Post by Logan on Apr 28, 2016 1:15:41 GMT -6
Maria Mueller teaches Advanced Placement U.S. Government in the Mason City Schools District.
As an educator, I cherish the opportunities my students have to observe our Constitution at work, going beyond reading about it in a textbook. Watching the fulfillment of the checks and balances our Founding Fathers established is a powerful teachable moment.
Although checks are routine in our governmental system, few examples are as vividly memorialized as the confirmation process of a Supreme Court justice. I hope my students will soon have the opportunity to witness and appreciate our senators fulfilling this constitutional responsibility.
Our Founding Fathers valued great thinkers like Aristotle, who believed, “Politics is the most noble endeavor in which people can engage, because it helps them to know themselves and forces them to relate to others.” Today, Aristotle’s view of politics may seem more like science fiction. In this time of political polarization, I fear my students are left only with the disheartening rhetoric of politicians uninterested in serving the people and unwilling to relate to others, particularly those whose views and backgrounds differ from their own.
Sen. Rob Portman, in his March 18 Enquirer op-ed, said confirmation should wait until “after the people have spoken” in the upcoming presidential election, despite his own acknowledgement that the people have already spoken by electing the current president and Senate. He states that waiting for a “less partisan” atmosphere “will give the nominee more legitimacy” and “better preserve the institutional credibility of the Senate and the court.” In fact, holding up the confirmation promulgates the hyper-partisan atmosphere, demonstrating for my students that politics is divisive, rather than spirited problem solving. To not hold a hearing or allow a floor vote isn’t the result of the checks and balances our Founding Fathers bestowed, but superficial partisan struggles superimposed on an otherwise stable government foundation.
Read more: www.cincinnati.com/story/opinion/contributors/2016/04/27/senate-republicans-teaching-youth-mistrust-supreme-court/83406452/
As an educator, I cherish the opportunities my students have to observe our Constitution at work, going beyond reading about it in a textbook. Watching the fulfillment of the checks and balances our Founding Fathers established is a powerful teachable moment.
Although checks are routine in our governmental system, few examples are as vividly memorialized as the confirmation process of a Supreme Court justice. I hope my students will soon have the opportunity to witness and appreciate our senators fulfilling this constitutional responsibility.
Our Founding Fathers valued great thinkers like Aristotle, who believed, “Politics is the most noble endeavor in which people can engage, because it helps them to know themselves and forces them to relate to others.” Today, Aristotle’s view of politics may seem more like science fiction. In this time of political polarization, I fear my students are left only with the disheartening rhetoric of politicians uninterested in serving the people and unwilling to relate to others, particularly those whose views and backgrounds differ from their own.
Sen. Rob Portman, in his March 18 Enquirer op-ed, said confirmation should wait until “after the people have spoken” in the upcoming presidential election, despite his own acknowledgement that the people have already spoken by electing the current president and Senate. He states that waiting for a “less partisan” atmosphere “will give the nominee more legitimacy” and “better preserve the institutional credibility of the Senate and the court.” In fact, holding up the confirmation promulgates the hyper-partisan atmosphere, demonstrating for my students that politics is divisive, rather than spirited problem solving. To not hold a hearing or allow a floor vote isn’t the result of the checks and balances our Founding Fathers bestowed, but superficial partisan struggles superimposed on an otherwise stable government foundation.
Read more: www.cincinnati.com/story/opinion/contributors/2016/04/27/senate-republicans-teaching-youth-mistrust-supreme-court/83406452/