My Short Attempt at Being Political

Politics has always been one of those things that I just couldn’t get into, but I wished I could, because it seems like something useful to know or at least be familiar with. I listen to the news to and from school, hoping that if I hear terms like “tea party” and “Christine O’Donnell” tossed around enough, I will understand what they mean and all their implications.

They played a small segment of Christine, in a debate, saying “where in the Constitution is Separation of Church and State?” and everyone laughed.

I didn’t really get why everyone laughed.

I watched a longer segment on youtube this evening. Christine and that boring guy she is arguing with are talking about whether local school districts should be able to teach intelligent design in schools if they want too. Boring guy brings up separation of church and state, Christine says “where in the Constitution is separation of church and state?” and everybody laughs.

There are two things about this that I only know because I went to college.

1. The term “separation of church and state” is never used in the constitution.

2. Education is never guarinteed and regulated in the constitution. The federal government cannot force public schools to do anything. Not even teach evolution instead of creationism.

Of course the principles of separation of church and state are implied in the constitution. And the federal government does try to control schools through funding. That’s how they desegregated schools. They said, “if you segregate we won’t give you federal funding” and it worked like a charm.

I am writing this post because I get a certain thrill out of knowing more things. I get a thrill out of listening to a debate and realizing that I know some things about the topic that aren’t overtly being stated.

If you were wanting some real political opinions from me, I am sorry. When I watched the video I thought, “Christine looks silly. The other guy looks boring. Is this really the most important thing they could be talking about? I don’t get it. If a community wants to teach creationism, they will. What’s the big deal? And why is everyone laughing when Christine makes the constitution comment? I don’t get it!!!”

So much for being political.