According to Pew, the election revealed that 50 percent of eligible millennials actually casted a vote, as opposed to the voters who were 71 and older, who had a 70 percent turnout. Although the number of registered voters between the two groups is nearly the same, there is a big difference between registering and actually heading to the polls. Historically, America has always pushed its democracy into every nation its soldiers set foot in. Only Some people are disenchanted with the political process and therefore do not participate.
Why is it that the hopeful youths— that are only a few years below voting age— who see the government so positively and even feel a need to vote, throw their sense of civic duty out the window once they reach age 18?
Government and politics matter because those wealthy politicians on Capitol Hill determine how we get educated, how much of our income we get to keep and how the portion that is taken away is used to better the nation. They determine the way we drive our cars, which foreign coffees we drink and which expensive smartphones we mindlessly drone away on. Like it or not, our government is a democratic republic. This means that in order to effectively function and carry out its purpose, the people need to understand why it really matters, the gargantuan impact it has on our lives and how to use the voice that they are rightly given as American citizens.
Government matters — we know it does. Cherise Kim is a senior and a fourth-year reporter. Teenagers should be old enough to distinguish civilized behavior from its opposite, but recent incidents in the lavatories suggest some st Editorial: Respect our Restrooms.
Thrifting: Finding a Needle in a Haystack. Cancel reply. Your email address will not be published. Image Credit. Photo by Joakim Honkasalo on Unsplash. View the discussion thread. Related Stories Submit a Post. By Shanya Karunaratne. By Gustavo Nascimento. By Bianca Jortner. Follow us. Join the discussion on social media. C Voices of Youth. All Rights Reserved. Submit a Post. State and local governments license businesses, professions, automobiles, and drivers; provide essential services such as police and fire protection, education, and street maintenance; regulate zoning and the construction of buildings; provide public housing, transportation, and public health services; and maintain streets, highways, airports, and harbors.
Because of their geographic location and the fact that their meetings usually are open to the public, state and local governments are often quite accessible to the people.
Members of city councils, boards of education, mayors, governors, and other officials are often available to meet with individuals and groups and to speak to students and civic organizations. Citizens need to know the purposes, organization, and responsibilities of their state and local governments so they can take part in their governance.
Content standards The constitutional status of state and local governments. Students should be able to evaluate, take, and defend positions on issues regarding the proper relationship between the national government and the state and local governments.
The proposed Constitution, so far from implying an abolition of the State Governments, makes them constituent parts of the national sovereignty This fully corresponds, in every rational import of the terms with the idea of a Federal Government. Alexander Hamilton To achieve this standard, students should be able to describe similarities and differences between their state constitution and the federal constitution describe the limits the United States Constitution places on the powers of the states, e.
Students should be able to evaluate, take, and defend positions on issues regarding the relationships between state and local governments and citizen access to those governments.
The support of State governments in all their rights, as the most competent administration of our domestic concerns, are the surest bulwarks against anti-republican tendencies. Thomas Jefferson To achieve this standard, students should be able to describe how their state and local governments are organized, e. Students should be able to identify the major responsibilities of their state and local governments and evaluate how well they are being fulfilled.
To achieve this standard, students should be able to identify the major responsibilities of their state and local governments and explain how those governments affect their lives identify the major sources of revenue for state and local governments, e.
What is the place of law in the American constitutional system? Americans look to the principal varieties of law--constitutional, civil, and criminal-- for the protection of their rights to life, liberty, and property.
It establishes limits on both those who govern and the governed, making possible a system of ordered liberty which protects the basic rights of citizens and promotes the common good. This basic notion of the rule of law has been accompanied by the ideal of equal protection of the law, a central theme in the history of the United States. Law pervades American society. Americans look to the principal varieties of law--constitutional, civil, and criminal--for the protection of their rights to life, liberty, and property.
It is often argued, however, that Americans are overly dependent on the legal system to manage disputes about social, economic, and political problems rather than using other means available to them such as private negotiations and participation in the political process.
An understanding of the place of law in the American constitutional system enhances citizens' capacity to appreciate the importance of law in protecting individual rights and promoting the common good. This understanding provides a basis for deciding whether to support new laws and changes in existing law.
Content standards All persons shall be entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, and accommodations of any place of public accommodation, as defined in this section, without discrimination or segregation on the ground of race, color, religion, or national origin.
Civil Rights Act of The place of law in American society. Students should be able to evaluate, take, and defend positions on the role and importance of law in the American political system. To achieve this standard, students should be able to explain why the rule of law has a central place in American society, e. Supreme Court cases such as Marbury v. Madison , Brown v.
Board of Education , U. Nixon practices , e. Earl Warren explain how the individual's rights to life, liberty, and property are protected by the trial and appellate levels of the judicial process and by the principal varieties of law, e. Students should be able to evaluate, take, and defend positions on current issues regarding the judicial protection of individual rights. To achieve this standard, students should be able to explain the importance of an independent judiciary in a constitutional democracy explain the importance of the right to due process of law for individuals accused of crimes, e.
Jane Addams describe historical and contemporary instances in which judicial protections have not been extended to all persons describe historical and contemporary instances in which judicial protections have been extended to those deprived of them in the past explain why due process rights in administrative and legislative procedures are essential for the protection of individual rights and the maintenance of limited government explain major means of conflict resolution, including negotiation, arbitration, mediation, and litigation and their advantages and disadvantages describe the adversary system and evaluate its advantages and disadvantages explain how the state and federal courts' power of judicial review reflects the American idea of constitutional government, i.
How does the American political system provide for choice and opportunities for participation? Content Summary and Rationale Morality cannot be legislated, but behavior can be regulated. Judicial decrees may not change the heart, but they can restrain the heartless. The formal institutions and processes of government such as political parties, campaigns, and elections are important avenues for choice and citizen participation. Another equally important avenue is the many associations and groups that constitute civil society.
All provide ways for citizens to monitor and influence the political process. American constitutional democracy is dynamic and sometimes disorderly. The political process is complex and does not always operate in a smooth and predictable manner.
Individually and in groups, citizens attempt to influence those in power. In turn, those in power attempt to influence citizens. In this process, the public agenda--the most pressing issues of the day--is set, and public opinion regarding these issues is formed.
Public opinion sets bounds to every government and is the real sovereign in every free one. James Madison If citizens do not understand the political process and how to participate in it effectively, they may feel overwhelmed and alienated. An understanding of the political process is a necessary prerequisite for effective and responsible participation in the making of public policy.
Content standards The public agenda. Students should be able to evaluate, take, and defend positions about how the public agenda is set. To achieve this standard, students should be able to explain that the "public agenda" consists of those matters that occupy public attention at any particular time, e.
It surrounds, directs, and oppresses him. The basic constitution of society has more to do with this than any political laws. The more alike men are, the weaker each feels in the face of all. Alexis de Tocqueville describe how the public agenda is shaped by political leaders, political institutions, political parties, interest groups, the media, individual citizens explain how individuals can help to shape the public agenda, e.
Students should be able to evaluate, take, and defend positions about the role of public opinion in American politics. To achieve this standard, students should be able to explain the concept of public opinion and alternative views of the proper role of public opinion in a democracy explain how public opinion is measured, used in public debate, and sometimes can be manipulated evaluate ways that government and the media influence public opinion evaluate the influence of public opinion on public policy and the behavior of public officials I fear three newspapers more than a hundred bayonets.
Napoleon Bonaparte c. Students should be able to evaluate, take, and defend positions on the influence of the media on American political life. To achieve this standard, students should be able to explain the meaning and importance of freedom of the press evaluate the role of television, radio, the press, newsletters, and emerging means of communication in American politics compare and contrast various forms of political persuasion and discuss the extent to which traditional forms have been replaced by electronic media Whatever facilitates a general intercourse of sentiments, as good roads, domestic commerce, a free press, and particularly a circulation of newspapers through the entire body of people James Madison explain how Congress, the president, and state and local public officials use the media to communicate with the citizenry evaluate historical and contemporary political communication using such criteria as logical validity, factual accuracy, emotional appeal, distorted evidence, appeals to bias or prejudice, e.
Students should be able to evaluate, take, and defend positions about the roles of political parties, campaigns, and elections in American politics. The future of this republic is in the hands of the American voter. Eisenhower To achieve this standard, students should be able to describe the origins and development of the two party system in the United States evaluate the role of third parties in the United States explain how and why American political parties differ from ideological parties in other countries explain the major characteristics of American political parties, how they vary by locality, and how they reflect the dispersion of power providing citizens numerous opportunities for participation describe the role of political parties in channeling public opinion, allowing people to act jointly, nominating candidates, conducting campaigns, and training future leaders explain why political parties in the United States are weaker today than they have been at some times in the past Political parties serve to keep each other in check, one keenly watching the other.
Henry Clay c. Alexis de Tocqueville Associations and groups. Students should be able to evaluate, take, and defend positions about the contemporary roles of associations and groups in American politics. To achieve this standard, students should be able to identify and explain the historical role of various associations and groups active in American politics, e.
Students should be able to evaluate, take, and defend positions about the formation and implementation of public policy. To achieve this standard, students should be able to describe a current issue of public policy at local, state, or national level identify the major groups interested in that issue and explain their positions identify the points at which citizens can monitor or influence the process of public policy formation explain the processes by which public policy concerning that issue is formed and carried out explain why conflicts about values, principles, and interests may make agreement difficult or impossible on certain issues of public policy, e.
How is the world organized politically? Content summary and rationale The world is divided into nation-states that claim sovereignty over a defined territory and jurisdiction over everyone within it. These nation-states interact using diplomacy, formal agreements, and sanctions which may be peaceful or involve the use of force. At the international level there is no political organization with power comparable to that of the nation-state to enforce agreements.
As a result, when interests among nation-states clash, wars may erupt. There are, however, international governmental organizations that provide avenues through which nation-states interact and attempt to manage conflicts peacefully.
In addition, numerous nongovernmental organizations play increasingly important roles. If we do not want to die together in war, we must learn to live together in peace. Harry S Truman To make judgments about the role of the United States in the world today and what course American foreign policy should take, citizens need to understand some of the major elements of international relations and how world affairs affect them.
Content standards Nation-states. Students should be able to explain how the world is organized politically. To achieve this standard, students should be able to explain the division of the world into nation-states that claim sovereignty over a defined territory and jurisdiction over everyone within it explain why there is no political organization at the international level with power comparable to that of the nation-state It is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law.
Students should be able to explain how nation-states interact with each other. To achieve this standard, students should be able to describe the most important means nation-states use to interact with one another trade diplomacy treaties, agreements international law economic incentives and sanctions military force and the threat of force explain common reasons for the breakdown of order among nation-states, e.
Students should be able to evaluate, take, and defend positions on the purposes and functions of international organizations in the world today. Human rights stand upon a common basis; and by all reason that they are supported, maintained, and defended for all the human family.
The essential characteristics of humanity are everywhere the same. Frederick Douglass To achieve this standard, students should be able to describe the purposes and functions of the major governmental international organizations, e. How do the domestic politics and constitutional principles of the United States affect its relations with the world?
Content summary and rationale At times in their history, Americans have sought to isolate themselves from the rest of the world. At other times, the nation has played a prominent or even dominant role in world affairs. Domestic politics and the principles of the United States Constitution impose constraints on the nation's relations with the rest of the world. Disagreements over the meaning of these principles and the degree to which they should guide the ends and means of foreign policy have raised some of the most difficult issues in American history.
An understanding of the behavior of the United States in the world arena and the processes by which foreign policy is made and implemented provides the necessary foundation for making judgments about the proper direction of American foreign policy.
Content standards The historical context of United States foreign policy. Students should be able to explain the principal foreign policy positions of the United States and evaluate their consequences.
To achieve this standard, students should be able to explain the significance of principal policies and events in the United States' relations with the world, e. Students should be able to evaluate, take, and defend positions about how United States foreign policy is made and the means by which it is carried out. Our policy [the Marshall Plan] is directed not against any country or doctrine but against hunger, poverty, desperation and chaos. George C. Marshall To achieve this standard, students should be able to explain powers the Constitution gives to the president, Congress, and the federal judiciary in foreign affairs and how these powers have been used over time describe the process by which United States foreign policy is made, including the roles of federal agencies, domestic interest groups, the public, and the media explain the tension between constitutional provisions and the requirements of foreign policy, e.
Students should be able to evaluate, take, and defend positions on foreign policy issues in light of American national interests, values, and principles. To attain this standard, students should be able to explain the idea of the national interest evaluate the use of the national interest as a criterion for American foreign policy explain the influence of American constitutional values and principles on American foreign policy, e.
How has the United States influenced other nations, and how have other nations influenced American politics and society? Just what is it that America stands for? If she stands for one thing more than another, it is for the sovereignty of self- governing people She stands as an example of free institutions, and as an example of disinterested international action in the main tenets of justice.
Woodrow Wilson Content summary and rationale The United States does not exist in isolation; it is part of an interconnected world in whose development it has played and continues to play a considerable role. The American political tradition, including the ideas expressed in the Declaration of Independence, the United States Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, has had a profound influence abroad.
The nation has exerted economic, technological, and cultural influence on other nations. At the same time, the United States and its citizens have been affected by political, economic, technological, and cultural influences from other countries.
Because of the interconnectedness of the world, many pressing domestic problems, including the economy and the environment, are also international issues. Thus, what once was considered a clear distinction between domestic and foreign policy is in some cases no longer valid. To take part in debates about domestic and foreign policy, citizens need to be aware of developments in the world and their effects, and to evaluate proposals for dealing with them.
Content standards Impact of the American concept of democracy and individual rights on the world. Students should be able to evaluate, take, and defend positions about the impact of American political ideas on the world. What we call foreign affairs is no longer foreign affairs.
It's a local affair. Whatever happens in Indonesia is important to Indiana We cannot escape each other Eisenhower To achieve this standard, students should be able to describe the impact on other nations of the American Revolution and of the values and principles expressed in the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution including the Bill of Rights describe the influence abroad of American ideas about rights and how the ideas of others about rights have influenced Americans Political developments.
Students should be able to evaluate, take, anddefend positions about the effects of significant international political developments on the United States and other nations.
To achieve this standard, students should be able to explain the effects on the United States of significant world political developments, e. Students should be able to evaluate, take, and defend positions about the effects of significant economic, technological, and cultural developments in the United States and other nations. To achieve this standard, students should be able to describe some of the principal economic, technological, and cultural effects the United States has had on the world, e.
Students should be able to evaluate, take, and defend positions about what the response of American governments at all levels should be to world demographic and environmental developments. To achieve this standard, students should be able to describe the impact of major demographic trends on the United States, e.
Students should be able to evaluate, take, and defend positions about what the relationship of the United States should be to international organizations. To achieve this standard, students should be able to describe the role of the United States in establishing and maintaining principal international organizations, e. What is citizenship? Content summary and rationale In view of the Constitution, in the eye of the law, there is in this country no superior, dominant, ruling class of citizens.
There is no caste here. Our Constitution is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens. In respect of civil rights, all citizens are equal before the law.
The humblest is the peer of the most powerful. John Marshall Harlan Citizenship in American constitutional democracy differs from membership in an authoritarian or totalitarian regime. In American democracy each citizen is a full and equal member of a self-governing community endowed with fundamental rights and entrusted with responsibilities. Both the government and the citizens are responsible for the protection of the rights of individuals and for the promotion of the common good.
It is a fundamental responsibility of the citizen to see that government serves the purposes for which it was created. In order to fulfill this role, individuals need to understand what citizenship means in American constitutional democracy. Content standards The meaning of citizenship in the United States. Students should be able to explain the meaning of citizenship in the United States.
To achieve this standard, students should be able to explain the idea that citizenship is legally recognized membership in a self-governing community confers full membership in a self-governing community; no degrees of citizenship or legally recognized states of inferior citizenship are tolerated confers equal rights under the law is not dependent on inherited, involuntary groupings such as race, ethnicity, or ancestral religion confers certain rights and privileges, e.
Louis Brandeis c. Students should be able to evaluate, take, and defend positions on issues regarding the criteria used for naturalization. To achieve this standard, students should be able to explain the distinction between citizens and noncitizens aliens and the process by which aliens may become citizens compare naturalization in the United States with that of other nations evaluate the criteria used for admission to citizenship in the United States: residence in the United States for five years ability to read, write, and speak English proof of good moral character knowledge of the history of the United States knowledge of and support for the values and principles of American constitutional government B.
What are the rights of citizens? Content summary and rationale In a political system in which one of the primary purposes of government is the protection of individual rights, it is important for citizens to understand what these rights are and their relationship to each other and to other values and interests of their society. The concept of rights is complex and cannot be treated thoroughly in this set of standards. These standards, however, will provide a basis for the analysis of public issues involving rights.
To do so, it is useful to distinguish among three categories of rights that are of particular significance in the American political system. These are personal, political, and economic rights.
Few rights, if any, are considered absolute. Rights may reinforce or conflict with each other or with other values and interests and require reasonable limitations. Therefore, it is important for citizens to develop a framework that clarifies their ideas about rights and the relationships among rights and other values and interests. This framework provides a basis for making reasoned decisions about the proper scope and limits of rights.
Content standards The house of everyone is to him as his castle and fortress, as well for his defense against injury and violence as for his repose. Sir Edward Coke c. Students should be able to evaluate, take, and defend positions on issues regarding personal rights. To achieve this standard, students should be able to explain the meaning of personal rights as distinguished from political rights, e.
First Amendment Political rights. Students should be able to evaluate, take, and defend positions on issues regarding political rights. To achieve this standard, students should be able to explain the meaning of political rights as distinguished from personal rights, e. Students should be able to evaluate, take, and defend positions on issues regarding economic rights.
To achieve this standard, students should be able to explain the meaning of economic rights as distinguished from personal and political rights, e. But the right of free speech does not carry with it--as has been said--the right to holler fire in a crowded theatre. We must preserve the right to free assembly. But free assembly does not carry with it the right to block public thoroughfares to traffic. We do have a right to protest. And a right to march under conditions that do not infringe the Constitutional rights of our neighbors.
Lyndon B. Johnson Relationships among personal, political, and economic rights. Students should be able to evaluate, take, and defend positions on the relationships among personal, political, and economic rights. To achieve this standard, students should be able to explain the relationship between the economic right to acquire, use, transfer, and dispose of property to political rights explain the relationship of economic rights such as the right to choose one's work, to change employment, and to join a labor union and other lawful associations to political rights explain and give examples of situations in which personal, political, or economic rights are in conflict evaluate the argument that poverty, unemployment, and urban decay serve to limit both political and economic rights evaluate the argument that personal, political, and economic rights reinforce each other Scope and limits of rights.
Students should be able to evaluate, take, and defend positions on issues regarding the proper scope and limits of rights.
To achieve this standard, students should be able to explain what is meant by the "scope and limits" of a right, e. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up. Attributed to Martin Niemoeller C. What are the responsibilities of citizens? Content summary and rationale The purposes of American constitutional democracy are furthered by citizens who continuously reexamine the basic principles of the Constitution and monitor the performance of political leaders and government agencies to insure their fidelity to constitutional values and principles.
In addition, they must examine their own behavior and fidelity to these values and principles. Citizens also need to examine situations in which their responsibilities may require that their personal desires or interests be subordinated to the common good.
To make these judgments requires an understanding of the difference between personal and civic responsibilities as well as the mutual reinforcement of these responsibilities.
Content standards Personal responsibilities. Students should be able to evaluate, take, and defend positions on issues regarding the personal responsibilities of citizens in American constitutional democracy.
To achieve this standard, students should be able to explain the distinction between personal and civic responsibilities, as well as the tensions that may arise between them evaluate the importance for the individual and society of taking care of one's self supporting one's family and caring for, nurturing, and educating one's children accepting responsibility for the consequences of one's actions adhering to moral principles considering the rights and interests of others behaving in a civil manner I often wonder whether we do not rest our hopes too much upon constitutions, upon laws and upon courts.
These are false hopes; believe me, these are false hopes. Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it Judge Learned Hand Civic responsibilities. Students should be able to evaluate, take, and defend positions on issues regarding civic responsibilities of citizens in American constitutional democracy. Abraham Lincoln D. What civic dispositions or traits of private and public character are important to the preservation and improvement of American constitutional democracy?
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