I recently participated in a Zoom Consortium convened by the Hammond Human Relations Commission. I was a member of a panel that discussed the current state of of civil liberties and human rights in our state.
Panel members were asked to collectively address two questions; a third “ask” was specific to our particular backgrounds.
The first question was “What legislative measures by this administration have caused greatest harm or generated positive outcomes pertaining to civil & human rights.” I responded that, in my opinion, virtually everything done by this administration has been harmful. (I added that the damage couldn’t have been done without the cowardly acquiescence of GOP legislators.) The Trump administration has declared war on civil rights, civil liberties and the Constitution.
The public is just beginning to recognize the multiple harms done by the awful “Big Beautiful Bill,” and Trump’s multiple ridiculous and unconstitutional Executive Orders, but the worst–again, in my humble opinion–has been the unrelenting assaults on “wokeness” and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. That federal assault has emboldened state-level culture warriors like Todd Rokita to pretend that good-faith efforts to level the civic playing field are really “reverse discrimination” against straight White men– a patently false excuse for the state’s vendetta against equal rights for women and minorities.
We were next asked if we had observed biases in the way information is disseminated in Indiana. My answer was really a repetition of observations I’ve shared here many times–about the fragmentation of today’s information environment, in which citizens aren’t all getting the same news or occupying the same realities, an environment which encourages people to choose “news” that confirms their biases—if they bother to consume any news at all.
I was then asked to expand on a paper I’d written about the effects of low civic literacy on democratic accountability, and to suggest solutions. (Ah, if only I had solutions…)
As I explained, scholars attribute the erosion of American democracy to three interrelated causes: ignorance of politics and governance; the growth of inequality— including civic inequality and informational asymmetries—and a resurgent tribalism (racism and White Nationalism, sexism, homophobia, religious bigotry, the urban/rural divide…). Civic ignorance complicates the interactions between citizens and their government, and it exacerbates inequality. Citizens who understand how the political system works are advantaged in a number of ways over those who don’t, including their ability to recognize when elected officials are violating their oath to uphold the constitution.
Americans’ widespread ignorance of the basics of our Constitution and legal system has greatly facilitated the growth of disinformation and propaganda. It has allowed the current administration to obscure the fact that the majority of Trump’s numerous Executive Orders are at odds with the Constitution.
The most obvious was his attack on birthright citizenship, which is explicitly set out in the 14th Amendment. Eliminating birthright citizenship would require a Constitutional amendment—it cannot be done in a petulant Executive Order.
Citizens who’ve encountered the 14th Amendment would know that.
There are many other examples. If citizens knew that the Constitution vests control of spending in Congress—not the executive branch—they would recognize that Trump’s Orders withholding funding formerly authorized by Congress violates the Constitutional Separation of Powers. They would recognize that his “Muslim ban” was a flagrant violation of the First Amendment’s religion clauses. They would understand that his various efforts to root out Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs not only violate the Free Speech provisions of the First Amendment but are also unconstitutionally vague–and why that vagueness matters.
Long term, the solution is to require a much more robust civic education curriculum in the nation’s schools—a curriculum that doesn’t simply educate students about the Constitution and Bill of Rights but also teaches accurate and inclusive history. (I went all through high school and college and never heard about the Trail of Tears, or the Tulsa massacre, for example.) But efforts to strengthen civics education come up against the far Right’s determination to destroy public education—to use vouchers to send public money to overwhelmingly religious private schools, very few of which offer civics or accurate, in-depth history instruction. Worse, attending such schools operates to reinforce tribal identities rather than inculcating allegiance to an overarching American constitutional philosophy. The effort to replace America’s public schools with religious “academies” was set out in Project 2025—and this administration is clearly following the prescriptions of that document.
Reinvigorating our public schools and requiring appropriate civic education is really the most effective solution to what ails us. If there are other solutions, I haven’t come across them.
Professor-I very much agree with you on your opinion. Some of it is so simple, but the leadership in my country and my state do not understand topics that are clearly written in the First and Fourteenth Amendments to our Constitution. We need help, desperately.
The Administration in DC is widely perceived as grossly corrupt and incompetent, and the country is struggling, which will have a lasting impact for decades.
The same is true of Israel and has been true of Russia for many decades.
The Human species will learn from our failures, and time will tell if we also teach about recovery and restoration.
with the present congress, there will be a set standard. those who begin their life now will have the scars of this. turning it around will be a task unlike the American revolultion and civil war. the military maybe today,in Quatico being made to kneel of resign. the make over is a 40+ year devised,and rehashed idea as the tech,banks,money and people given supreme power to kick a once big democracy into a pile along the curb. taking that so called tax cuts since reagan now shows what those ideals were truly about. then the judges, and now a 2025 manifesto to distroy our democracy and give what we all have earned into a few pockets. see the new AI as the new judge,jury,exacutioner, and who is writting the script as we listen to?
Trump doesn’t understand what the Declaration of Independence is all about. He whiffed that on-air quiz by Terry Moran, who eventually got fired from network news for calling Stephen Miller a “hater.” That’s a fact that even Stephen would consider a part of his charm.
There is a video of Goebbels and Miller giving a speech together, and they appear, speak, and behave similarly. Goebbels must have been reborn via Stephen’s parents. He is now in charge of blowing up boats off Venezuela’s coast. Huh?
If the top level of our government is ignorant of the Constitution, and many are Ivy League educated, that ignorance is even more widespread among MAGA cult members, i.e., Republicans.
Farmers in Indiana and across the Heartland are losing their shit over their upcoming bankruptcies. Apparently, they didn’t realize that voting for the tariff-loving Trump would force them into bankruptcy. Thoughts and prayers!
By the way, my daughter is being taught civics in 7th grade and has signed up for a trip to Washington next year. She also reads a lot and picks up things in the books she reads. She has a self-imposed target of reading 100 pages per day. I had time to read to her when she was very young, but I am fortunate. I know that most single parents and even young married couples are too busy working just to pay the bills from one check to the next. Education isn’t the solution until we address the gross income and wealth inequalities. Trump and the MAGA Republicans have made it worse for American families by attacking women and minorities. It’s by design!
So, Sheila, you do have at least one solution: Civic education!
It is a good thing that you are invited to these symposia and get to publicly express your more than welcome point of view.
Adults are still capable of learning. How can we support civic education for all? I think we can become teachers of our friends and families. Pick one person and one issue. Learn your subject. You can’t teach what you don’t understand. Present your evidence in a respectful way. Listen to them so you can reach them where they are. Be patient and kind. Teaching isn’t easy but ignorance is deadly. Be willing to try. Success is very rewarding! No one can do everything but every one can do something. Maybe teaching is YOUR thing.
The Indiana State Constitution links education and voting in what seems to me to be at the root of the issues discussed today. If the voters are ignorant (willingly or not) of what they considering when voting, not just the person but that person’s job description and legal responsibilities, then voting is a shame exercise, performative at best.
My guess is that most of my neighbors do not know who represents them at the local or state level, maybe even at the federal level, let alone what those people are required and empowered to do by law. I know only because family and friends have been actively involved in public service for decades, starting with my mother who was a poll worker for most of my childhood.
Every day presents a new opportunity to learn more about civic engagement, thanks to people like Prof. Kennedy, HCR and Jay Quo, Joyce Vance, Joanne Freeman and so many others. I have searched out news sources, both at home and abroad, that actually report on civic issues, mainly because local news reporting is meaningless pap, junk food for the masses.
An acquaintance who lives out in the metro counties recently approached me asking how I was holding up while living in the midst of so much violent crime and shootings. He actually believes that the city is so violent that I would be afraid to leave my home, fed by the local news reports that continue to feed that narrative, cementing the divide in realities. It made me angry and sad to think that he and those like him believe not only a lie about the city but ignore the fact that crime, violent and otherwise, occurs everywhere that there are people living together. That false narrative does two things. Fear of the “other” and defining the boundaries of that fear, leading to the demagoguery that has given us Braun, Beckwith, Rokita and Morales at the state level, Young, Banks, Spartz and Baird in the Congress.
Today may be one of those days that future generations will ask if we, the current generations, remember, like the moon landing, JFK, RFK, MLK assassinations, Little Rock, Mississippi and Alabama, riots in LA, Black Lives Matter, Columbine, Sandy Hook and so many other momentous events that continue to change the course of history in our lifetimes. A madman, handled by malignant sociopaths with immeasurable wealth and the power that enables, continues to destroy what hundreds of thousands before us sacrificed everything to found and protect, “our Lives, our Fortunes and our Sacred Honor” in the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness for all.
Will our generation be the first to give it all up in the face of bigotry, hatred and threats of violence delivered by fascists and religious demagogues?
RESIST.
I wonder if an ad campaign that is similar to School House Rock would have any impact? We do love our catchy jingles. All the sport seasons are going to heat up shortly.