The Tragedy of Liberalsplaining

"Vote or Die,"  P. Diddy once said.  This proverbial phrase continues on in the minds of liberals with good intentions, well past its death.  To them, politics is viewed through the lens of a high school civics class.  Civic participation is our bi-annual duty and the cure-all of our complex political problems.  This world view is best described as liberalsplaining: the highest stage of liberal political performance.  The tragedy is that reason and logic fail to address the material and ideological interests of voters, which are at the root of politics.

The age of Liberalsplaining has created a surge of non-profits and think pieces in the name of civics advocacy.  Fundamentally, these civics advocates believe our nation has a "civics education problem."  History books like Howard Zinn's A People's History of the Untied States damage our civil life because they leave students cynical and uninterested in politics.  Even worse, these "biased" books leave our students without an appreciation for their country.   They argue that "Straightforward historical material" is needed to  replace the narrative of an "ugly founding" of America.  Civics education is their answer.

I teach Zinn's A People's History of the United States to inner city high school students.  Students are attracted to this book because it presents a reality that they are all too familiar with: corrupt politicians, discrimination, and domestic violence.  I teach the Constitution without the required textbook, by analyzing primary  documents and debating the interpretations of historians.  Despite the fact that New Jersey teachers spend almost a month on the drafting of the Constitution to meet our curriculum requirements, civics education is encroaching.

I had the ill-fortune to sit through a sales pitch by Solutions Civics, a K-12 curriculum created by the non-profit Citizens' Campaign.  I sat through their presentation, drank their cheap coffee, and endured a flood of  unsolicited emails.  On a positive note, the Citizens' Campaign claims some success fighting corruption in Newark and their representatives are friendly.  At the end of the day, their curriculum is deeply flawed and signals a worrisome trend.

The Solutions Civics uses a  "no blame approach."  As their mission states:

Our mission is to catalyze a cultural shift from a structure based on who has the power to who has the best solutions. Our work is guided by four core principles: we teach citizens to address common-purpose issues; develop evidence-based solutions; utilize our successful no-blame approach; and produce cost-effective results.

The role of political power is immediately dismissed.  They claim that government is dysfunctional and politics are too negative, but refuse to single out any individual or group.  They see political dysfunction as a collective failure brought on by our nation.  The solution is watered down, low-cost policies that everyone can agree upon.

Despite the electoral college, the aristocratic senate, gerrymandering, rampant voter disenfranchisement, and dark money in politics, Solutions Civics believes that conflict in Washington can be avoided if Americans are more engaged in the political process.  Their strategy is to put students in the roles of "citizen legislators," "political navigators," "citizen journalists," "political party committee people," and "appointed officials." What even is a "political navigator"?  Virtually every high school student acknowledges that the DNC tanked the Sanders campaign, but the complexities of political party machinery are completely ignored.  How can this solution be appealing if basic problems aren't even acknowledged?  This sort of simple minded bullshit makes it easy to understand why students are so cynical about political engagement.

What is interesting is that Solutions Civics targets inner-city school districts in New Jersey, but with little understanding of that context  One can assume that the business managers, lawyers, and politicians comprising Solutions Civics' Board of Trustees notice the trend of low voter turn out in low income areas.  Ambitious and sincere students often make terrific political activists, but they are not blindly obedient.  They question who authors are and what their agenda is.  Everyday, they are presented with the reality of structural inequality that persists in their heat and air conditioning, cafeteria food, collapsing ceilings, and teacher positions that remian vacant all year long.  None of these issues would be tolerated at a suburban district for long.  To them, it's obvious that political power serves the interests of wealthy white neighborhoods. Students acknowledge this daily in class discussions.  The fairy tale that Solutions Civics presents is a testament to the failure of the liberal-democratic vision.  Students won't buy it.

Voting, grassroots campaigns, and radical candidates shouldn't be dismissed.  Political engagement should be framed in a way that addresses the reality of social and economic inequality that keeps poor voters from turning out at the polls.  Politics is about appealing to the interests of voters, not some mythical duty.  Voting may be the only short term path out of the hell hole that the Right is digging deeper each day, but reinforcing the basics of a civics course is not likely to win back the Congress, Supreme Court, or presidency.  Marx said that history repeats itself: first as tragedy; second as farce.  After the second time, there is no irony.