In my on-going effort to de-clutter my life, I’ve been throwing out old American government textbooks. Burns and Peltason, Harris, O’Connor and Sabato--all go into the recycling bin. I’m not even sure if professors use textbooks any more--maybe the readings are all on the internet.
As I was dumping them, I started reflecting on how hard it would be to teach American government in 2012. I’d have trouble with the Bill of Rights. The National Defense Authorization Act, which Congress passed and President Obama signed, allows American citizens to be held without being charged with a crime. That material about habeas corpus is obsolete.
When I discussed the “March of Suffrage,” I’d have to cover the backward march by Republican legislators, doing their best to suppress the vote of the old, college students, and the poor.
I would have a tough time with campaign finance laws. Basically they don’t exist since the Supreme Court overturned restrictions on secret unlimited donations and Super Pacs.
My remarks on how Congress makes a law would sound quaint. My explanation of the rules of war would have to be rewritten to take attacks by drones into account. The lecture on organized labor would now need to reflect that unions are under attack across the country. I’d probably need to convince students that global warming was real before I could even discuss measures to combat it.
When I did teach, I frequently had to battle the cynicism of students. They thought I was too idealistic, too patriotic, too naive. I would tell them they were too young to be cynical. I don’t know if I could even do that anymore.
It is a different time. Things have changed so much in this new world that we live in.
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