Crossposted at MLW
How many of y'all remember Schoolhouse Rock?
How many of y'all still get chills reading the preamble to the Constitution, and hear that song in your head?
How many of y'all can still sing it? Here it is, right off the top of my head and you bet I'm singing right along with a huge grin.
We the People,
in order to form a more perfect union,
establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility,
provide for the common defense,
promote the general welfare, and
secure the blessings of liberty,
to ourselves and our posterity,
do ordain and establish
this Constitution
for the United States of America
Now look at how close it is to the real thing:
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Think about that. A silly little TV educational piece that is engraved in our brains - and it's not some cheerleading, uber-patriotic, flag-waving fluff, it's the preamble to the core document of this nation's laws. To use marketing terminology, it's this nation's mission statement. How many liberals do you think can rattle this off without even hesitating, despite the fact that most people would expect a liberal to burst into flames like a vampire who just picked up a Gutenberg Bible?
I suspect that Schoolhouse Rock was one of the most wonderfully subversive educational campaigns in the history of television. Why don't we have more truly informed and patriotic educational presentations? I don't know, but this can be changed.
You want to make a difference? Bugger the short term, without consistent teaching of children to value the very best of the country, any short-term victory will be a bittersweet memory. Teach some really young kids how to sing that, or get the songs or videos if you can and show them to your class. Start making the preservation of the nation we live in a joy to think about, and start it early. If you're feeling frothy, get together with some artists and put together new versions, or put together a campaign to get the old ones re-aired.
And just once, perhaps for the only time in recent memory, you'll be able to hear and say these words without a sneer of disbelief:
"Do it for the children."