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Our Responsibility Goes Beyond Voting. We Owe it to Future Generations.
MANCHESTER, NH - NOVEMBER 6: A young girl looks out from a voting booth as her mother casts her ballot at the Bishop Leo O'Neil Youth Center on November 6, 2012 in Manchester, New Hampshire. The swing state of New Hampshire is recognised to be a hotly contested battleground that offers 4 electoral votes, as recent polls predict that the race between U.S. President Barack Obama and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney remains tight. Credit: Getty Images

Our Responsibility Goes Beyond Voting. We Owe it to Future Generations.

Elections are important and do shape the future of a nation. However, “We the People” have responsibilities as citizens beyond voting.

By Diana Erbio, for TheBlaze

Elections are important and do shape the future of a nation. However, we must remember that we are reflected in our elected government, and that “We the People” have responsibilities as citizens beyond voting.

Thomas Jefferson knew it was the people of America who would be the guardians of their freedom. He hoped that these guardians of liberty would take their responsibilities seriously. In a letter to James Madison written in 1787, Jefferson wrote about the role he felt education would play in preserving liberty.

"Above all things I hope the education of the common people will be attended to, convinced that on their good sense we may rely with the most security for the preservation of a due degree of liberty.”

For over two centuries, America has succeeded in securing their freedom via their “good sense” as Thomas Jefferson hoped they would. Hopefully, Americans will remain vigilant and continue to secure their freedom by educating future generations who will bear the responsibility of holding on to liberty as time progresses.

When it comes to education, Americans often have differing opinions on how and what should be taught. However, if education is left to the state, and we do not as individuals pass on our values and knowledge to the next generation, much can be lost.

I fear much is being lost.

MANCHESTER, NH - NOVEMBER 6:  A young girl looks out from a voting booth as her mother casts her ballot at the Bishop Leo O'Neil Youth Center on November 6, 2012 in Manchester, New Hampshire. The swing state of New Hampshire is recognised to be a hotly contested battleground that offers 4 electoral votes, as recent polls predict that the race between U.S. President Barack Obama and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney remains tight. Credit: Getty Images Credit: Getty Images

The balance of powers, structured by our constitution, seems to be out of balance. The executive branch and the judicial branch are legislating. Creating law is the responsibility of Congress. That is where “The People’s” responsibility comes in.

If “We the People” no longer understand the way our government is meant to work, it will collapse or “progressively” turn into a form of government it was never meant to be. Our individual liberties will erode. If we wish to preserve liberty, we must educate the next generation. Then Thomas Jefferson’s hope that the people’s “good sense” will secure liberty will be fulfilled.

The tree of liberty must be nurtured or it will die. Maybe the metaphor — “tree of liberty” sounds tired, but I fear too many metaphors or clichés that are at the roots of freedom are no longer understood by the upcoming generations. It is up to us to pass on the values that are important to us. These old metaphors we consider tired from overuse, are links in a long chain. A chain anchored to liberty, established in the past, that must be strengthened so it can pull liberty into the future. We must preserve these links.

Sure, elections are important in shaping our nation, but it is more important that we do not allow individual liberty and the ideals our constitution secures to be forgotten. It is our responsibility to educate the next generation so liberty will be preserved. We cannot leave the education of our children solely in the hands of the public education system.

We must take an active role in educating the next generation. Reading aloud to children and grandchildren is a way to connect and pass on important values and maybe a bit of history too.

Meghan Cox Gurdon writes about children’s books for the Wall Street Weekend Journal and spoke about the importance of reading aloud with youngsters at a Heritage event. She encourages reading aloud with children, even when they are old enough to read on their own, because that provides opportunities for conversations about topics that might not otherwise come up.

At about minute 25 of the talk, she briefly explains how dictators in the past century, like Mao, Lenin and Stalin eliminated certain books and tried to “rip people away from the past, to purge it from the art, music, poetry, old cultural traditions, religious consolations, ways of dress and even practices of cooking and eating.” Although she thinks it highly unlikely books will be purged in that way, she warns that your children may not be exposed to books you believe are important if the school system alone is relied on to select your child’s reading list.

Here is the link to her talk. It may inspire you to link via books with some youngsters in your life and be a part of shaping our nation and passing on the “good sense” Jefferson believed would preserve liberty.

Diana Erbio is a freelance writer who lives on Long Island. She is a regular contributor to Association for Mature American Citizens. Diana recently published a book, "Coming to America: A Girl Struggles to Find her Way in a New World."

TheBlaze contributor channel supports an open discourse on a range of views. The opinions expressed in this channel are solely those of each individual author.

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