Thank you, Lloyd, for your thoughtful response. I appreciate it. ... The last little thread to pull from your comment is this idea about what an American society is, as shaped by "those who subscribe to the American ideals we learned about in grade school civics." I have a suspicion that all of us didn't exactly learn the same things in …
Thank you, Lloyd, for your thoughtful response. I appreciate it. ... The last little thread to pull from your comment is this idea about what an American society is, as shaped by "those who subscribe to the American ideals we learned about in grade school civics." I have a suspicion that all of us didn't exactly learn the same things in grade school (or any school) about civics; USC Annenberg had a research study a couple of years ago (not sure of the current stats) that showed less than half of Americans could name the three branches of government, so it's probably not surprising that even fewer people understand the checks and balances philosophy of co-equal power between the three keeping us all afloat; on the other side, more than half of Americans thought that Facebook was violating the First Amendment by restricting any sort of speech on it (of course, the First Amendment addresses government censorship not whatever a private company wants to publish), and there are many other depressing findings there and elsewhere about the complete lack of knowledge and understanding that most people have about civics. All of that said, I would hope you reflect on that point and aim to find more solid ground for your definition of a society. I don't think that one will hold. Thanks, again, for sharing your thoughts and ideas!
Thank you, Lloyd, for your thoughtful response. I appreciate it. ... The last little thread to pull from your comment is this idea about what an American society is, as shaped by "those who subscribe to the American ideals we learned about in grade school civics." I have a suspicion that all of us didn't exactly learn the same things in grade school (or any school) about civics; USC Annenberg had a research study a couple of years ago (not sure of the current stats) that showed less than half of Americans could name the three branches of government, so it's probably not surprising that even fewer people understand the checks and balances philosophy of co-equal power between the three keeping us all afloat; on the other side, more than half of Americans thought that Facebook was violating the First Amendment by restricting any sort of speech on it (of course, the First Amendment addresses government censorship not whatever a private company wants to publish), and there are many other depressing findings there and elsewhere about the complete lack of knowledge and understanding that most people have about civics. All of that said, I would hope you reflect on that point and aim to find more solid ground for your definition of a society. I don't think that one will hold. Thanks, again, for sharing your thoughts and ideas!