A TRANSACTIONAL AIM

If you are new to this blog, let me point out that a recurring claim I have been making in previous postings is that in the past fifty to sixty years, civics courses around the country have been guided by a prevalent view of government. That mental construct I have entitled the natural rights construct. In essence, this view sees government as the ultimate protector of our individual rights. As a philosophic statement, the construct is a moral view. It holds, as a moral imperative, that government should be established and maintained in order that each of us is able to determine the life we want to lead; we are to be unfettered to do what we wish as long as we do not interfere with others' rights to do likewise.

Government is needed under this view, but only to protect this basic moral claim. “Government that governs least, governs best” is a standard adage associated with the natural rights view of governing. Yes, there might be some offhand allowance for the importance of community or an encouragement for people to participate in community affairs – after all, a person might determine that such activities add to his or her personal happiness – but the focus is on the individual and his or her rights. Surely, under the natural rights view, there must not be any laws dictating any such involvement; it is only suggested as the “thing” good citizens do.

With a focus on describing and explaining a “rights-protecting” institution, the study of government is centered on teaching the structure, processes, and functions of government and governance with a more or less mechanistic perspective. Why? Several reasons, but prominent is the following: among our rights is the right to compete for favorable governmental decisions and benefits. But one must remember that the benefits can be of only a certain type and amount. After all, the goal, under this view, is for the least governance. But – and here is the irony – in this day and age, even minimal aims call for extensive government and governance. To protect our rights, for example, a government must sustain an adequate military. This simple determination, though, calls for enormous outlays of funds so that the government can buy the necessary weapons and other related goods and services – expenditures of hundreds of billions of dollars annually. Who will get that business? We all have the right to compete. While most of us will not compete to manufacture the newest tank, we might want to compete for other outlays in serving our military or other governmental operation. In order to be able to compete, to be able to exercise this right, we need to know stuff.

Well, our civics instruction is meant to teach you that knowledge, in terms of governmental structure, functions, and processes, at least at an introductory level. That is the type of knowledge a government or civics course will contain and try to impart to its students. As evidence for this overall view, let me share with you a list of intended outcomes of an American Government course from a document that was issued by the Dade County Public Schools¹ system in the mid 1980s.

After successfully completing this course, the student will be able to

1. Contrast the structure and function of government at all levels in American political life.
2. Analyze the basic principles of political organization embodied in the Constitution.
3. Contrast the processes by which power is passed on within all levels of the three branches of government.
4. Analyze the effectiveness of influences on governmental decision making by the support and dissent of individuals and interest groups using the criteria of actual changes initiated or completed.
5. Trace the relationship between majority rule and individual rights as it is reflected in our legal and governmental system and as it evolved through differing interpretations of the Constitution.
6. Analyze the strengths and weaknesses of our federal system of government to deal with those domestic and foreign problems facing our nation today.
7. Show relationships between American political traditions and the American way of life (social, economic, and religious ideals).
8. Demonstrate the importance of participating in community, service, civic importance, and involvement in political activities.
9. Utilize appropriate vocabulary, geographical, reference/study, critical thinking, and decision-making skills.

I know that when I, as a government teacher, reviewed these stated curricular aims, I interpreted them, collectively, as a fairly neutral stand about any governmental or political ambition, either by government or government officials. And yet I do not interpret our Constitution in that light. What we have here is a justification for transactional politics – “I do something for you, if you do something for me.” Instead, I believe our Constitution is a compact among all of us in which we promise to work toward our common welfare.

Our Preamble to the Constitution is more than just a goal statement for establishing a government as an arena for competing interests. This blog has been dedicated to making and explaining a mental construct that promotes a more proactive approach toward striving for the commonwealth of the nation that is based on republican principles and democratic processes. Under this other, federalist, view, civics instruction would present content that encourages, not dictates, a shift away from transactional politics to a view of a shared partnership, one in which we all sense a more palatable common fate.

1The name of this school district has since changed; it is now known as the Miami-Dade Public Schools. This school district is among the five largest in the nation.