David Broder writes today about America's national identity and whether the nation's young people are learning enough about it. He sees a lot to like in the Bradley Foundation's E Pluribus Unum report, which notes that today's students seem to know much less about history and their country's government than did their predecessors. But Broder isn't too concerned. He writes:
Young people may not know the Constitution as well as we would like, but they found their way to polling places in record numbers this year and joined enthusiastically in many campaigns. And they volunteer for all kinds of good works in their communities.
Pointing out that young people went to the polls in record numbers and that they volunteer in their communities is not an effective way to disabuse anyone of the idea that those young people don't know much. Enthusiasm is not, in itself, a virtue. History is replete with examples of rallied populations whose ignorance imbued their enthusiasm with the potential for unseemly consequences. Too often, those consequences??came to pass.??In fact, a persuasive argument can be made that young??Americans' relative flock to the polls this year is a direct result of the emotional pulls of a certain politician, one??who seems quite at home with the notion of rewriting history. It is certainly not a reaction to that particular candidate's intellectual appeal.
Photo by Flickr user kjd.