The Consequences of Constitutional Ignorance | Opinion

The following essay is an excerpt from Timothy S. Goeglein's new book, Toward a More Perfect Union: The Moral and Cultural Case for Teaching the Great American Story, released by Fidelis Publishing.

Younger Americans are woefully ignorant of what is in the U.S. Constitution. This ignorance is a major cause of our current national discontents as our citizenry increasingly has no idea how our government works.

A survey of more than 1,000 liberal arts colleges by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni found only 18 percent of these colleges require a class in U.S. history or government for graduation. The same report found nearly 10 percent of college students thought Judge Judy was on the Supreme Court. Forty percent did not know Congress had the power to declare war.

The report concludes, "The way forward is clear. A renewal of civic education can reverse America's civic deficit and restore widespread awareness of our history and government. It is time for students, parents, colleges and universities, and lawmakers to confront the crisis in civic education."

Of the 1,000 Americans surveyed in the 2018 "State of the First Amendment" survey done by the Freedom Forum, only one was able to name all five First Amendment rights: freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of peaceful assembly, and freedom to petition the government. Even worse, 40 percent could not identify a single First Amendment right.

Americans do not even know their own rights. A study by the American Revolution Center found only one-third of Americans knew the Bill of Rights includes a right to a jury trial. The same report from the American Council of Trustees and Alumni mentioned earlier found 60 percent of college graduates don't know a single step needed to ratify a constitutional amendment, while 50 percent do not know the term length for members of the House of Representatives and U.S. senators.

Is it any surprise attacks on many of the fundamental freedoms guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution, particularly the freedom of speech and freedom of religion, have occurred?

The Constitution is rarely taught in our education system, and when it is, students are told it is an outdated document needing radical revision to fit the goals of a leftist agenda.

That view recognizes the only thing standing in the way of "transforming" America into a leftist utopia is the U.S. Constitution. That is why the confirmation battles over the courts, and particularly the Supreme Court, have become so bitter and destructive over the past 30-plus years, going back to the confirmation hearings for Judge Robert Bork in 1987. One need only read the late Senator Ted Kennedy's scathing remarks about Judge Bork to realize the contempt leftists have for an originalist interpretation of the Constitution.

These spurious charges were made on conjecture rather than evidence, and were the torch that set off the raging fire of judicial confirmations to come. Since then, a judge's qualifications are not evaluated; instead, they are held to their perceived political opinions. Yet as we have seen numerous times, Supreme Court Justices who were figuratively tarred and feathered by the Left have issued opinions displeasing to conservatives, while leftist judges have sometimes joined conservative majorities, much to the chagrin of each side.

Leftists have also proposed "packing" the Supreme Court with Justices who will issue opinions they prefer—an effort they have already launched. While there is no constitutionally defined number of Justices, to increase the number of Justices simply to get the outcome one desires is a fundamental misunderstanding of the constitutional concept of the court as an impartial interpreter of the law.

It is also a way for leftists to bypass the manner put in place to change the Constitution, which requires two-thirds of the states to ratify an amendment. That was put in place to ensure the people had a say in whatever changes are made or not made.

Because that fundamental understanding of our Constitution and how it can be amended has been lost, politicians today treat the Constitution as sort of a legal Santa Claus: it can be made to grant their wishes if they wear it down with pestering. This is the attitude of court-packers, who believe if they can only get the "right people" on the Supreme Court, they'll be able to push through their preferred projects. The conversation is not about how best to understand the Constitution and apply it in contemporary America but how best to manipulate and distort it to get what they want.

But the Constitution was never intended to create new rights or give permission to radical projects. It was written to hold America's government accountable to reality. It exists to protect rights bestowed upon us by our Creator. There is plenty of discourse to be had about what those rights are and how to apply them properly; as we learn more about individuals and grow as a society, our understanding of how to protect those rights and extend them equally to all deepens and grows.

That is why the Founders built in a mechanism for amending the Constitution. But that is not the conversation leftists wish to have. To many of them, the Constitution is nothing more than a piece of paper where words can be added and deleted in accordance with current cultural whims rather than a guiding document pointing us to truth.

The lack of constitutional knowledge gets worse with each passing generation. How are we going to have a functional society when our society has no idea how it is supposed to function?

And even more importantly, how can people make wise decisions about who their leaders should be if they do not know what those leaders should be doing? As the American Revolution Center notes, our "system of government relies on citizens who are united not by a common race, religion, or country of birth, but rather by belief in a set of ideals as expressed in our founding documents."

If our citizens are not truly united about these ideals, our system of government will collapse because there is nothing else holding it together. That is why the Founders were extraordinary to envision a nation made to work this way—one by the people, for the people, and of the people, as it had never been done before. But for such a government to work requires a united populace based on the greater good for all, rather than a divided populace focusing on what is perceived to be best for a select individual or group.

That is why if we are to preserve a "more perfect Union"—words from the preamble to the U.S. Constitution—we must restore the teaching of American history and civics throughout our education system. But it must be a balanced teaching rather than one that only tells and promotes one view. It is that balance that will draw us back together as a nation, restore our freedoms, and ensure liberty and justice for all.

Timothy S. Goeglein was special assistant to President George W. Bush and deputy director of the White House Office of Public Liaison from 2001 to 2008. Since January 2009, Goeglein has served as vice president of external and government relations for Focus on the Family.

The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.