OPINION:
America may be having its 250th — also known as the Semiquincentennial, marking a significant birthday of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. And America may have just wrapped celebrations on the Fourth of July — also known in modern times as Independence Day, marking the adoption by the Continental Congress of the Declaration of Independence and the subsequent middle finger separation of the colonies from the British crown.
But almost half of Americans know not of what they celebrate.
A survey from Cato Institute and Morning Consult found 46 percent of Americans don’t understand the meaning behind the 250th — including 61 percent of Gen Zers; another 58 percent don’t know the main purpose for the Constitution; and 57 percent don’t understand why we declared independence from Great Britain. Seriously? Seriously.
That’s not just a sad commentary on the state of the education system. It’s a somewhat frightening harbinger of the country’s loss of freedoms.
After all, if Americans aren’t being taught the meaning of the nation’s key patriotic holidays and celebrations, then they’re certainly not being taught about the sacrifices of the founders, the genius of the framers and the ingredients that go into the making of American Exceptionalism, either.
Fewer barbecues; more visits to military gravesites.
Fewer hot dog eating contests; more reflections on those who died to save our liberties.
Or how about this: less anti-capitalist, anti-West, anti-America teaching in schools; more truthful history and civics, with emphasis on the Constitution and the founding documents — so that the nation’s coming leaders might actually understand what makes the United States tick, and why it’s the greatest country in the world; so that the nation’s coming leaders might actually stop voting for socialists and communists and Marxists for political office.
Seems reasonable.
American Revolution great John Adams, second president of the United States, wrote to his wife, Abigail, of his expectations of the announced independence from Great Britain that “it will be celebrated, by succeeding generations, as the great anniversary festival,” and that “it ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty,” and that “it ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shews, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other from this time forward forever more.” He meant it for July 2, when the Continental Congress approved the break from England. But he was overruled, and commemorations instead focus on the 4th, when the Congress actually adopted the Declaration of Independence.
Either way, he meant it for a nation of citizens who fully understood the magnitude of what they were celebrating, what they were honoring, and to whom, ultimately, they owed honors and celebration — God.
Without a basic understanding of why America was formed, and what makes America so great, the coming generations will not be able to secure America from enemies, neither foreign nor domestic. Why defend what’s not seen as important or worth defending? Civics isn’t just a trivial school course. It’s the key way to keep our country great and free. It’s a matter of national significance and security, as a means of keeping the country safe from internal crumbling leading to external conquest.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter and podcast by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “God-Given Or Bust: Defeating Marxism and Saving America With Biblical Truths,” is available by clicking HERE.
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