OPINION:
As we gather this summer to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, I am reminded of Benjamin Franklin’s words, 11 years later, on the final day of the Constitutional Convention.
Franklin was asked whether the Founders had created a monarchy or a republic. He replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.”
If we are to keep our republic, we must ask: “How does the world’s oldest constitutional republic properly celebrate its history without a major new project to address its lack of constitutional and historical literacy?” It is a question I have posed in a series of columns compiled with the assistance of my good friend Craig Osten for my new book, “What Really Matters: Restoring a Legacy of Faith, Freedom, and Family.”
As one of our nation’s Founding Fathers — and one of the few to play a critical role in both the framing of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution — Franklin knew that the republic would need to be anchored in the shared values of faith, freedom and family.
He also knew that we needed an engaged and informed populace that would be vigilant in protecting those values. Just over 200 years later, outgoing President Ronald Reagan gave us another somber warning from his 1989 farewell address: “If we forget what we did, we won’t know who we are. I’m warning of an eradication of the American memory that could ultimately result in the erosion of the American spirit.”
Over the past 60 years, the shared values upon which our country is based have become frayed, turning Americans against one another rather than bringing us together.
A vast number of our fellow Americans not only despise the foundational values of our culture but also despise the idea of extending basic civility toward others, regardless of their views.
What has caused this cultural chasm? The abandonment of faith and the lack of historical and civic teaching in our nation’s schools.
Poll after depressing poll documents how woefully deficient our citizenry is in our nation’s collective history and legacy of faith, freedom and family, the sacrifices made to achieve that legacy and even how our system of government works.
Four years ago, the National Assessment of Educational Progress found that the average U.S. history score at the eighth-grade level decreased by 5 percentage points from 2018 and by 9 points from 2014. Forty percent of students had less than the most basic knowledge of our nation’s history.
In fact, only 13% of eighth-graders were deemed proficient in history, and 22% in civics.
Statistics such as these confirm the concerns of Franklin and Reagan: If we lack the diffusion of knowledge or have no memory of our past, our freedom will dissipate too. We will become a nation that no longer knows its most basic principles.
As another former president, Dwight D. Eisenhower, warned in his first inaugural address, “A people that values its privileges over its principles soon loses both.”
A good friend of mine says you cannot be responsible for what you do not know. Our schoolchildren are being kept in the dark about our history and system of government. They simply do not know better, and we are paying a huge societal price.
How can we reverse course? We need to seek what Reagan stated in his farewell address: “An informed patriotism.” He said parents need to talk to their children around the dining room table and instill in their hearts patriotism and the values that come with it.
Finally, we must restore the role of faith. I am greatly encouraged by recent polling showing that young men are returning to religion. As I engage with young adults, I am finding that they are rejecting the moral relativism (“You do you”) embraced by our culture and want to return to these values.
We can no longer be apathetic or allow our children to be apathetic. We must reintroduce the teaching of the true American story in our nation’s schools. The price — our freedom — is too high a cost to pay for our collective ignorance.
Let us always remember that we are a nation built on unwavering principles. If they are lost, as Eisenhower warned, they can never be regained.
• Timothy S. Goeglein is the vice president of government and external relations at Focus on the Family and a co-author of the new book “What Really Matters: Restoring a Legacy of Faith, Freedom, and Family” (Fidelis, 2026).
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