Members of Congress want to ensure that our nation's children understand basic American civics. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), for example, put a link to the Constitution on his Web site so young people can read the document and simple explanations of what it's about.

If the kids get interested, there's a link they can click on for "related topics," which takes them to a review of "Great Documents of Freedom."

Here they find, first, the Magna Carta in 1215, with a nice overview of its place in the road to democracy. Next, the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and, of course, the Bill of Rights in 1791.

But then there's a bit of a dry patch for a couple of hundred years until -- what else? -- the "Contract With America" in September 1994.

This ranks right up there with the Bill of Rights, DeLay's account says, because it "presented clearly defined positions on issues of concern" to people, not piddly stuff. Moreover, it "was a written commitment," so "the people could read The Contract with America and embrace the agenda presented in the document."

(In contrast to the Bill of Rights or the Declaration of Independence, the Contract is always to be italicized to show its importance -- though boldface, underlining or using all capitals probably would do.) "The resulting vote [in November 1994] re-established the people's control of Congress," our primer tells us, after "the people" lost control, apparently in 1954, to evildoers, taxers, homo sapiens and such.

Posted by: Jonathan Singer / 7:53 PM | Basie! Home