Members of Congress must have skipped civics class

(Click the links to read source material.)

I remember civic class. Fifth grade, I think it was. Mrs. Gray’s class.

I remember her for another reason. Before there were adult crossing guards, boys from the school called “Patrol Boys” were sent out with red flags to stop traffic and escort students across busy intersections. We wore white canvas belts that went over one shoulder and had badges pinned on them. We looked about as official as little kids could look.

Patrol Boy sans flag pole.

Every year, the Patrol Boys were rewarded with a bus trip to Washington, D.C., but when my turn came around, Mrs. Gray determined that I wasn’t responsible enough to qualify for the trip and she wouldn’t let me go. To this day I don’t know why she did that. I think she had me confused with someone else.

Years later, as a responsible adult with a very responsible job at a newspaper in Maryland, I made up for the slight by taking my own kids to Washington and showing them all of the important sites. Take that, Mrs. Gray!

Anyhow, back to civics class. I’m getting the feeling that schools don’t teach civics any longer, or they don’t teach it very well. How else do you explain how little Americans know about the government that represents them? Here’s a little refresher, courtesy of Wikipedia:  

“Civics is the study of the theoretical, political and practical aspects of citizenship, as well as its rights and duties; the duties of citizens to each other as members of a political body and to the government…(and) the role of citizens in the operation and oversight of government.

(Remember that word "oversight.")

“Voting is an important component of civics. Voting involves studying candidates on the ballot to understand each candidate's position and qualification (and) directly affects how government functions by selecting the candidates to work in the government.”

In the United States we have a “representative government,” which yourdictionary.com describes as “an electoral system where citizens vote to elect people to represent their interests and concerns. Those elected meet to debate and make laws on behalf of the whole community or society, instead of the people voting directly on laws and other debates.”

At least that’s the way it’s supposed to work. All 330 million of us can’t go to Washington every week to vote on legislation, so we elect people to do it for us. Ideally, as voters, we pay attention to the issues and the positions of the candidates and vote for people who will go to Congress and do what we want them to do.

Except when we don’t...and then they don’t.

It’s been a long time since I was in the fifth grade but I’m pretty sure there was no chapter in my civics book about secret Senate meetings in which 13 old white men would draft secret legislation that will affect tens of millions of people with no input from anybody, no hearings and no debate, then sneak it out to the floor at the last minute so that 51 people can vote for it unconditionally, even though it’s not what their constituents want. Most of the ones who vote for it won’t even read it to know what it says.

Similar legislation was passed by the House of Representatives a few weeks ago, although most of the House members didn’t read the bill over there, either. This was done even though only 17% of the population was in favor of the legislation. Now I could be wrong, but I don’t think 17% of the population qualifies as a mandate in the true spirit of “representative government.”

It’s pretty sad that elected representatives can so easily ignore the will of their constituents and vote for legislation that benefits their donors instead, but that’s the way things work in Washington. That’s not really news.

It’s sadder still that we as voters don’t exercise our part of the “representative democracy” equation – the oversight part where we hold our elected representatives accountable for their actions and vote out the ones who don’t represent our interests.

I’m part of the 83% who oppose draconian changes to the Affordable Care Act, especially the changes that will take health care away from millions of poor, elderly and sick Americans so that rich people can get a break on their taxes. I qualify as elderly and sick, and I’m poor enough that this legislation will hit me hard.

So if they pass this bill, I’ll do my duty as a citizen under a “representative government” and as soon as I can, I’ll vote against anyone who doesn’t represent my interests. (I’m looking at you, Shelley Moore Capito.) Unfortunately, they’ll only give me one vote. Millions of other people who missed civics class will be allowed to vote as well, and that makes me very afraid.