I’m not sure why I suddenly remembered that my 8th grade Civics teacher’s name was Mr. Melcher. I have few vivid memories of junior high, (why did that designation mysteriously morph into middleschool?), and, to the best of my present-day version of recall, I’m pretty sure I have not taken many day-dreamy trips to the classrooms of Post Jr. High. Yet, there I was, as my much younger self, attempting to absorb the absurdity of American governance as described by the disinterested and uninteresting Mr. Melcher. Academic overachievement aside, even my pre-teen self questioned the national mindset that would have purposely crafted such a convoluted process for serving the public. Surely, by the time I would grow into my twenty-one-year-old voting eligibility, someone would clean up this ridiculous mess. Oh…and why was it called Civics?
That reverie time-traveled me more than 60 years. Today, I have grandchildren who are about that age and I wonder what they can possibly be thinking. My President was a war hero who built the Interstate Highway System. Theirs is a draft-dodging sexual predator. Mine promised lasting peace and cooperation with nations around the world. Theirs is a schoolyard bully who believes he’s better and more entitled than everyone else. We called mine, Ike. Depending on the speaker and parental control of the medium wherein they are speaking, theirs is called, Moron, Asshole, Fuck-Face and a threat to democracy, peace, the environment and all things decent and fair. It makes me wonder, was I the only one paying attention in Civics class? Not only didn’t anyone step up to sort out the untenable system of social welfare that befuddled me in the 50’s, its 2018 version is so unimaginably corrupt, that our American government, by flaunting its militaristic and economic strangle hold on so much of the planet, has become a dangerous and existential threat to us all. There are few strong, sane voices to be heard, mostly found in comedic stand-up routines where truth invokes nervous giggling but, sadly, never promotes policy. So, fuck you Mr.Melcher and all the thousands of Melcher-esque teachers who didn’t make Civics class more compelling.