Media and watchdogs still play a crucial role

This is Sunshine Week, the annual awareness campaign in which media and partners join together to promote openness and transparency in government at all levels, from local up to the federal government.  Regular readers of this column may recall that retired Sen. Patrick Leahy and former secretary of state Jim Condos were big supporters of Sunshine Week.
It is incredibly important that citizens of this country understand the crucial roles media and government watchdogs play in keeping government accountable.  
Sunshine Week was formed following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.  Many in the media realized that government, especially at the state and national level, was using the attacks to enact more restrictive laws under the guise of national security.  Efforts began to stem the  tide, but it’s been an uphill push.  
That push has become even more difficult under the Trump administration, which is pushing the boundaries and norms of government seemingly every hour of the day. They are using national security, tied specifically to border security, as a tool to obscure their actions.  Arrests and deportations without due process, blatant violations of existing law, and other abuses appear to be occurring under the guise of a “national emergency.”  
In a  new twist, the Trump administration is also using “government efficiency” as a tool to dismantle many agencies in the federal government. The Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE, is acting without formal congressional approval and is dismantling agencies and programs that exist because of legislation Congress approved.
Americans across the political spectrum should be very worried about what is going on in Washington and should be skeptical of the reasons given for many actions taken by the administration.  They should also be calling on their preferred national media, from Fox News to AON to MSNBC to PBS, to impartially investigate what is happening.

That’s the whole point of Sunshine Week, to remind regular citizens that unchecked power is anathema to the values of this country. The principle of separation of powers, the checks and balances of the judiciary, legislative, and executive branches, is the bedrock of American democracy.  And it is under severe threat.
Sunshine Week is a reminder that vigilance needs to be constant to expose those threats.
Speaking of checks and balances, last week was Civics Week across the country. Considering that Sunshine Week and Civics Week occur back to back, we felt it important to mention that aside from the light of Sunshine Week, this country could use a refresher course in understanding the basics of how government functions.
The teaching of how government works at all levels has been systematically eliminated in many areas of the country. According to an opinion article by Shawn Healy, chief of policy and advocacy for iCivics.org and director of the CivxNow coalition, civics instruction is a full-year high school course in only seven states. Another five states require a one-semester middle school civics course, and only New Hampshire dedicates instructional time for civics in grades K to five. Healy adds that elementary schools spend very little time teaching social studies, despite its demonstrated literacy benefits and record of improving civics knowledge, skills, and dispositions.
Think about that. Only seven states require a full year of civics instruction. Without an understanding of what government should, and should not, do, is it any wonder so many are accepting of the ever-increasing outrageous actions by their government?  
The United States must return to broadly teaching civics and how government works, across the primary and secondary grade levels. That’s the whole point of Civics Week.
“The downward spiral of waning patriotism and poor public knowledge of our founding documents can be reversed,” Healy said.  “Former US Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the founder of iCivics, rightly claimed that ‘the practice of democracy is not passed down through the gene pool. It must be taught and learned by each new generation.’”
Add a little Sunshine to that civics curriculum and there may still be light at the end of the tunnel.