Constitutional Scholar Says Americans Ignorant of Basis of Their Freedoms - 5 Dec 2003
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...One of the nation's leading constitutional scholars says a majority of Americans are ignorant when it comes to understanding the basis of their freedoms. Howard Phillips of The Conservative Caucus believes the problems Americans are facing -- specifically, an activist judiciary and its efforts to stifle religious freedom -- are a direct result of the failure of the public education system to teach the basis of American freedoms: the Constitution. "We have generations of young people and now middle-aged people -- and law school graduates -- who have not studied the Constitution, who don't recognize its importance, don't recognize that it is the anchor of our liberty, and don't recognize that the Supreme Court and all the federal courts are under the Constitution -- not over it," the conservative icon says. Several members of Congress want to craft a thorough bill that would mandate the teaching of the U.S. Constitution and its principles to all American students. Phillips says that would ensure the survival the nation and its freedoms. |