Of course. As a teacher, I have had the chance to get into discussions about the founding of America, the Founding Fathers, the drawing up of the Constitution. I will ask them what was going on in the Colonies at the time that lead to upheaval and ultimate revolt. They can cite things like taxation without representation, quartering of troops. I ask them if they had heard about folks being rounded up for voicing their displeasure over the king’s governance, unlawful imprisonments, or people having their guns confiscated, etc. No. No. No. I next turn to the Constitution and ask them what is the First Amendment all about? What is the Second Amendment all about. They can pretty much cite what these state (usually get a limited treatment of “freedom of speech” and “you can own guns”. Then I ask them, Have you ever wondered what it says about the Founders and what they thought was important that these are first and second in the catalog of rights/protections that these once-shackled now freed folks came up with, what they were most concerned about.
They sit for a moment and then I’ll start to see little light bulbs going on. I look around the room, hopeful that some of them have just turned an important corner.
We went to a rally last weekend in Maryland. A US Congressman spoke.
He talked about the other part of the First Amendment. Redress a grievance to the government.
The first rally meetup location was blocked by the police. They tried to prevent a US Government official from being able to hear grievances of the citizens.
There was a backup location that we congregated at.
Several people got tickets on the way to the rally. He told them to call his office and he’d go to court with them since they were at the rally to redress a grievance with the Government.