Civic Duty

Recently I read a quote Andy Borowitz posted by a friend. The quote is  “Stopping Trump is a short-term solution—and it will be more difficult—is fixing the educational system that has created so many people ignorant enough to vote for Trump.” I’m not going to discuss the Trump part of this quote: I can’t promote any preference for a politician on this site. The education part is what got me thinking. Is Andy correct that many people leave the education ignorant?
I think they have, but again I’m not talking about Trump. I’m talking about being ignorant of the political process and about civic responsibility. There has been a lot about the election process being rigged, but many of the rules of the parties concerning primary elections have been around a long time. So let me be clear and say again that I am not suggesting that ignorant people are graduating from high school and college. I am suggesting that many are ignorant about some things. There are certainly other problems with the education system, but the awareness of this problem has become more clear.

One of the things that has become obvious is that the parties can choose their nominee any way they want. On top of that, states can choose their own way of selecting delegates to send to the national convention. Some states use a direct primary with delegates being assigned proportionally. Others use a direct primary, but the winner gets all of the delegates. A caucus is the first way nominees were chosen and is a very interesting and sometimes confusing way of selecting delegates. I was never told about any of this in history or social study classes. And I don’t remember being told that there are more than two parties.

Another thing that has become apparent is the power the president has. I can’t remember an election were so many huge promises were made by presidential candidates. First the president needs the cooperation of Congress to get most things done. The last eight years should have taught us that. Second, getting the things we want are not always best for the country or the world.

Our civic duty is to seek what is best for the whole earth. It’s kind of like the do unto others as you would have them do unto you thing

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