HALEY KENNEDY: ‘Don’t want to be an American idiot’

Green Day released a song and album by the name of “American Idiot” back in 2004. Lo, these many years ago; 17 years of political change and social upheaval.

The song is a little bit subversive and quite anthemic. I’m not a huge Green Day fan, but I listened to this song a few days ago and found it a welcome respite from the Disney radio station usually pouring from my speakers. Seriously, you can only listen to the “Moana” soundtrack for so many hours before you start killing neurons.

At any rate, while the themes of the song are sometimes perceived as a political rallying cry, that isn’t what stuck with me. What stuck with me is the actual phrase “don’t want to be an American idiot.” Well, I promised my grandmother many years ago that I wouldn’t write (or argue) about politics or religion. She says it almost always causes hurt feelings but never changes minds. But our minds are what really need changing. I’m not talking about changing which party you select on a ballot here. I’m not talking about jumping on or off a political bandwagon. I’m not trying to convert anyone to my way of thinking.

What I’m talking about is changing the way we receive and review and process information. With a constant onslaught of digital media, social media, on-demand news sources and a nation whose government is in a state of serious flux, we, the people, need to rethink our thinking process.

For example, I consider myself a bit of a history buff. I enjoy reading nonfiction from time to time. Lately, I’ve been a lot more interested in early American history. However, I was pretty flabbergasted when I was discussing the anniversary of the Normandy invasion and someone sitting near me asked, “So, what is D-Day?” I thought this was common knowledge. I thought this would be a too-easy Final Jeopardy question. But I was wrong.

Just like those TV shows where the host asks people on the street what seems to be an asinine and common-knowledge question — like how many states there are — and the street people are just utterly dumbfounded. It’s funny in theory. It may be amusing on TV. But the lack of insight into basic American history should be disturbing to us as Americans. How can we claim to be proud Americans if we know next-to-nothing about where we came from?

In pursuing other musical interests, I’ve listened to the “Hamilton” Broadway soundtrack more times than I can count. It was written by the same composer who wrote the “Moana” soundtrack, but it’s decidedly less toddler-appropriate. It’s a fictionalized retelling of the nonfictional backstory of founding father Alexander Hamilton. The first time I listened, I was shocked to realize that, not only is it a brilliant lyrical and musical composition, but it’s also got way more history about the American Revolution than I ever picked up in school.

So I started Google-ing (Googling? I’m not sure). I harassed my librarian husband to seek out some history books that I might find interesting, including the biography of Alexander Hamilton on which the musical is based. He delivered by bringing me a wealth of other books on the founding of the nation, on the political establishments of early America, and on the people who orchestrated the creation of this new nation. I only fell asleep reading them a few times.

I found that there exists an incomprehensible wealth of knowledge, both online and in print, about the founding of our nation. Firsthand accounts of the scraping together of our Constitution, thousands of letters written by the founding fathers about how to create a government from the ground up. But then, since 1775 when the American Revolutionary War began, we have 240-odd years of history. War, scandal, intrigue. Every moment in that long history informs where we are today. Every whiny, snot-nosed newscaster bashing one political party or the other is just the tip of the iceberg. Every vitriolic Facebook rant has roots that run deep into the American psyche.

As modern Americans, we are the result of all that has come before us in the singular and unprecedented progression of our nation. We owe it to that long and storied past to think a little bit harder about where we came from. Understanding the foundation of our government and the history of the politics and policies we still live with today is critical in truly understanding how to effect positive change in the future. Without knowing where you come from, it’s impossible to chart a course for where you’re headed.

We’ve got to take personal, individual responsibility to educate ourselves and to analyze the constant flow of information in our lives. We need to be asking: Where does this information come from? Is it an unbiased source? What do I really think about this issue? We’ve got to stop jumping into the fray without being armed with real, unbiased information.

We’re arguing until we’re blue in the face on Facebook, but how many of us are voting? How many of us are really informed about how our elections work? About the electoral college? About how our voice really counts in politics? How many of us (especially we younger people) know who their elected representatives are?

I want to know more. I want to know more about who we’re electing and how we elect them and the historical contexts that inform our present governmental paradigm. I want to know just how deeply the state and federal governments reach into our daily lives. And I hope you will, too.