The IRS investigates conservative groups. Military officers and NCOs use their authority to commit and cover up sex crimes. Education administrators manipulate student scores on standardized tests to meet mandated progress targets and collect bonuses. The nation's largest lenders illegally foreclose on...

A letter printed in my local newspaper this week lamented "how our society, its values, and its problems differ from, say, 75 years ago." The writer goes on to say that "there was crime, but not so much senseless crime and not in these numbers... It was not...

I'm tired of Americans disparaging our country. Addressing concerns about our government is critical to maintaining the republic, but I'm bombarded not by criticism, but over-the-top generalizations: "The government cannot agree on an appropriations bill, clear evidence that we've never been this dysfunctional before." "Politics has never been this polarized."...

This week we are reminded again that the job of citizen is the most important responsibility in our republic. On February 27, the newly-installed statue of civil rights activist Rosa Parks in the United States Capitol Statuary Hall was unveiled. Parks's story -- her personal commitment to the...

"We the People" create the institutions that serve us. It's easy to forget that we -- individual citizens -- are the ones responsible for our children's education. In this republic we are, however, easily diverted and distressed by the issues that revolve around our education institutions: policy battles in the...

President Obama's inaugural speech was an occasion for Americans to listen to our collective memory -- our common history. The work of citizens in our republic is difficult work. It often feels confusing and chaotic, like the cacophony of voices engaged in our American debate is pulling us...

The republic is not a football game. It is not team Democrat against team Republican.
Recent presidential campaigns constantly overused the analogy. We saw the Obama Truth Team on Facebook and @TeamBarackObama on Twitter, pitting their forces against America's Comeback Team and @TeamRomney. Perhaps...

Recently, President Obama flew to Myanmar and described the United States as a Pacific nation. Asia, he said, represents the future. Secretary of State Clinton traveled to Israel to assist a ceasefire agreement between Israelis and Palestinians. The United States officially expressed dismay over Egyptian President...

Conducting the business of our democratic republic isn't easy. The campaign of 2012 was a reminder that the work is complex. It is messy. It is hard work. "We the People" are a diverse lot. Often we describe our national diversity by listing ethnicities, cultural distinctions, and religions....

United States history is the story of a compelling idea that continues to revolutionize the world. Unfortunately, American schools today disregard that history. They toss it to the side as if it were an encumbrance impeding progress towards preparing students for economically useful forms of employment.

The Center for...

"If a nation expects to be ignorant & free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was & never will be," wrote Thomas Jefferson to Charles Yancey on January 6, 1816. Unfortunately, nearly two hundred years later, we are abandoning the central ingredient in the development of thoughtful,...

We have reduced citizen responsibility to voting. You hear it often: "Responsible citizens vote." So it is interesting that responsibility has become a key issue in this election and it is clear that when the candidates talk about responsibility, they are talking about more than voting. In his acceptance speech,...

Our Constitution is constantly bandied about, quoted, cited, and interpreted by every pundit from every media outlet and every political persuasion. Don't just take their word for it. What do you actually know about the Constitution? What do your children know about the Constitution?

There is certainly a lot...

Citizenship is not an innate human quality. "We the People" are not born understanding civic responsibilities; we have to learn them. We must teach children that they are a resource for the republic. Education is essential. Children are our nation's common wealth. They must understand their civic responsibilities, appreciate their...

Americans are a terribly ahistorical people. We don't provide our children with a critical in-depth understanding of history. Consequently, Americans have a cloudy idealized sense of our past. We act as if the present generation is the only one ever to face a challenge. You hear it a lot today:...

Who's responsible for instilling in our young people an appreciation for history and citizenship? Many of us -- teachers, educators, and members of the public alike -- are very concerned about the demise of social studies. American history and civics, in particular, have been deemphasized in our curricula, victim to...

Texas school districts are protesting high-stakes testing. Florida's Governor, Rick Scott, thinks perhaps the state's students are tested "too much." A national resolution is circulating to protest high-stakes testing. I hope we are beginning to turn a corner. I hope people are finally...

I am fed up with teacher-bashing. Politicians, civil servants, pundits, cartoonists, businessmen, the media -- they all line up to take a shot. Everyone is willing to belittle teachers. But these same critics are not willing to step forward and do the job themselves and, for the most part, neither...

These are difficult times for the republic, by any measure. Every American, across the entire political spectrum with all its subtle gradations, has that feeling. In difficult times we have always turned to the Declaration of Independence for solace and inspiration. It echoed in the work of Texas delegates as...

Yet another government study committee, in a report released this April, decries the failure of science, technology, engineering, and math education in this country. Citing ample statistics, the Chairman's Staff of the Joint Economic Committee of Congress makes the case that Americans must produce more students to fill STEM (science,...