Perhaps the saddest aspect of the Trump administration’s stomping on the Constitution is the response of the American public. Sure, the elite news media, as well as a few law firms and universities have expressed outrage, but the silence from most Americans implicitly signals approval or lack of interest.
The President of the United States, ignoring his oath of office, has said he “doesn’t know” if he must uphold the Constitution. He allows his cronies to dismantle essential elements of the federal government. He appoints dangerously unqualified persons to assume crucial national security duties. The public’s response: quiet acceptance, broken only by a smattering of protest.
Next year will mark the 250th anniversary of American independence. The nation’s accomplishments and sacrifices during those two-and-a-half centuries should not be forgotten, nor should the value of the political system that enabled democracy’s maturation be disregarded. And yet, today the continued existence of American democracy faces its greatest and most persistent threats.
This was not unforeseen, and over the years some voices have warned us and urged us to not let America slide into the graveyard of failed nations. David H. Souter, who served as a U.S. Supreme Court Justice from 1990 until 2009, and who died earlier this month, saw the looming danger. A recent New York Times article by Adam Liptak cites a comment by Souter at a 2012 event: “I don’t believe there is any problem of American politics and American public life which is more significant today than the pervasive civic ignorance of the Constitution of the United States and the structure of government.”
Why does such “civic ignorance” exist? In large part it is due to an education system that, like the rest of American society, has become intellectually lazy and takes for granted the resilience of democracy. Students graduating from high school and even college often possess little understanding of how American government works, and they know even less about U.S. political history. They might be just as puzzled as Donald Trump is about a president’s constitutional duties.
Designing civics-oriented curricula would be particularly challenging during the ongoing confrontations between the Trump administration and numerous universities. Federal research funding for higher education is being held hostage until Trump decides universities are focusing on his agenda rather than the pursuit of knowledge. That clash affects all levels of schooling, and it makes far more difficult enacting any meaningful reforms of civic education.
This situation is immensely dispiriting. Another observation by Justice Souter deserves attention: “An ignorant people can never remain a free people. Democracy cannot survive too much ignorance.”
Philip Seib is Professor Emeritus at the University of Southern California. His most recent book is Information at War: Journalism, Disinformation, and Modern Warfare.
Phil, The lack of outrage by the public, coupled with the number of people who are willing to go along with Trump’s unconstitutional decrees is frightening. Law enforcement, military leaders, agency administrators and the like. It is going to be hard to put all the pieces back together again.