FIRST CLASS CITIZEN

At some point, Florida's former governor and U.S. Senator, Bob Graham, stated on the Senate floor that he was a Jeffersonian Democrat. What does that mean? It means he believes in republicanism. As such, it promotes the idea that citizens behave in accordance with their civic duty, which includes participation in the political processes of their communities, especially, and in the affairs of their state and nation. This includes, at some minimum level, the duty to vote. Government should encourage citizens to vote. Jeffersonian democracy is in favor of obliterating aristocracy and generally representing the interests of the common man and woman, especially that of the yeoman farmer. A yeoman farmer is a farmer who cultivates his/her own farm and is generally considered a relatively small farm farmer. In Jefferson's time, yeoman farmers were common in New England. He found these people to be honest, diligent, and socially connected to their local affairs. When Jefferson was alive, these ideas and ideals made up the platform for the political party Jefferson founded, the Democratic-Republican Party. It was one of two parties at the time – late eighteenth century, early nineteenth century – the other being the Federalist Party started by Alexander Hamilton and John Adams. Don't be misled by the names of these parties; their names were chosen because of the historical prelude to their origins and were not a true reflection of the terms' meanings.¹

But I digress. My main point here is to convey my admiration for Bob Graham. Jeffersonian democracy is a view of governance and politics akin to federalism, but with some deviation. But to the degree the two constructs overlap and to the degree Governor Graham abides by these jointly held beliefs, I find him to be a man deserving of respect and admiration. Let me share an anecdote that I believe reflects the kind of public servant he was.

I, as a classroom teacher, was sent, from time to time, invitations to participate in varied in-service educational events. One such invitation was sent to me by the U. S. State Department. The event was scheduled to take place at State's headquarters in Washington, D. C. I accepted. When I arrived, I found that there were teachers from all over the country – about several hundred of us. And the event was scheduled over two days; I think a Thursday and Friday. It was very informative, well organized and I was delighted to be there – they really made the effort to make us all feel important and the information they shared about several international issues and conditions about varied nations around the world was well presented. A lot of discussion ensued. It was a trip well taken. The man mostly organizing our activities, at least as the emcee of the activities, was Lawrence Eagleburger, who at the time was second in command at State. The Secretary of State was James Baker under the administration of George H. W. Bush. The last scheduled event was to be a reception for all of the teachers, including a presentation by Secretary Baker. Unfortunately, I couldn't attend because I needed to get to the airport for my flight back to Miami. I was disappointed. But what I didn't know at the time was that Eagleburger would succeed Baker in the post of Secretary of State – a fact I would appreciate in future years.

Anyway, I arrived at my gate at the airport and among my fellow travelers was a group of people surrounding someone. At first I couldn't make out who the person in the middle of this group was. Eventually, I saw it was my senator, Bob Graham. We all waited for our plane to arrive, an Eastern shuttle from New York or Boston. Finally, it pulled up to the gate and we still had to wait for the passengers to deplane and then we all started boarding. They first called the first class passengers. I expected Senator Graham to board. He didn't. I thought, smart politician; he doesn't want to be sitting in first class while the rest of us board and see him there as we shuffle back to coach. Then it was time for the coach passengers to board. It happens that when they called for my section of seats to board, Senator Graham was one of us. It turned out he was flying coach and his eventual seat happened to be a couple of rows behind mine. The flight took off and we made our way down to Florida. As I worked my way out to leave the plane, the Senator was right behind me. I didn't maneuver this; it just worked out that way. Anyway, as we got to the concourse, I looked over my shoulder and simply extended a positive word, saying, “I'm a fan” and intended to go about my business. Well, he engaged me in conversation which was good and bad. The good was he expressed a genuine interest in my trip, in the program I attended, and my career as a teacher in general. For those who are not Floridians who might be reading this, I will inform you that Graham was somewhat famous for his work days when he would spend a whole day doing different jobs while governor and he continued the practice after that time. He has indicated that the work days were a good way to learn what was on people's minds. As we made our way down the concourse, which was a fairly long way, our conversation was lively and interesting, at least to me. The bad part of the walk was that I had to keep up with him. He was simply walking at what seemed to be his normal gait, but I had to hustle to stay even with him in order to keep the conversation going. As we got to the lobby area of the airport, I noticed a group waiting for him. I let him walk ahead so that he could mingle with his welcoming entourage. He did go ahead, but after a second he looked around and wanted me to join the group. He handed me a little black book and asked me to write down my name and address. Unfortunately, after holding my bag for the time it took to walk the long concourse, my arm and hand muscles didn't want to cooperate and my penmanship, which I think is usually pretty good, was awful. I scratched the information down and if I didn't know what I had attempted to write, I wouldn't have been able to read it. Oh well, c'est la vie. I parted with a warm goodbye and off I went.

Today, Governor Graham is heavily involved with a variety of issues, one being civics education. He and former Justice Sandra Day O'Connor have somewhat joined forces and have backed the promotion of civics curriculum projects across the country. Let me quote him:

We're developing curriculum … which will say if a child is learning the basic skills of how to read, why can't they be reading about something important like the history of our state or our nation or people who have shaped it and some of the principles that make us the unique democracy that we are … .²

His qualified description of efforts to enhance civics in our classrooms reflects the current emphasis on basic skills at the expense of other curricular concerns such as civics. Governor Graham shared, in a recent visit to the state capital, that when he graduated from Miami Senior High School he had had three courses in civics. This is a far cry from what students receive now. The Governor is working to find ways to ameliorate this deficiency. Thank you, Governor Graham, for your service, for your interest in civics education, and for a wonderful memory.

1For example, the Federalist Party favored a strong central government which is in dire contrast to traditional federal ideals. The Democratic-Republican Party was not so democratic as we use the term today.

2Burlew, J. (2014). Graham calls for more civic engagement. The Tallahassee Democrat, March 19, p. 3 A.