Does anyone read the Constitution anymore?
A friend and I were discussing how the focus in schools on 18th and 19th century US history results in students knowing little or nothing about US history after World War II. Couple this with the lack of civics courses that provide a basic understanding of how government works and its no surprise that the average US citizen has no grasp of US foreign and domestic policy or the events that brought us to where we are today. More importantly, they have no idea how important the Constitution is to our civil liberties.
What's more amazing to me is that this phenomenon is not limited to the younger generations or to the average person. Based on our policies since September 11th, knowledge of the Constitution does not seem to be a requirement to serve in government. Witness the inability of the front runners in the 2008 Presidential election to answer a simple question on the powers of the office for which they were competing or the erosion of civil rights fostered by the "war on terrorism" over the past ten years. Read some of the comments of the current candidates on how they would limit the power of the Supreme Court, despite the Constitution's system of checks and balances.
Here's an even better example of the problem: three lawmakers in New Hampshire have introduced a bill requiring that all bills addressing individual rights or liberties include a direct quote from the Magna Carta. After introducing the bill, one legislator admitted he needed to "bone up" on the provisions of the document. Another said that there were issues that were not conceived of at the time the Magna Carta was written and it was a bit out of date. The third said it was intended to honor the 800th anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta at Runnymede in 1215 and that there would be no penalties for not following the law - it's just a "recommendation that would be nice to follow."
So of the three that introduced the bill, one hasn't really read it, one thinks it's irrelevant and the third is willing to enact a law that he doesn't expect anyone to follow. Talk about unclear on the concept!
Of course the Magna Carta is much shorter than the US Constitution and some of the copies have very striking illumination (i.e. pretty pictures). Maybe someone will actually read it.