OPINION:
What does Generation Z know about the Constitution? It would appear that we don’t know much. And in light of President Obama’s “executive agreement” with Iran (but, let’s be real, we all know it’s a treaty), this is a big problem. Generation Z won’t be the last to taste American freedom At my high school, I asked 10 of my fellow classmates the following question: “How should a treaty be ratified according to the Constitution?” Nine people took a stab at the answer and randomly guessed either “the U.N.” or “all members of Congress,” or simply answered “I have no clue.” Only one person out of the 10 answered correctly: “Two-thirds of the Senate,” according to Article II, Section 2, Clause 2.
Even more problematic than this, however, is that only four out of the 10 people I polled could list the three branches of government in the order they appear in the Constitution — an order which is highly relevant, since our Founding Fathers enumerated the branches of government in order of importance, listing the legislative branch first because it represents the voice of the people. The six other people in my poll listed the executive branch first, followed by the judicial and then the legislative. Alarmingly, it appears my generation views the executive branch as the most important and the legislative as the least important. It seems we have an issue of constitutional ignorance on our hands.
In response to any mention of the Constitution, people my age respond with, “Oh yeah, that document that protects my right to free speech,” or “I totally know the Constitution. It’s all that Bill of Rights business.” That all is, in fact, true, but the Constitution is much more than that. The most important parts of our Constitution are the checks and balances among our three branches of government. Our Constitution was designed to make sure one person, or one branch, could not accrue too much power. However, by looking at our government today, it looks as if something went seriously awry.
We need look no further than Mr. Obama’s “executive agreement” with Iran to find a nonpareil example of the violation of checks and balances. Our Founding Fathers specifically wanted to prevent the very situation that is occurring right before our very eyes; they never wanted the president to be able to make foreign agreements single-handedly. Instead, the Constitution specifically prescribes a method for the Senate ratification of treaties in Article II, Section 2, Clause 2; however, the members of Congress either didn’t know this or strategically ignored the fact. As a result, political chaos has ensued and international turmoil will soon follow. And as the future of America, all my generation can do is sit back and wait.
It is a feeling of powerlessness that citizens of a democratic republic are never supposed to feel. We didn’t vote for the people who are agreeing to this treaty, but in 10 years, we will be the ones feeling the consequences. Furthermore, we will be the ones cleaning up the mess. We will ask ourselves, “How did all this happen in the first place?” We will find the culprits in constitutional ignorance and partisan politics.
The reason individuals my age don’t know the Constitution isn’t because we don’t want to learn, it is because the Constitution — and our government — have become so steeped in partisan politics, that we are, quite frankly, repulsed. Politicians currently cling so tightly to party rhetoric that, sadly, the Constitution is caught up in the mess. But we, as a generation, want to be educated. The proof? As the national youth director of Constituting America, I have started a youth advisory board, and both Democrats and Republicans alike have agreed to join in order to educate our generation about the relevancy and nonpartisan nature of the Constitution. At school, I have a nonpartisan political blog called “The Voice of the Future” where many of my friends — both Democrats and Republicans — strive to educate our peers on issues from all standpoints on the political spectrum.
We have a large task ahead: We must cure our government of partisanship and cure our generation of ignorance by embracing the Constitution in the way our Founding Fathers wrote it — as a governmental framework and safeguard of our freedoms that transcend party lines.
We understand Ronald Reagan’s words that “freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction,” and we don’t want to be the generation that loses it.
• Juliette Turner is the national youth director of Constituting America. She is 17 years old and lives in Texas with her mother, Janine Turner.
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