Eichenthal: Accountability first, but also repair, vital for future of US

Staff file photo by C.B. Schmelter / Public Education Foundation Director of Innovative Learning Michael Stone works on connecting a cable at The STEM School on March 25 in Chattanooga. As a public health help and learning program, Hamilton County Schools complied 3-D printers from around the district and set up a "3-D printing farm" at The STEM School to help produce face shields for local health practitioners in the fight against the coronavirus.
Staff file photo by C.B. Schmelter / Public Education Foundation Director of Innovative Learning Michael Stone works on connecting a cable at The STEM School on March 25 in Chattanooga. As a public health help and learning program, Hamilton County Schools complied 3-D printers from around the district and set up a "3-D printing farm" at The STEM School to help produce face shields for local health practitioners in the fight against the coronavirus.

For the last year, the inability to mount an effective response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been the worst public policy failure of my lifetime, needlessly costing the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans and putting our economic security at risk. And, in the last two weeks, elected leaders have attacked our democracy's core tenet - that free and fair elections are the basis for a peaceful transition in power.

As a lawyer and having spent most of the last four decades working in and for government, I have always believed that public service is both a high calling and a trust. Our current crises are both shocking and heartbreaking.

The incoming Biden administration has a plan to address the pandemic by embracing basic public health measures such as mask mandates and effective public administration that will lead to 100 million vaccines in 100 days. Law enforcement is moving to hold accountable those engaged in the insurrection and Congress is acting to hold accountable those who incited it.

Accountability must come first. But in the long run, we need a pro-democracy agenda that repairs the breach that has torn apart our society and focuses on public education, national service and reducing poverty.

Diane Ravitch, a noted education historian, wrote that "[I]nformed consent requires a citizenry that is rational and knowledgeable. If our system is to remain free and democratic, citizens should know not only how to judge candidates and their competing claims but how our institutions evolved. Without historical perspective, voters are more likely to be swayed by emotional appeals "

She issued this warning in 1985.

The 2020 Annenberg Civics Survey found that just 51 percent of Americans were able to name all three branches of government and less than half were able to identify freedom of press and freedom of religion as part of the First Amendment. Many proclaim devotion to the flag, but don't understand what it symbolizes.

Under threat of the Cold War, the U.S. responded to the 1957 launch of Sputnik with an unprecedented investment in public education. Drafted by two Alabama Democrats - Lister Hill and Carl Elliott - and signed by Republican President Dwight Eisenhower, the National Defense Education Act was one of the first federal investments in K-12 and higher education.

We need a second National Defense Education Act that both promotes civics learning and makes long overdue investments in public schools - especially as they respond to the impacts of COVID-19. Even in the absence of federal legislation, state and local leaders should use the current crisis to double down on public education.

For the Greatest Generation, military service during World War II resulted in a melting pot where young Americans from different places and backgrounds came together in defense of democratic ideals. Imperfect though it was due to discrimination, subsequent generations have not had a similar shared experience. For nearly 20 years, we have now relied on a volunteer only approach to carry out wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and engage in non-military service through AmeriCorps and Peace Corps programs.

During his run for president, Transportation Secretary-designate Pete Buttigieg called for a massive expansion in opportunities for national service saying that it should become a "a social norm, that anybody after they're 18 spends a year in national service."

This year, Sen. Chris Coons assembled bipartisan support for his proposal to double the number of AmeriCorps positions available this year to 150,000 and provide a total of 600,000 service opportunities nationwide over the next three years to unemployed youth and others looking to assist their communities. As Congress finally moves forward with infrastructure and recovery legislation, there is an opportunity to greatly expand service opportunities. Again, both the Volunteer State and local government can lead in this area without waiting for federal legislation.

Finally, poverty is a common denominator in urban and rural America. Nearly 60 years ago, Michael Harrington described an "Other America" - both rural and urban - where pervasive poverty was both hidden and unaddressed. The same poverty that limits opportunity in urban East Chattanooga and the Westside has crippling effects in rural Scott and Morgan counties. There is no one-size-fits-all solution to poverty in these different places, but a pro-democracy agenda demands a new federal and state partnership with economically challenged places that recognizes we are only as strong as the least among us.

The divisions in our country made evident by the pandemic and the attack on Congress were born of failures that go back more than the past year or four years. To repair the breach, we need accountability first. But we also need a commitment to our democracy that goes beyond just words.

David Eichenthal, a former Chattanooga City finance officer who also previously directed the Ochs Center for Metropolitan Studies, currently works as a consultant with cities and counties across the nation.

photo David Eichenthal

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