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, January 24, 2023

DIGRESSION II

 [Note:  As the reader might notice, this posting is being posted outside of the usual schedule this blog follows.  Regular postings of this blog has been suspended after its 1200 posting - this blogger takes a bread after every 400 posting.  He anticipates that regular posting will begin in February.  This posting is to update the first posting entitled "Digression."

Its purpose is to inform directed readers on how to gain access to supplemental readings to which this blogger’s published works refer, highlight, or otherwise cite.  This posting will be referred to in future postings and, in all likelihood, will be amplified as this blogger adds to his published book list.

Well, that has happened.  He now, along with his first book, Toward a Federated Nation, has a second published book, From Immaturity to Polarized Politics, and is included in the following listing.  

A reader who is wishing to read or look at one of the referred supplemental works need only click on the noted URL to gain access.  Lastly, there is a "book" of the first one hundred postings of this blog.  Its title is Gravitas:  The Blog Book, Volume I.  There is also one for the second hundred postings - announced for the first time here - Gravitas:  The Blog Book, Volume II.  Volume I and II are found online and their URLs are indicated below.

          By way of explaining this mode of access, this blogger believes typing the short URL to this blog site is not as burdensome as typing in the longer URLs that the listings below indicate.]

 

In the works of Robert Gutierrez there are references to online sites.  Those sites have supplemental information that further describes or explains what the works claim or argue.  If interested in these added information sources, a reader can scroll down this site, find the work he/she is reading, and then choose the specific site he/she is seeking.  For example, if the reader is reading Toward a Federated Nation and wants to read the supplemental entry regarding the Opioid Crisis, he/she only need to click – as indicated below – the following URL, https://onedrive.live.com/view.aspx?resid=CED163627385DD3C!11635&ithint=file%2cdocx&app=Word&authkey=!AFhwqIF3ZhONVK8 .  That will allow the reader to gain access to the informational supplement entitled, “FACTOIDS AND INSIGHTS DESCRIBING THE OPIOID EPIDEMIC.”

 

Online sites listing factoids and insights of topics in Toward a Federated Nation

Submitted by Robert Gutierrez,

In the book, Toward a Federated Nation, a number of online sites are provided.  Each contains information relating to the various topics of that book.  Below is a listing of those sites’ URLs.  They are listed here for convenience.

Opioid Crisis

https://onedrive.live.com/view.aspx?resid=CED163627385DD3C!11635&ithint=file%2cdocx&app=Word&authkey=!AFhwqIF3ZhONVK8

 

History of Tort Cases

https://onedrive.live.com/view.aspx?resid=CED163627385DD3C!11777&ithint=file%2cdocx&app=Word&authkey=!AHB4SPIeFYPBjQY

 

Foreign Trade and Job Availability

https://onedrive.live.com/view.aspx?resid=CED163627385DD3C!11686&ithint=file%2cdocx&app=Word&authkey=!ALoSywwk4uB2QlI

 

Foreign Currency Simulation

https://onedrive.live.com/view.aspx?resid=CED163627385DD3C!11686&ithint=file%2cdocx&app=Word&authkey=!ALoSywwk4uB2QlI OR the PDF file, https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=CED163627385DD3C&id=CED163627385DD3C%2117469&parId=CED163627385DD3C%21104&o=OneUp

 

In the book, From Immaturity to Polarized Politics, a number of online sites are provided.  Each contains information relating to the various topics in that book.  Below is a listing of those sites’ URLs.  They are listed here for convenience.

“How Effective is Civics Education?”

https://onedrive.live.com/view.aspx?resid=CED163627385DD3C!11783&ithint=file%2cdocx&app=Word&authkey=!AHFo6PFBnpUkePw

 

“(Online) Appendix Chapter:  The Influence of Political Science on Civics”

https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSjZxpifP42VVnhFduKujgUDPJMddmcsh1uRY9DvpNicdYUONOHx56r1jRg4lgxK3ckaiQMJc4Gno0J/pub 


“The Magruder and Glencoe Case

https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSQxMfz-ILTNUq-qUXwCK-VjkQ55HWCY7lj6tCmAaaH53Z2B8jQfmhb_cfvaSbXr-4U6nQb1p4wdLJB/pub

AND

“The Natural Rights’ Effect on Civics Education"

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1n__yYGX1AE1zc96JQdaBiVM1JhPpcee6bZ9FHZoA42Y/view

As for the “book,” Gravitas:  The Blog Book, Volume I, that work is found at the site, https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zh3nrZVGAhQDu1hB_q5Uvp8J_7rdN57-FQ6ki2zALpE/edit.

Gravitas:  The Blog Book, Volume II, that work is found at the site, https://docs.google.com/document/d/1F7YzEOrxaqc97Imt83l90Li4eIGKPgAT-b2xKsHUj9w/edit .