Episode 176 Show Notes- Love of Country, the Power of the People, and Our Civic Obligations
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Episode Description
Last week, Professor Giordano sat down with Fox News Tucker Carlson to discuss the failures within our education system. These failures began long before Critical Race Theory and include the loss of concepts like the sense of nationhood, good citizenry, and the ability to think critically. In this episode, the focus is on our civic obligations that lead to a vibrant and healthy nation. Somewhere along the way, we, as a country, lost our sense of purpose.
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Show Transcript- Love of Country, the Power of the People, and Our Civic Obligations
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Intro
Welcome everyone to another episode of The PAS Report Podcast.
We are living through extraordinary times, and we are on a precipice. How this all ends is anyone’s guess, but a fire has been lit, and as I told you last week, I am more optimistic now than I have been in a while.
People are starting to wake up. They’re starting to see through the nonsense. The BS that’s being pushed down their throats.
Just take a look at the CDC mask guidance they put out after I put out last week’s episode. Now the CDC is saying that those who are vaccinated don’t have to wear masks anymore. Just think, two weeks before this, the CDC came out and said masks need to be outdoors at all times.
So what changed during this period. Was there new data? Was there a scientific breakthrough? Was some bombshell study released? The answer is no, no, and no. The fact is nothing changed. Not a single thing.
It goes directly to what I said last week. The bureaucrats are nothing more than partisan hacks making political decisions, as opposed to decisions based on science. Our bureaucracy has been ideologically weaponized and the CDC epitomizes this.
It’s why we, as a people, need to stand up and speak out. We need to understand our responsibility within the system, and that’s what I want to talk about today.
Before I do, be sure to go to The P.A.S. Report website. Sign up for The P.A.S. Report Newsletter and make sure to follow the podcast so you never miss an episode.
Sitting Down w/Tucker Carlson
Getting to this week’s topic, as most of you know, I sat down with Fox News’s Tucker Carlson on his new program, Tucker Carlson Today. You can listen to the hour-long interview on Fox Nation. I have the link up at The P.A.S. Report.
But I do want to play a small clip from the interview. Take a listen.
Sound Clip Tucker Carlson
I love the long format because you can cover so much, and get more in-depth, as opposed to the 3.5-minute segments. And we did cover a lot over that hour.
The focus was on how our educational institutions are failing students and parents, but not only students and parents, many good, dedicated teachers as well.
As I stated in the interview, and on this podcast before, our education system was built on three main objectives- creating a sense of nationhood- a nation of one, civic responsibility, and instilling the ability to think critically.
For at least the last 20 years, we have deviated from these objectives, and the results have been catastrophic. Now it’s nice to see parents outraged at the garbage Critical Race Theory that’s being shoved down our throats, but as I said, that’s a fairly new concept that’s been introduced over the last few years. It goes well beyond that. The good thing is that this finally served as the match to light a fire under millions of Americans.
How can a country survive if the majority of its citizens don’t appreciate the country, they’re from or the country they came to?
But it’s even worse than that. A country cannot survive if kids are being indoctrinated to despise our founding. To look at the founding of America as inherently evil and a catalyst for slavery and racism is far from the truth. By routinely undermining the sense of nationhood, we have become much more tribal as a society. If you want to know why we are in such a divisive political climate, this is one of the main reasons for all the division.
How can our nation survive when many don’t even know the importance of citizenship and their civic obligations to the country? When you continually devalue the concept of citizenship, you just have a bunch of people on the same mass of land. And when you don’t know the importance of citizenship, you don’t care about contributing to a society you’re unfamiliar with.
And it’s not just about those who may have been born citizens or become naturalized citizens. It’s even more for those who legally immigrate to this country to understand this new system, what’s expected of them, how they contribute, and more importantly, that they assimilate into the American culture and immerse themselves in the American political philosophy.
And the last goal, fostering the ability to think critically, is virtually nonexistent in today’s educational environment. No longer are students being taught to question everything. Instead, it’s a system based on obedience and compliance. It’s a system where, when it comes to issues, there’s a clear right and wrong. No gray areas for these people. Just simplistic thinking.
When you deviate from certain narratives, students are often ostracized and ridiculed. Instead of fostering critical thinking, we are fostering people to censor themselves.
When I went to school, even the far-left teachers encouraged students to question everything. Now we hear things like settled science as if science is ever really settled. Now, if you question something, you’re routinely attacked for not falling in line and just accepting one narrative over the others.
Essentially, we are witnessing an entire groupthink mentality when it comes to education, and what are the results? We’ve created generations of lemmings that blindly accept the narratives without asking any questions or pushing back in any sort of way.
It’s the largest social engineering push we have ever witnessed, and many of those who are culpable, don’t even realize they are engaging in groupthink on a massive scale.
They’ll call themselves independent thinkers who’ve done the research, but all they really did was find information that supports their biased preconceived notions, especially when it comes to issues.
While Tucker and I discussed a lot during the interview, we never got to the solutions. We didn’t have time to thoroughly discuss how those pushing this crap, know exactly what they’re doing. They know that if you cut the past from the present, you can mold the future into whatever you want it to be.
Also, something many don’t bring up, there are those that push this nonsense because there’s a lot of money to be made in this industry. So, you have some people motivated by ideology, some are motivated by power, and others are motivated by money. See, human beings have really changed or evolved throughout human history.
More importantly, we also didn’t have the time to discuss how we solve the problem, and that’s what I want to do now.
While it’s important to recognize a problem exists, it’s more important to navigate to the solutions, and what We the People can do about it.
Here’s the problem though, it’s not just the younger generation that is clueless when it comes to what our civic responsibilities are. Many in my generation, and even the older generations, have forgotten this as well. We need to reintroduce ourselves to these obligations and rebuild the American spirit.
What Are Our Civic Obligations?
So, what are our civic obligations? At its core, civic means belonging to a nation and civil society and being responsible to that nation and society. The first civic obligation is to learn the American political philosophy in the Declaration of independence, and how our government actually works as defined in the Constitution and explained in the Federalist Papers. I’m not going to break this down because I already discussed that a few weeks ago in an episode entitled, Why the Powerful Elite are Devoted to Take Down Federalism. If you want to know how our system works, check out that episode where I give a brief refresher.
All too often I speak to people who don’t know what each branch of government is responsible for and empowered to do. Many blur the lines between federal powers and state powers. Many think governments exist to prevent bad things from happening or to solve every problem we encounter. How’s that working out?
We need to recognize that as human beings we are vested with liberty, the idea that we have free will, and we can do what we believe is in our best interests and pursuit of happiness so long as we aren’t infringing on someone else’s liberty.
Our Obligation to Ask Questions and Criticize Government
As citizens, we are vested with certain rights and privileges, including the ability to speak out and ask questions. This is one of the things that’s frustrating to me, but it’s also dangerous. There are those who try to label anyone who questions the powers that be, anyone who questions the government, as a threat to democracy.
This has only gotten worse in the last couple of years. See, they look at those who raise questions as a threat, and so, they want to isolate them because they don’t want them infecting those who are obedient and compliant.
It’s not only my job to question the government and the powers that be, it’s my civic obligation to question the government. We have a duty to always question the government, those in power, and the policies they push through. Even when you agree with some politicians and when you support the policies, you should be asking questions about their motivations. You should question the policies because, with any policies, including the policies you agree with, there are always going to be benefits and drawbacks. We have to continually weigh those benefits vs. the drawbacks.
See, it’s our responsibility to question and criticize the government and those in power. That doesn’t weaken our system. In fact, it’s what makes the system stronger. If a system cannot withstand questions and criticisms, it means the system is weak. It means the foundation no longer exists, and you have to prop the system up.
This is why many on the left don’t debate the issues and will simply viciously attack you if you dare question or criticize the powers that be. It’s why they label people. They don’t have confidence in what they’re peddling, and if they are forced to answer questions, they know all the defects in the crap their pushing would be quickly exposed and rejected by the majority of us.
Asking questions is essential and one of the most important obligations we have within the system. It’s one of the main drivers behind our political identity and part of our national character.
Obeying the Law
Obeying the law is also a civic responsibility. Now, something has been lost here along the way, and it goes back to the first responsibility of understanding how our system works. We elect people to represent us in the legislative bodies- federal and state. They pass laws, and we adhere to it because we want to live in a civil society.
However, there are some who think mandates are the law, and while they may carry the weight of law, these are something our founding fathers would roundly reject.
Particularly, over the course of the last year, where we have seen state legislative bodies throughout the country designate governors with extraordinary emergency powers. When there is an emergency, we understand the idea that decisive action may be necessary, and you don’t want legislators bickering back and forth. The legislative process is slow, awkward, and complex.
On the other hand, when you have a chief executive of a state, or the President for the matter, making radical changes that infringe on our liberties and violate many aspects of our Constitution, sorry, but that goes way too far. We don’t elect legislators to simply transfer power to one person, in one office. If that’s the case, there’s no point in a legislative body.
You don’t want one person to have that much control within a society, and our founders never intended the Constitution or the Bill of Rights to be suspended during emergencies. Federalist 47, all power- legislative, executive, and judicial- concentrated in the same hands is the very definition of tyranny.
Think logically, if we say the Constitution only applies in non-crisis situations, and that it can be suspended during an emergency, doesn’t it pretty much render the Constitution useless? Yet, many blindly accepted the decrees without any pushback whatsoever.
The authoritarian decrees we have witnessed over the last year go directly against the intent of everything our government was founded on. Free societies will always carry risks, and the idea that government has the ability to eliminate or minimize all risks is illogical. When you actually think about it, what’s the difference between a dictator running a police state and a governor who determines what businesses are essential, and which ones aren’t, when you can practice your faith and when you can’t, who you can and cannot associate with, where you can and cannot go, who you can and cannot have in your home?
When you frame it that way, there is very little difference between the dictator and the governor. Sure, some may argue that the governor is elected. Some may argue that these measures are only temporary and that ultimately the power will be restored. However, I disagree. The fact is during every crisis, the government usurps more and more power. While some of that power is ultimately returned to the people, not all of the power is restored. Just look at history. And so over a period of years, we have witnessed the slow erosion of the separation of powers, checks and balances, and Constitutional liberties.
Unfortunately, many don’t come to the realization of what’s really happening until it’s too late. And as I always warn about, what happens when we create a state of perpetual crisis. There’s always going to be a crisis happening, so how much power are you really willing to grant the government.
It’s why part of our civic obligations is that when we see the government engage in a power grab. When government usurps more and more authority and creates policies that blatantly go against our Constitution, it’s our civic duty to engage in civil disobedience.
Civil disobedience doesn’t mean you rampage through the streets engaging in violence, destroying property, and creating anarchy. Civil disobedience, by its very definition, is nonviolent and peaceful. It’s the refusal to comply with unjust laws.
And part of engaging in civil disobedience is accepting whatever legal consequences may arise from our actions. When government acts unjustly, remember, it is the right of the people, the duty of the people, to determine the principles and the powers that affect our safety and happiness as defined through the Declaration of Independence.
This is not to say that you engage in civil disobedience simply because you’re not getting your way on policy issues. We built a system where compromise is necessary, and no one gets their way 100% of the time. Policy disagreements are only natural in a society of ours, and if we engage in civil disobedience because we don’t get the policy outcome, we want on all the issues, that leads to anarchy, chaos, and ultimately totalitarianism. Again, if we look at the Declaration of Independence, we don’t blow up the system for light and transient causes.
Being Informed and Respecting Other Peoples’ Opinions
Another civic duty is to be informed on all issues affecting our lives, our communities, and our country. Interestingly enough, we have more information at our fingertips than ever before, yet we are less informed than ever before.
Many people think they’re informed and encounter this all the time. When I meet people and they find out I teach political science, they always want to talk politics, but they don’t really want to talk politics. They simply want me to validate their opinions, and I’ll never do that. I won’t do that to my students, ordinary people, or you the audience. I’m not here to validate anyone’s opinion.
I’m here to inform people about how our system works. I’m here to provide an analysis on the issues, both the good and the bad. Sure, I give my opinion when it comes to the issues, but you are free to draw your own conclusions just as I am entitled to provide an opinion.
We have a problem today where there’s this huge lack of respect for other peoples’ opinions when they conflict with ourselves, and people tend to think they’re right on all the issues, regardless of how they identify ideologically.
Here’s the thing, the issues are complex, and opinions are just that, opinions. You can have facts that back up your opinion, however, it doesn’t necessarily mean your right on the issue. As I stated before, no matter what policy you discuss, there will always be benefits and drawbacks to any policy solution and being informed is recognizing that.
And I notice that the younger generations have very strong opinions. They think they’re right about everything, and they believe they know everything about the issues. I find this interesting, and I always remind students how poorly they performed on the Citizenship exam and the Constitution exercise I give them the first day. I explain to them and ask how am I supposed to believe they understand the complexities of the issues when they can’t even explain the basic functions of government?
The problem is we think we’re informed when all we do is just look for information that validates our opinion. When we only seek out information that reinforces our beliefs and stereotypes, it increases the factionalism within society.
This is why so many have such little respect for other people’s opinions. It’s the reason we have much of the toxic political climate we are currently witnessing. It’s why so many don’t really engage in debate, and it quickly devolves into name-calling.
Being informed means learning about all sides of an issue. It means recognizing that we don’t have all the answers. We don’t have all the solutions. It means we weigh each policy carefully, and then take a position that we feel is in the best interests of ourselves, our families, our communities, and our country.
This is a big part of the problem in this day and age, but it’s particularly concerning when ignorance and ideology become weaponized, and here is where I have to take the left to task. The radical left has created an entire movement designed to seek and destroy any opposition, any disagreements.
They believe they are moral holy warriors fighting a war against evil, and they designate anyone who disagrees with them as evil. They don’t engage in debate. They engage in character assassination designed to silence any opposition. Rather than debate the merits of policy positions, they’ll label you in order to isolate you within the community. I’ve been called every -ist and -ism in the book, and they do this to try and discredit me.
Being informed is recognizing that people will think differently, and respectfully disagreeing with others.
Community Involvement
Community involvement is an essential civic responsibility that we have all but abandoned. It seems that we are no longer part of communities. Rather, we are strangers living amongst each other.
Sure, some people get involved to improve their communities, but not many. And I get it. We are busy. We have to work. We have families to take care of. We have to put food on the table.
But part of good citizenry is making our communities a better place. However, in this day and age, we take a hands-off approach. Instead, we just look to the government to solve the problems within our communities, and then we complain when the government can’t solve the problem.
It’s easy to sit there and complain you don’t have the power to make the community a better place. It’s easy to lay the burden on the government. But if you’re constantly waiting for the government to improve the conditions within your communities, expect to be disappointed at every step of the way.
Just look at many of our urban centers. Many of them have been in decay for the last 60-70 years. The people are actually worse off today than they were just 30 years ago.
Recently, I was talking to someone who understands these communities, and they were complaining the government has abandoned the people and ignored these communities. So I asked at what point do the people in these communities have to take responsibility for what’s going on in their communities? Isn’t it the civic duty of the people in the community to make it a better place? He was a little shocked by the question, and his response was an interesting one. He said that while some people try to do that, which I agreed with, the goal of the overwhelming majority of the people in these communities is to escape and get out of the community.
Well, if that’s the goal, the community is never going to improve. If the people within the community don’t care enough to fight and make the community a better place, why would the elected officials care?
Take the southside of Chicago. It’s been deteriorating for decades. It’s obvious that the government has been unable to stop the cycle of violence that exists. They’ve been trying for decades. Sure, we can pass the blame on some of the government policies and the elected officials, but it’s the people that vote in those politicians.
However, it’s the logic of escaping the community rather than fixing the community that has allowed the violence to surge and continue. It’s the passiveness of the people to confront the gangs and say no more.
Consider this the city of Chicago has a population of 2.71 million people. It’s estimated that the gang population is about 125,000 people. If the people within the community expressed zero tolerance for gangs, do you really think the gangs would be able to operate with impunity? If the people rose up and fought back against the gangs, do you think the gangs would really stand a chance?
New York City was a cesspool in the 1970s and the 80s. Then in the 1990s, the people had enough. They elected Mayor Giuliani, and sure, Giuliani’s quality of life laws had an impact, but something that gets virtually ignored is that the people said no more. The people started to organize cleanups in the community. The people started to push back against the pimps, the prostitutes, and the drug dealers and chase them out of the community. They said no more to the gang violence.
And while criminal elements still existed, and will always exist to some degree, they were marginalized, and communities throughout the City began to improve.
See, we are responsible for talking to our neighbors. Keeping our communities clean. Getting involved at the local levels. Joining local civic organizations that provide value and contribution to our local areas like the Knights of Columbus.
But civic engagement at the local level is very low, and all you have to do is look at the civic organizations. Many of the people in these groups are relatively old. You go back 40 years ago, the median age of people in these groups was between 30-40. Today, it’s over 60.
In fact, only 20% of those between the ages of 20-24 are affiliated with civic organizations compared to 55% of those aged 30-69. Many civic organizations are dying out because their membership is drying up as the older generations pass away. It really is said when you think about it, but it reinforces what I said. That we are no longer communities and just strangers living amongst each other.
Our communities won’t thrive until we reengage within them, and I cannot understate that.
Don’t be Beholden to a Political Party
The last civic duty I want to discuss is the idea of political parties. To many of us give blind loyalty to the political party that ideological aligns with us. Now that’s understandable, but at the same time, you need to recognize that the parties themselves have become a big part of the problem.
Rather than do what’s in the best interests of the country, they do what’s in their own party’s best interest, and this usually conflicts with what’s in our best interest. Remember, political parties are a group of people who join together for the purpose of electing candidates to office and keeping them there as a way to exercise political power, and that’s what it’s mainly about to the parties- power.
No person should be voting or providing blind support to the political parties. Both parties are equally corrupt and sold the people out long ago. It’s not to say every member is corrupt, just the party apparatus itself.
It’s our civic obligation to evaluate the candidates running for office, and which candidate we think would represent us the best. It’s our job to vet the candidates, not provide blind allegiance.
Remember, this country is much bigger than political parties. It’s much bigger than just one person or one office. We need to stop walking into a polling station and blindly voting for an R or a D just because we’re a member of that political party.
Faith, Family, and Hard Work
Faith and family are also an important part of civic responsibilities. A big part of the American experiment is that current generations work their hardest to make sure that the next generation would have it better than the previous generation. This is the first time in American history that the next generation may actually have it more difficult than the previous generation. This illustrates that we are failing in our obligations because it shouldn’t get to that point.
Another we are witnessing is the breakdown of the family. Obviously, we have too many single-parent households, and parenting is the most difficult job there is. It’s difficult if you have two parents, and I have an enormous amount of respect for those single parents out there who work so hard to provide for their children and raise their kids to be decent human beings.
But in the 21st century, we are witnessing a breakdown in parenting and there are far too many absent parents out there. Part of our civic obligation is to raise our children to be respectable human beings that carry themselves with honor and dignity and have more than just a sense of self. We also have an obligation to pass along the importance of good citizenship to future generations. Education doesn’t end when the school day is over. We have to reinforce the good they’re learning in classes. We have to help the great teachers out there who are working hard and encouraging the student body.
More importantly, we have to fill in the blanks on the important subject areas they aren’t learning about, including the American government and our real history.
Faith is another area where we seem to be turning away. America was founded on principles of faith, particularly those in Judeo-Christian philosophies. Now, I’m not telling you which faith to practice. To be honest, I could care less what your faith is. I know good people from across the religious spectrum, including atheists, and it’s not my job to proselytize people.
We are witnessing a crisis here in the United States. We are seeing increasing rates of serious mental health issues like depression and anxiety. We are witnessing a growing number of individuals who are unhappy with their lives. And when you start to dig deep, you’ll find that part of the root cause of this is that many don’t have a sense of purpose in life.
When you lack purpose or the belief in something more than a sense of self, you turn to the government to fill the void.
Living up to one’s potential is difficult. It’s even more difficult to live up to one’s potential and to help others, not through forced governmental coercion, but on our own accord.
Closing
Unfortunately for the last few decades, We the People have been on autopilot thinking that everything will work itself out. We’ve come to the belief that it’s not necessary that we directly engage and live up to our civic responsibilities.
We’ve lost the American spirit, and many of us simply go through emotions. We have become an individualistic society where we focus on ourselves with little regard for everything else around us. And I get it. Life is more complicated than it used to be. We’re more distracted than ever before. We work. We raise kids. We take care of parents. We say that we simply don’t have the time. Well, how’s that working out for us?
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Are you happy with the current state of America? Are you happy with everything going on? Do you think the country is better or worse off today?
It doesn’t matter how you identify politically. It doesn’t matter if you’re a Democrat or Republican. If everyone’s being honest with themselves, we know the answers to the questions I just asked.
And so, as we have continually disengaged from civic obligations, we recognize that it hasn’t worked out all that well. Perhaps, we disengaged because we’ve forgotten what our obligations are. Perhaps, we were never taught about them. In any event, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that we begin to change the dynamic. What matters is that we correct the course.
We need to return to the principles that made us the most special nation on the planet and understand that we are part of something extremely unique and special. It’s not too late to turn things around.
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I want to thank you for joining me and I want you to stay safe.
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