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3/21/2022

This week’s curation at RealClear’s American Civics portal begins with the latest article in our ongoing civic institutions series. American Civics portal editor Mike Sabo highlights Retro Report, a journalism nonprofit that features a vast library of over 250 short films on civics and other topics. Teachers who are trying to put the present conflict in Ukraine into context can show films that give a brief overview of the Cold War, from the Truman Doctrine to the Berlin Airlift, or explore the ongoing threat of nuclear weapons.  

On the topic of civic education in particular, Retro Report director of education David Olson calls it an “essential” part of a “high quality, rigorous education that students across the country should receive.” He says that civics “involves both analyzing and understanding founding principles and what makes the United States unique” – both of which are important goals in our increasingly polarized times.

At Education Next, Paul Peterson reflects on American civics in light of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s recent address to Congress, which he calls a defining moment that points to the fundamentals of civics: “learning one’s history as a country” and understanding “just how it came to be, why it is as it is,” and “what makes it worthy.” Peterson argues that there are many parallels between America’s fight for independence in 1776 and Ukraine’s present struggle against invading Russian forces. He writes that “when John Hancock signed the Declaration of Independence, he and his fellow Patriots understood then, like Ukrainian leaders know today,” the truth of Ben Franklin’s famous admonition, “We must all hang together or surely we will hang separately.” Seeing this war unfold in real time will benefit students by “deepening” their “democratic patriotism” because they can see the stark difference between free government and authoritarianism.

Finally, at WORLD Mark Tooley responds to Eli Mystal’s blunt criticisms of the Constitution, which he described as “kind of trash.” Calling Mystal’s critique “arrogant presentism, which judges the past by today’s standards,” Tooley counters that Americans today “are not morally superior to past generations.” He continues: “We are by nature as fallen as they were. To the extent our modern ethical standards are superior, such as our near-universal rejection of slavery and our expectation of legal equality for all people, we can only thank previous generations who struggled” to live up to the stated principles of the American Founding and biblical morality.

Original Posts

Retro Report Gives Teachers the Digital Tools They Need

Mike Sabo, RealClearWire

In the News

Teaching Patriotism

Paul E. Peterson, Education Next

Louisiana's New Social Studies Standards Exclude Critical Race Theory

Victor Skinner, Center Square

Today in Military History: Washington Drives Brits From Boston

We Are the Mighty

The Hater's Guide to Woodrow Wilson

Dan McLaughlin, National Review

The Painful, Brilliant Letters Black People Wrote to Their Former Enslavers

Gillian Brockell, Washington Post

America's 'New' Permanent Campaigns

Todd Carney & John Waters, RealClearPolicy

The Braver Angels Plan to Heal America

Jacob Hess, Deseret News

Charles Evers: The Greatest American Nobody Knows

Editors, Planned Man

Due Process and Our Ever-Expanding 'Fundamental Rights'

Angus McClellan, Law & Liberty

Congress Used the Spending Bill to Invest in Itself

Kevin Kosar, The Hill

Americans Are More Optimistic Than You Think

Samuel J. Abrams, American Enterprise Institute

How the USS Constitution Was Saved from Target Practice

Blake Stillwell, Military.com

When Bolshevik Schooling Came to America

C. Bradley Thompson, Substack

Mail Voting and Election Legitimacy

Andrew E. Busch, RealClearPolitics

Idaho House OKs Resolution Promoting Trump's 1776 Commission

Idaho State Journal

Multimedia

Insights on Contemporary Feminism From Susan B. Anthony

Natalie Taylor & Jeff Sikkenga, Ashbrook

During her lifetime, Susan B. Anthony inspired three generations of women to join her lifelong struggle to secure the right to vote.

Debunking the 1619 Project

Mary Grabar & George Leef, James G. Martin Center

Dr. Mary Grabar discusses her latest book, Debunking The 1619 Project: Exposing the Plan to Divide America, with George Leef...

His Great-Great-Grandmother Was a Slave

Dean Nelson, Daily Signal

Sitting in the small Baptist church he grew up attending, Dean Nelson recalls stories of his family’s history, including those of...

Quagmire: America in Vietnam

Pierre Asselin, Larry Berman, Mark Lawrence, & David Randall, NAS

In the 1960s, concern over the expansion of Soviet ideology through its satellite states led the U.S. to escalate its involvement in the country of Vietnam.

On the American Character

Bob Woodson, National Character and Leadership Symposium

Robert Woodson, President of the Woodson Center, delivers his keynote lecture at the 29th annual National Character and...

Carl Cannon's Great American Stories

Great American Stories: Women's History Month

It's Friday, March 18, 2022, the day of the week when I pass along a quotation meant to be inspiring. ...

Great American Stories: Whitewashing Whitewater

It's Tuesday, the Ides of March. Twenty-eight years ago today, Bill and Hillary Clinton fled from the drum beat of ...

Great American Stories: Nancy Reagan's Quote

It's Friday, March 11, 2022, the day of the week when I pass along a quotation meant to be inspiring. ...

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