Reactionary

The National Constitution Center is one of Philadelphia’s great resources. I went on Friday for a forum with one of the New Yorker’s journalists Larry Wright and some local politicians who had taken part in the 9/11 Commission. The friend who had given me a heads up on the event loves the Constitution Center and she should, but… I have a problem with it. I don’t know if it’s been rectified, but I went when it had just been opened and I hated, HATED how there is no reference to Athenian democracy whatsoever. The whole thing, from its nausea-inducing introductory presentation, is rigged to make you believe American democracy sprang out of nothing, an aberration in a ceaseless line of monarchy after monarchy. This is not only false but a great disservice to the people it claims to be educating.

True, American democracy is different from the way things were in Athens, but it’s an evolution of the idea of rule by the populace, not some new idea that came from nothing with no history or precursor. The American forefathers knew they owed their ideas to someone else. Why else would The Federalist seres of essays be signed by one Publius rather by the actual names of the men who wrote them (Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay)? Giving credit where it is due in no way demeans the American forefathers’ accomplishment. The Constitution is an astounding document, but it has a history and telling it, all of it is the Constitution Center’s job. As it stands (unless things have changed), it’s a great disservice to the American people who suffer from historical amnesia anyway.

September 10th, 2006 | Category: General, Scholar |  Print |  Send it | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL