Gravitas: A Voice for Civics : SUMMARIZING AN ARGUMENT FOR LIBERATED FEDERALISM, I

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, November 7, 2023

SUMMARIZING AN ARGUMENT FOR LIBERATED FEDERALISM, I

Regular readers of this blog know that it has for some time presented a dialectic argument. That argument promotes the adoption of liberated federalism as the guiding mental construct or model in developing and implementing a civics curriculum in the nation’s schools. The last posting completed a review of commonplaces of curricular development – a contribution by William Schubert.[1] That was the commonplace, milieu. And with that, the blog ends the argument.

What remains is a summary of this argument that will be offered in this and one or two more postings. More specifically, up to this point, the blog did the following: it reviewed the argument’s assumptions relating to relevant individual decision-making; it then listed a set of constructed elements which have been identified by Philip Selznick;[2] and those elements were then arranged into a model.[3]

That model is proposed as the foundational construct for the liberated federalism approach in the instruction of American government and politics at the secondary level. The argument stressed that the model is, first, one suitable for instructional purposes, but not for purposes of professional political study. The argument then reviewed the commonplaces of curriculum identified by Schubert about how each related to the liberated federalist perspective.

So, this blog has conducted an analysis to arrive at an answer to a research question. The question is: does a federalist perspective – in the form of liberated federalism – provide a legitimate and viable construct for the study of governance and politics in both middle schools (civics) and high schools (U.S. government)? As just indicated, the overall approach to this study was to institute a dialectic argument according to the method provided by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (as described by Harry B. Acton[4]).

Following the “thesis-antithesis-synthesis” format, the synthesis (conclusion) holds or reveals the answer to the research question; that being that liberated federalism is suitable. It is not only suitable to guide civics education curriculum but also to address the identified problems this blog argued that one confronts with the current prevailing construct. This other construct, the natural rights view, currently guides what schools offer in terms of civics.

Summarily, the argument is that natural rights steers civics to an excessively individualistic, self-centered disposition among students.[5] Instead, liberated federalism, a more communal view, addresses this shortcoming and promises to assist in encouraging a more engaged citizenry by utilizing more local governing and political conditions and problems. The aim is to further, among students, federated attitudes, and values.

Upcoming postings will point out the reliance that a dialectic study has on historical knowledge – its evolutionary character. In addition, the postings will refer to how each prevailing construct during the course of American history – i.e., parochial / traditional federalism, natural rights view, critical theory, and liberated federalism – addresses the main procedural modes of instruction and curriculum development that each view encourages.

In leading to the adoption of liberated federalism, certain questions should be addressed. Among the questions are inquiries concerning practical matters with the implementation of the liberated federalist approach and how that would relate to the current prevailing view. With those questions reviewed, the blog will offer a commentary on the relevance of what is being proposed and on the challenges to its implementation. And with that, the blog will complete a summary of the argument.

[1] William H. Schubert, Curriculum: Perspective, Paradigm, and Possibility (New York, NY: MacMillan Publishing Company, 1986). The commonplaces can be defined as follows:

· The subject matter refers to the academic content presented in the curriculum.

· The teacher is the professional instructor authorized to present and supervise curricular activities within the classroom setting.

· Learners are defined as those individuals attending school for the purpose of acquiring the education entailed in a particular curriculum.

· Milieu refers to the general cultural setting and ambiance within the varied social settings found at the school site.

[2] Philip Selznick, The Moral Commonwealth: Social Theory and the Promise of Community (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1992).

[3] Robert Gutierrez, Toward a Federated Nation: Implementing National Civics Standards (Tallahassee, FL: Gravitas Civics Books, 2020). For a graphic representation of the model, see page 230.

[4] Harry B. Acton, “Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich,” in The Encyclopedia of Philosophy, edited by Paul Edwards (New York, NY: The Macmillan Company and The Free Press, 1967), 435-451.

[5] For an extensive presentation of this claim, see Robert Gutierrez, From Immaturity to Polarized Politics: Obstacles in Achieving a Federated Nation (Tallahassee, FL: Gravitas Civics Books, 2022). Available through Amazon and other booksellers.