Sounds like an exaggeration, but its not. The civics test that has been floating around here for the last 24 hours is nothing but a piece of propaganda produced by a very conservative organization that feigns non-partisanship while at the same time engaging in some serious education initiates geared towards indoctrinating youth into conservative think. Don't believe me? Just take a look at who is behind the crap little survey:
T. Kenneth Cribb, Jr. (president of ISI)-
Ken was Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs in the Reagan Administration, serving as President Reagan's top advisor on domestic matters. Earlier in the Administration he held the position of Counselor to the Attorney General... ...He is President of the Collegiate Network, Inc., an association of independent college newspapers; President of the Council for National Policy; and Counselor to the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy...
Can you say holy conservative?
H. Spencer Masloff, Jr.
Spencer Masloff is Senior Vice President of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute... ...rior to working at ISI, he was Vice President of marketing and development at Free Congress Foundation where he had also earlier served as director of development....
Do you know what the Free Congress Foundation is? Yeah, complete, unabashed conservative think-septic tank..
Douglas C. Mills
...is Executive Vice President of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. Mr. Mills joined ISI as Chief Operating Officer in July 2008 after having served as Executive Vice President of the Media Research Center for 12 years...
Yep, that Media Research Center where they are actively engaged in "Documenting, Exposing and Neutralizing Liberal Media bias."
So, there's a couple of the major staff of the ISI, what about their money, their trustees? Here are a couple peaches:
J. Baynard Boyle, a rich developer, contributer to ONLY Republican campaigns.
T. William Boxx is, among other things, an author, you can get copies of his books here. Here are the titles:
Public Morality, Civic Virtue, and the Problem of Modern Liberalism
Toward the Renewal of Civilization: Political Order and Culture
And my personal favorite, being a Coloradoan and all:
Holland H. Coors- nuf said.
As for the actual test:
Yes, many of the 'test's' questions appear to be completely innocuous, but that's not the ISI's purpose. By getting our 'elected representatives' to take the damn thing and by getting us to take the damn thing without much critique of its purpose, we are solidifying, if even in a small way, their ideas on 'free-enterprise' and what 'american civics' are all about. It takes just one question in such a survey to help further their quite obvious agenda and in the very least, make us look like quite silly for playing along. Here are some choice examples, with my own, quick take on their purpose:
- The Bill of Rights explicitly prohibits:
A. prayer in public school
B. discrimination based on race, sex, or religion
C. the ownership of guns by private individuals
D. establishing an official religion for the United States
E. the president from vetoing a line item in a spending bill
The problem here isn't in the correct answer, its what isn't correct. Specifically, did you know that the Bill of rights doesn't prohibit prayer in public schools or that it doesn't prohibit discrimination? Hmmm...
- In 1935 and 1936 the Supreme Court declared that important parts of the New Deal were unconstitutional. President Roosevelt responded by threatening to:
A. impeach several Supreme Court justices
B. eliminate the Supreme Court
C. appoint additional Supreme Court justices who shared his views
D. override the Supreme Court’s decisions by gaining three-quarter majorities in both houses of Congress
Well, that sure is an odd bit of Court history to address in a 33 question test on American Civics. Where is the Brown v. Board of Ed.? No, instead we get a question that pretty much paints FDR as a totalitarian. Odd, that.
- Which of the following statements is true about abortion?
A. it was legal in most states in the 1960s
B. the Supreme Court struck down most legal restrictions on it in Roe v. Wade
C. the Supreme Court ruled in Plessy v. Ferguson that underage women must notify their parents of an impending abortion
D. the National Organization for Women has lobbied for legal restrictions on it
E. it is currently legal only in cases of rape or incest, or to protect the life of the mother
You are kidding, right? NOW is now topical for all civics tests? This is the question we get about the progress of Women's Rights in America? What about when women got the vote? I know there is a Susan B. Anthony question later in the survey, but come on. This question is only here to remind people that a women's right to choose was a court decision, not a legislative or constitutional construct.
- The phrase that in America there should be a "wall of separation" between church and state appears in:
A. George Washington’s Farewell Address
B. the Mayflower Compact
C. the Constitution
D. the Declaration of Independence
E. Thomas Jefferson’s letters
Now, what's the problem with that, you might ask? Well its quite simply a reminder to anyone taking this little test that "separation of church and state" is not specifically spelled out in the Constitution and that the specific term "a wall of separation" comes from outside of the constitution. All this despite years and years of precedent that indeed, the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment does indeed mean to establish such a separation.
- Which of the following fiscal policy combinations would a government most likely follow to stimulate economic activity when the economy is in a severe recession?
A. increasing both taxes and spending
B. increasing taxes and decreasing spending
C. decreasing taxes and increasing spending
D. decreasing both taxes and spending
You have got to be kidding, right? What did FDR do again? Oh, thats right, I think he RAISED taxes and INCREASED spending. That's not what the survey seys though, is it?
And that's just the few questions I picked out for fun.
So, can we please call a spade a spade and stop frontpaging and rec'ing diaries that give unquestioned attention to this piece of crap, VRWC survey?
All the quotes are from the survey or from the ISI's website. If you must, here is ISI's site.