisly, hideous camps and his soldiers carrying out his treachery .. (PLEASE Know my respect and Care & sensitivity to / for the Holocaust,,, I have a close association with that era of Germany …
      But djt , has these Throngs of citizens behind him… and the Lies about GOOD People, that have Endangered us All….

      Take Care, Stay Safe

  2. Pat Barrett says:

    The Germans are just more competent than we are. Incompetence can be a blessing or a curse, depending.
    Barrett’s Maxim #27

  3. Paul Widergren says:

    Found this interview informative. Would make a good civics lesson if you could get away with showing it without outcry from outraged parents. I remember one social studies teacher at my old school, however, would religiously listen to Rush Limbaugh during lunch and show Fox news to students, so what you can get away with can be based on school culture.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sr727qYXMaw

    In answer to the question,

    Was it Trump’s incompetence or our “checks and balances” that kept Trump from doing in four years what Hitler did in two months?

    Article 48 of the Weimar Republic gave the President almost unlimited emergency powers. A dysfunctional Reichtag during the depression created a situation where Article 48 was being invoked more and more by the president to get around the German congress. Hitler used the “Reichtag Fire” as the excuse he needed to declare an emergency and round up the opposition (Communists) thus creating a dictatorship and a one party state.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_48_(Weimar_Constitution)

    Now those conditions, of course, are no longer possible in Germany.
    You might say, that they have learned their lesson the hard way.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/02/19/emergency-powers-helped-hitlers-rise-germany-has-avoided-them-ever-since/

  4. 伟思礼 says:

    And certain groups the past couple years have been alleging mask mandates, quarantines, etc. are a misuse of emergency powers. I am not in those groups, but I can’t help wondering whether advice and information instead of mandates would have resulted in less resistance.

  5. Pat Barrett says:

    Don’t epidemics and pandemics usually mount to the level of national emergencies like an invasion of foreign forces or bodies? Martial law, maybe?

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