As Dr. Thomas Sowell of the Hoover Institution has stated, "Many things are believed because they are demonstrably true, but many are believed simply because they have been asserted over and over again." For at least 100 years now, school children have been indoctrinated to believe that the rights granted in the U.S. Constitution are somehow "gifts" of a benevolent government and that enjoying those rights requires action, stated as responsibilities. A random search using the phrase "rights and responsibilities of citizens in a democracy" yields a multitude of "hits", all saying pretty much the same things.
The website of the Department of Homeland Security provides a chart:
The website of the Department of Homeland Security provides a chart:
In reading the left-hand column above, it becomes clear that someone, somehow, at some time, juxtaposed Freedoms with Rights, intermingling the two as if they are the same. Although it's impossible to pin the blame on any individual, it is pretty clear that this conflation of freedoms, or privileges, with rights and responsibilities began in the Progressive Era. It was during this period The Americanization Movement determined to "Americanize" the millions of immigrants who came. The Progressives also viewed government as a force to be used to bring about social change. This went counter to how Americans had viewed government before. In order to change attitudes, it became necessary to change expectations. In order to ensure allegiance to the nation state, people must be convinced that living in a free country isn't really free. Because that freedom is granted by the government, citizens owe a debt of gratitude, in the form of certain responsibilities, to that government.
The best way to begin the indoctrination and to impart that message was in the schools. Having begun in Massachusetts in 1852, by the turn of the 20th century, compulsory schooling had spread to almost every state. Until that time, there was no written "American History" as we think of it now, a discreet "subject" to be learned in school. A captive audience, children would be taught a particular version of that history, designed to inculcate Patriotism. This was also a period when there was great debate over the appropriate military policy to provide for the common defense. Those who opposed a large professional, standing army took the position that America should rely on a "citizen army", ready to defend the country if called upon. In order to ensure that young men would fight, it was believed they must be inculcated with patriotic fervor.
However, when carried too far, Patriotism becomes extreme Nationalism, which, in turn, can become Nativism. In fact, it was Nativism that led to the creation of compulsory schooling in the first place. This becomes a bludgeon to be used against those who don't agree.
To those of the founding generation, rights derived from natural law. The "unalienable Rights" Jefferson wrote of in the Declaration of Independence were endowments from the "Creator", however one chose to define such an entity. And, then, "That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men." It was clear, at least to such men as Washington, Adams, Hamilton, Franklin, and Madison, that the government was to protect those rights. It did not bestow them. While we can't sit down with them and have a conversation to determine exactly what they were thinking at the time, we do have their writings. And, at least in terms of the Constitution, it's pretty clear that what they said is what they meant.
Perhaps the best source on the Constitution and Bill of Rights is the man who wrote them both, James Madison. Although the principle advocate for passing the Bill of Rights in the House of Representatives, Madison personally believed it was wholly unnecessary. A listing of rights could be dangerous, leading to the erroneous conclusion that only those rights specifically listed were actually protected. Furthermore, most states already had bills of rights; a federal list would be redundant.
That argument was sufficient to ratify the Constitution, but many states ratified the document with the recommendation that a bill of rights be added immediately. Those who opposed the Constitution, the Anti-Federalists, hoped that they could leverage these recommendations to achieve more than just a bill of rights. Many hoped that they could use this wedge to force a new constitutional convention that would make changes to the new government’s taxation and commerce clauses. Madison then decided to co-opt the Anti-Federalists' arguments and propose a federal Bill of Rights himself.
But, when reading the first 10 amendments, it is clear that those "rights" are actually "freedoms", either a freedom TO, or freedom FROM. There is no "right to vote in elections of public officials" or "right to run for public office" in the Bill of Rights. While voting and running for office are essential features of democracy, such ideas, as we think of them today, would have never entered the Founders' minds. After all, only those who owned property were allowed to vote at the time. If voting were a right, every citizen would have enjoyed that right from the beginning.
To those who maintain that voting is a right which carries a concomitant responsibility, one must ask why black citizens were denied that right well into the 20th century. The 15th Amendment was ratified in 1870. But, as I've written before, the thousands of African American men who fought in the World Wars considered themselves good citizens. When they came home, they found that wasn't necessarily the case, at least in the states of the former Confederacy. It took the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to rectify this injustice. As for the right of running for public office, don't forget the "white primaries" the Democratic Party used in the 20th century to ensure blacks could not run.
As to "responsibilities", the Founders wrote in terms of people's responsibilities toward one another, not to the government. They repeatedly talked about government being a necessary evil because of human nature. As Alexander Hamilton explained in The Federalist Papers, No. 15: “Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of men will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice, without constraint.” In Federalist No. 55, Madison wrote, “As there is a degree of depravity in mankind which requires a certain degree of circumspection and distrust, so also there are other qualities in human nature which justify a certain portion of esteem and confidence.” In order to control those passions, they repeatedly spoke of the need for Civic Virtue, which they viewed as necessary for the Constitution to operate successfully and endure. Without virtue "nothing less than the chains of despotism can restrain them from destroying and devouring one another."
In a recent article in EdWeek (Vol. 38, Issue 10, Pages 1, 12-15), entitled "How History Class Divides Us", Stephen Sawchuk puts forth the argument that the extreme polarization we're experiencing today is due to History and Civics being removed from the curriculum as required subjects in many states. I submit that the polarization is because of how History and Civics were taught throughout the 20th century. Those who were left out of the original, biased version (women, blacks, Hispanics, etc.) began to write alternative versions. While it should have come as no surprise that they would do so, conservative zealots who want to turn the clock back to the 1950s, characterize this as "revisionist" history, put forth by "pointy-headed Liberal professors".
It certainly WAS revisionist, in the sense of telling the story from another perspective. What the conservatives fail to understand is that continuing to demand a Back to the Future approach to American History, they play right into the hands of their "enemies" on the Left. We see this being played out today on college campuses, through the suppression of free speech and the destruction of property, remnants of the 1960s.
Instead of drilling students with an endless litany of facts in History and Civics, continuing to stress the need to "know" all that stuff in order to fulfill one's "responsibilities" to the State, students should be taught the Civic Virtues the Founders had in mind as necessary to live peacefully together in society. Beyond paying one's taxes, that make the entire engine go, one need not perform any other certain "actions" to be a good citizen. One can live a happy, productive life (as they define it) by simply treating their fellow citizens civilly.
