This, for starters. The survey, sponsored by the James L. Knight Foundation, found that 35% of the high school students surveyed thought the “First Amendment goes to far in the rights it guarantees.” The study also found that three-quarters of the students think that flag burning is illegal and that “they don’t know how they feel about the First Amendment, or they take it for granted.” This sort of ignorance and apathy from the next generation makes me nervous.
I think the difference can be attributed to the change in the political climate over the past half decade. Look at the PATRIOT Act. Look at these challenges to our civil liberties that are made in the name of protecting us from terror. Look at how the government has limited our access to information and to music and literary works for the sake of the corporations (particularly the publishing and entertainment industries). Is it any surprise that high schoolers who have grown up in this environment have such an ambivalent relationship with their own freedoms? Christ, it's like a giant Omaha.
The political climate in America has become so contentious and so nasty. Anyone who disagrees with the views of the moral majority is unpatriotic or doesn’t care about the welfare of children or is a communist. And anyone who disagrees with the liberals is an idiot or a bigot. There seems to be no intelligent debate, just name calling (and that goes for many “liberals” too). Even in Congress, it’s the left versus the right, and there are so few examples of true cooperation or bipartisanship anymore. Everyone is just so polarized, and that makes it more likely that the people in power (the conservatives) are going to do what’s good for them and not what’s good for the country.
I read an interesting article by Frank Rich in the New York Times, about how Clint Eastwood, a Republican, has been painted by the Right as a communist due to his recently released film, Million Dollar Baby. I won’t spoil the movie, but I’ll just say that it touches on a certain theme that the Christian Right is not fond of (though it also touches on several other themes that are a favorite of the Right). Eastwood defends his film and discusses how the political climate has changed in recent years:
“Maybe I’m getting to the age when I’m starting to be senile or nostalgic or both, but people are so angry now,” he adds. “You used to be able to disagree with people and still be friends. Now you hear these talk shows, and everyone who believes differently from you is a moron and an idiot - both on the right and the left.” His own politics defy neat categorization. He’s supported Democrats (including Gray Davis in the pre-Schwarzenegger era) as well as Republicans, professes the libertarian creed of “less government” and “was never a big enthusiast for going to Iraq but never spoke against it once the troops were there.” In other words, he’s in the same middle as most Americans. “I vote for what I like,” he says. “I’m not a loyalist to any party. I’m only a loyalist to the country.” That’s no longer good enough, apparently, for those who feel an election victory has empowered them to enforce a strict doctrine of political and spiritual correctness.
Eastwood is one of the last few free-thinkers in this country – a man who votes with his conscience rather than based on the party affiliation of the candidate. And this is how I think it should be. During the whole presidential election insanity, I thought about campaigning for Kerry. But really, the people that I spoke with about opportunities disconcerted me. Their whole argument was that they wanted to get Bush out of the White House, which is hardly a bad thing. But they really had nothing to add about Kerry being great or being the best guy for the job. I wasn’t willing to tell people to vote against one candidate by voting for the other. Is that supposed to inspire anyone? It’s that kind of narrow-mindedness on both sides – this red state/blue state mentality – that is tearing our country apart.
I wish I had some words of wisdom about all this. I know I’ve kind of gone off on a tangent, but I think all of this is connected in some way to how our nation and our political system is changing. And I really don’t know what we can do about it. I wish that people would take a lesson from Eastwood and be true to your values, not to a party. Keep an open mind. Respect what the other side has to say and try to work with them, not against them. Remember that this country was built upon the freedoms protected by the Bill of Rights, and that they should be upheld in all spheres of American life. The government is supposed to be the voice for the entire population, not just those in the red states.
Posted by kath at February 19, 2005 07:42 PM