Posted on 12/03/2006 6:29:25 AM PST by SandRat
What does it mean that the U.S. Constitution is a constitution of limited powers?
Name one responsibility that is only for United States citizens.
Name one of the writers of the Federalist Papers.
If you are an American citizen, you should know the answers. If you intend on becoming a naturalized citizen, you may want to bone up on U.S. history and civics.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office will enlist 5,000 citizenship applicant volunteers in 10 cities, including Tucson, next year to test-drive the questions. The proposed 144 questions will be whittled down for a new citizenship exam.
The questions, found at http://www.uscis.gov, deal more with "concepts of democracy and the rights and responsibilities of citizenship," according to the agency. The pilot questions are several degrees more difficult than the current ones.
But there are no trick questions like: Where in the Constitution does it give the president authority to detain a legal immigrant without a hearing and deny the person due process? Or what U.S. Supreme Court decision authorized illegal wiretapping of American citizens and the creation of an ultra-secret database containing the personal information of millions of citizens?
Future citizens will not have to worry about democracy's more serious questions to pass the test.
Curious to find out if Tucsonans know their civics as we expect future Americans to know them, I conducted a trial run, randomly selecting four people.
First was Al Freitchen, a 58-year-old city employee, waiting for his lunch at La Placita Village Friday.
"How many terms can a president serve," I asked.
"Two," he correctly said.
"What is a veto?"
"When the president rejects a proposed bill," he said, two for two.
"What Cabinet-level agency advises the president on foreign policy?"
"Secretary of state," he said. Close enough.
"What group of essays supported passage of the U.S. Constitution?"
He wasn't sure but said the Federalist Papers. Bingo.
Lastly, "In 1803, the United States bought a large amount of land from France. Where was that land?" "Much of the West," he correctly answered.
Freitchen, a history buff, was proud he scored 100 percent. But he better have: His son teaches history and social studies at Desert View High School.
Next was Joan Calcagno, a 30-year resident who works Downtown as a federal conflict resolution expert for the Morris K. Udall Foundation. Like Freitchen, Calcagno was on top of her American Civics 101.
She knew how old a president must be (35), who's the current vice president (Dick Cheney), who becomes president if both the president and vice president can't serve (speaker of the House), and who wrote the Declaration of Independence (Thomas Jefferson). But she didn't know the year when the Constitution was drafted. Neither did I — it was 1787.
Saturday morning I stopped at the icon of American culture: the mall. I went to Tucson Mall, which was filled with Christmas shoppers.
There I found Walter and Rebecca Gibson, a retired couple from Iowa.
"I don't think we'll do well," he said. She chuckled in agreement.
I persuaded them to try anyway. They agreed and I asked them five questions about the Constitution and the Civil War.
Let's just say they didn't do well. But then again, many Americans probably would not do well, either. Lucky for most Americans, they won't have to take a citizenship test.
*** Ernesto Portillo Jr.'s column appears Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach him at 573-4242 or at eportillo@azstarnet.com.
That alone is an indightment of the N.E.A. for pushing "I feel good about myself" instead of "What is known as the Louisianna Purchase pushed the western frontier further."
hmmmm
It used to mean that government was strictly limited to only the specific job duties and powers listed. These days? It doesn't mean a thing...
The proof that John Edwards "Two Americas" is all part of the master plan...
You are right, it's an indictment of the NEA and the MSM.
1 responsibility that is ONLY for U.S. Citizens: pay federal taxes (because we know most of the other people here are working under the table or getting a pass of some kind)
Federalist papers (writers): James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay.
Not bad for Civics 9th grade!!!
How about we require all candidates seeking election into the congress to take and PASS this test?
It's our responsibility to get rid of scum that don't belong in our government. Which right now would be about 90% of them.
We haven't been very responsible lately.
ML/NJ
The other 2 branches.....IF they were doing their jobs.
No one seems to have a problem with the Judicial and Legislative branches limiting the constitutional power of the Executive.
assuming the test is accurate, maybe everyone ought take it every coupla years.
Why even bother, just cross the border up from Messsssico.
I would add that they be cleared for the highest level security in the very same manner that our military folks have to go through They clear the investigation they can run for office, if not... tell 'em; "Try another line of work, Bub!"
Why make it harder to become a citizen? All it will do is encourage illegals and they get everything handed to them anyway; free education, free health care, food stamps, jobs.. Why should they become citizens and have to be responsible, accountable, and pay for everything?
I only would get one wrong. I did not know the Federalist Papers. I don't know what passing is though.
Thanks for posting this. I'm bookmarking the site for further study. In the future, I would like to be able to say that I can ace this test at a moment's notice. Sounds like a good starter for increasing my appetite for American history.
I dunno. Looks like it was a contrast between the two people that had jobs, and two consumers at a mall.
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