A Crucial Element of Democracy

This is a blog by Robert Gutierrez ...
While often taken for granted, civics education plays a crucial role in a democracy like ours. This Blog is dedicated to enticing its readers into taking an active role in the formulation of the civics curriculum found in their local schools. In order to do this, the Blog is offering a newer way to look at civics education, a newer construct - liberated federalism or federation theory. Daniel Elazar defines federalism as "the mode of political organization that unites separate polities within an overarching political system by distributing power among general and constituent governments in a manner designed to protect the existence and authority of both." It depends on its citizens acting in certain ways which Elazar calls federalism's processes. Federation theory, as applied to civics curriculum, has a set of aims. They are:
*Teach a view of government as a supra federated institution of society in which collective interests of the commonwealth are protected and advanced.
*Teach the philosophical basis of government's role as guardian of the grand partnership of citizens at both levels of individuals and associations of political and social intercourse.
*Convey the need of government to engender levels of support promoting a general sense of obligation and duty toward agreed upon goals and processes aimed at advancing the common betterment.
*Establish and justify a political morality which includes a process to assess whether that morality meets the needs of changing times while holding true to federalist values.
*Emphasize the integrity of the individual both in terms of liberty and equity in which each citizen is a member of a compacted arrangement and whose role is legally, politically, and socially congruent with the spirit of the Bill of Rights.
*Find a balance between a respect for national expertise and an encouragement of local, unsophisticated participation in policy decision-making and implementation.
Your input, as to the content of this Blog, is encouraged through this Blog directly or the Blog's email address: gravitascivics@gmail.com .
NOTE: This blog has led to the publication of a book. The title of that book is TOWARD A FEDERATED NATION: IMPLEMENTING NATIONAL CIVICS STANDARDS and it is available through Amazon in both ebook and paperback versions.

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

PRINCIPLES

With this posting, I continue my effort to present to educators a way of viewing and judging arguments.  This is particularly aimed at civics educators, but I think it can be helpful to all educators and the general public.  In this endeavor, I am using the ideas of Philip Selznick.[1]  He offers us a list of qualities – disciplines – by which to denote a well-crafted argument.  They are order, principle, experience, prudence, and dialogue.  The last posting reviewed order.  This posting will expand on principle.

At times, some might argue that the emphasis of pragmatic thinking radicalizes the practical and therefore, accuses it of being principle-less.  The whole notion is that pragmatism in its arguments utilizes means that will lead to ends and will, when attained, render those ends as new means to further sought after ends and on and on.  Under such a mode of argumentation, there are no ultimate ends and thus no principles.  Selznick argues that this is but a parody of pragmatist philosophy.  He points out that its main proponents, John Dewey and William James, were much ensconced in seeking ultimate goals, in ultimate principles.  And those principles had to do with moral foundational ends such as justice.  They pursued those values – ends – that facilitate cooperation.  As I have argued, a pragmatic way to view principles of justice and fairness, liberty and equality are as essential qualities that allow, in continuous fashion, productive interaction between people.  It is when these qualities are not kept, that the motivation for discord occurs and, if not remedied, encourages serious discord that can be sustained. 

But these are not the usual sought after ends.  In civic or governmental operations, usually we are engaged in seeking more immediate ends, such as whether we should construct a street or fix a water main or provide some governmental service.  It is only when we string together a long lists of “shoulds,” logically tying one to the other, that we arrive at justice and fairness.  It is in this light that I present federalist theory with the trump value of societal welfare and key instrumental values such as liberty and equality.[2]  These are ultimate or near ultimate ends. 

And these types of values – though often not at a conscious level or somewhat taken for granted – are the ends that govern and guide us as to which issues are important and which resolutions are legitimate.  Therefore, principles which include these are essential parts of good argument and when judging whether an argument has merit or not, one can ask about these ends, particularly when they are not stated or immediately discernable.  In other words, they are thought of when “something smells rotten in Denmark.”



[1] Selznick, P.  (1992).  The moral commonwealth:  Social theory and the promise of community.  Berkeley, CA:  University of California Press.

[2] These are values I have identified in previous postings.  By way of reminding you, here is a listing of these values:
       Trump Value:  Societal welfare (as experienced through societal survival and advancement)
       Key Instrumental Values:  constitutional integrity (liberty), equality, communal democracy, democratic pluralism and diversity, compacted arrangements, critical and transparent deliberation, collective problem-solving, earned trust, loyalty, patriotism, expertise
       Operational Values (partial listing):  political engagement, due process, legitimate authority, privacy, universality of human rights, tolerance, non-violence, teamwork, consideration of others, economic sufficiency, security, localism3
As can be noted, lower level values are logically derived from higher level values.  These values, other than the trump value, are not presented as a definitive set of values, but the code is fairly tied into the trump and instrumental values as central to its theoretical base – federalist theory.

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