THE ONLY TRUE GUARDIAN:

Ordinary Virtues: Cultivating Our Civic Life (Bruce Cole, November/December 2003, Humanities)

Defending our democracy demands more than successful military campaigns. It requires an understanding of the ideals, ideas, and institutions that have shaped our country.

This is not a new concept. America’s founders recognized the importance of an informed and educated citizenry as necessary for the survival of our participatory democracy. James Madison famously said, “The diffusion of knowledge is the only true guardian of liberty.” Such knowledge tells us who we are as a people and why our country is worth fighting for. Our values, ideas, and collective memories are not self-sustaining. Just as free peoples must take responsibility for their own defense, they also must pass on to future generations the knowledge that sustains democracy.

It has been said that the erosion of freedom comes from three sources: from without, from within, and from the passing of time. Though not as visible as marching armies, the injuries of time lead to the same outcome: a surrender of American ideals.

Abraham Lincoln warned of this “silent artillery”--the fading memory of what we believe as Americans and why. This loss of American memory has profound implications for our national security.

All great principles and institutions face challenges. The wisdom of the humanities and the pillars of democratic self-government are not immune. We face a serious challenge to our country that lies within our borders--and even within our schools--the threat of American amnesia.

One of the common threads of great civilizations is the cultivation of memory. Many of the great works of antiquity are transliterated from oral traditions. From Homer to Beowulf, such tales trained people to remember their heritage and history through story and song, and pass those stories throughout generations. Old Testament stories repeatedly depict prophets and priests encouraging people to remember, to “write on their hearts” the events that make up their history.

We are in danger of forgetting this lesson. Tests and polls show that Americans do not know their history and cannot remember even the most significant events of the twentieth century.

Of course, Americans are a forward-looking people. We are more concerned with what happens tomorrow than what happened yesterday. But we are in peril of having our view of the future obscured by our ignorance of the past. We cannot see clearly ahead if we are blind to history. Unfortunately, most indicators point to a worsening of our case of American amnesia.

Here are a few examples. One study of university students found that 40 percent could not place the Civil War in the correct half-century. Only 37 percent knew that the Battle of the Bulge took place during World War II. A national test of high school seniors found that 57 percent performed “below basic” level in American history. What does that mean? Over half of those tested couldn’t say whom we fought in World War II. Eighteen percent believed that the Germans were our allies in World War II!

Such collective amnesia is dangerous. Citizens kept ignorant of their history are robbed of the riches of their heritage and handicapped in their ability to understand and appreciate other cultures. If Americans cannot recall whom we fought, and whom we fought alongside during World War II, it should not be assumed that they will long remember what happened on September 11 or why we must be prepared and vigilant today.

A nation that does not know why it exists, or what it stands for, cannot be expected to long endure. As columnist George Will wrote, “We cannot defend what we cannot define.”

One of the many good things to come, perversely, from 9-11 is a growing impatience on the part of many people with the idea that other cultures are our equals.

Posted by Orrin Judd at January 1, 2004 10:04 AM