What IS American Culture? We Used To See It On TV

Funny how spending a generation not teaching what America is about will produce a generation that…has no real idea what America is all about.

We shared the Jay Leno “Jaywalking” segment from the Fourth of July that exhibits multi-generational ignorance of American history. Leno had to ask Grandpa the history questions in order to illicit correct answers after bombing out with the middle-aged parents and school age child.

If the fundamental principles upon which our country was founded are not part of the popular culture, even periodically, considering our size and our immigrant heritage, what kind of culture do we have? A “multi-cultural” Balkans?

In addition to teaching the basics of American history in schools, the heritage of the country was once considered proper subject matter for TV, even in prime time.

Barney Fife tries to recite the Preamble to the Constitution:

Captain Kirk informs who the Constitution was written for:

By the late 70′s, the subject was largely relegated to the School House Rock series aired during the Saturday morning cartoon line up.

In his Farewell Address, Ronald Reagan warned about the problem. He noted that although over the course of his time in office, there was a reinvigorated optimism and sense of patriotism in America, it had not been institutionalized, especially in popular culture. The warning begins at 4:04 of the address, which can be viewed here.

President Reagan’s concerns about a loss of understanding the essence of America were valid. The question is: how do we solve the problem of a great void in our popular culture?

Stubborn_Facts

Shelli Dawdy is first and foremost the mother of three children whom she has taught at home via the classical method since removing her children from school in 2001. During her early years as a homeschool mother, she worked part-time as a freelance writer. Born and raised in the Iowa, Shelli and her husband moved to the state of South Dakota in 1997, attracted to its more limited government and friendly tax environment. In 2006, Shelli and her family relocated to Lincoln, Nebraska, when her husband’s employer offered a new position. She took a break from work and politics for a time, recognizing the need to focus solely on her childrens’ schooling with two now of high school age. Distressed by many things she was witnessing on the national political scene and disillusioned about the Republican Party, she decided to start writing again, this time online. Motivated to get involved with others at the grassroots level, she networked with activists on the social media tool, Twitter. She was involved in organizing the first tea party rallies inspired by Rick Santelli’s “rant” on CNBC in February 2009. Recognizing that activism should generate on the local level, she founded Grassroots in Nebraska in March of 2009. The group’s mission is a return to Constitutional, limited government, according to its original meaning. While the group has held several tea party rallies, it’s focus is to take effective action. Among its many projects, GiN successfully coordinated testimony for the hearing of the Nebraska Sovereignty Resolution, networked with other groups to ensure a large show of public support at the hearing, and coordinated follow up support to ensure its passage in April 2010. While working to build up GiN throughout 2009, she was asked to work as writer and producer of the documentary film, A New America, which lays out how Progressivism is responsible for how America has moved away from its Constitutional roots. You can see more of her work on Grassroots in Nebraska (GiN) and StubbornFacts