[NV Greens] Recommended: "Constitution Day with real life lessons"

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Headline:  Constitution Day with real life lessons
Byline:  Leah Halper 
Date: 08/04/2006

(GILROY, CALIF.)Teachers cherish summers off. But Sept. 17 is gaining on us. Sept. 17? 
That's the day in 1787 that the US Constitution was unveiled. Because I 
teach at an institution that receives federal funding, my college - and 
all public K-12 schools and colleges - must celebrate it this year as 
Constitution Day.
The requirement, a long-cherished hope of Sen. Robert Byrd (D) of West 
Virginia, was slipped into a spending bill in 2004. Never before has 
the federal government mandated teaching a particular topic on a 
particular day. The law makes no demands as to content or format, but 
many educators, especially in higher education, find it duplicative, 
patronizing, maybe even unconstitutional. But I can't resist a 
teachable moment. So to quote President Bush, "Bring it on."
For the occasion, the National Archives offers, among other resources, 
videos of Supreme Court justices, a taped discussion about technology's 
effects on deliberative democracy, and a game about delegates' feelings 
in 1787. We must do better. I propose that educators - and citizens - 
use a more relevant resource come September: our present constitutional 
crisis.
This administration and Congress have severely tested the Constitution 
on executive authority, checks and balances, separation of powers, 
individual rights - and it's all in play as never before. How real, how 
important, how suitable, the following lesson ideas are. In the best 
free-speech tradition, I submit to a candid world:
1. Upholding the law. In more than 750 cases since becoming president, 
Mr. Bush has signed laws passed by Congress and then issued "signing 
statements," reserving for himself the right not to enforce parts of 
those laws.
2. Watching our phone calls, library records, and bank accounts. A 
string of disclosures indicate that this administration will sacrifice 
Fourth Amendment guarantees in the search for terrorists. Or is it 
pornographers they're looking for? Or drug dealers?
3. Tracking dissenters. Domestic spying is back, with peace, 
environmental, and racial justice advocates targeted despite the First 
Amendment.
4. Raiding Congress. An unheard-of FBI raid on Rep. William Jefferson's 
office, as part of a corruption probe, threatens protections granted in 
the Speech and Debate clause and the independence of the legislative 
branch.
5. Sidestepping the courts. Though the Supreme Court ruled in June that 
special antiterrorism tribunals are illegal, the president and Congress 
are trying to reestablish them.
6. Attacking journalists. Journalists exist to report the truth; now 
administration officials are trying to force journalists to cooperate 
with grand juries and labeling tough reporting traitorous.
7. Torturing prisoners. The Constitution prohibits holding prisoners 
without charges and subjecting them to torture or cruelty. The US is 
doing all this in Iraq.
8. Traveling while Muslim. Muslims complain of airport searches, 
harrassment, and illegal detention, which signal a failure of the 
Fourteenth Amendment.
9. Inserting stealth giveaways - such as a pandemic pharmaceutical 
liability-shield - into bills at midnight. Congressional leaders are 
running roughshod over opposition as never before.
10. Abandoning enforcement. Connecticut, Maine, and Massachusetts are 
suing the US Environmental Protection Agency to force it to implement 
the Clean Air Act by regulating carbon dioxide emissions, which are 
linked to global warming.
11. Requiring Constitution Day. Generally (thanks to Amendment 10), 
curriculum is left to states and local school boards, which could sue 
to keep it that way.
So many choices for some real lessons. Fortunately, all of September is 
Civics Awareness Month. Teachers, get busy! So much depends on citizens 
who know their Constitution well enough to make it real.
* Leah Halper writes about the First Amendment and teaches history at 
Gavilan College in Gilroy, Calif.
(c) Copyright 2006 The Christian Science Monitor.  All rights reserved. 

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