Ideological Rigidity & Civic Participation

We most frequently measure civic engagement in terms of people's involvement in the political and civic spheres - democracy requires the participation of citizens. By that measure, the new Tea Party movement should be causing excitement among folks, like me, who care about having an engaged citizenry.

But I'm not so excited. This is not because I do not agree with much of the positions of the Tea Party - in fact, I find myself to be quite sympathetic to many libertarian arguments. What worries me is that it really seems that many Tea Party members are passionately engaged, but lacking in knowledge about the positions they support and lacking in a willingness to engage in reasonable dialogue about the positions. (Of course, the far-right Tea Party is not the only culprit here - there are many Leftie groups that should receive the same criticism - the Tea Party just happens to be a stand-out in the media right now.)

Civic educators frequently talk about developing the knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary for democratic citizenship. This is a helpful breakdown. The focus on participation is mainly a focus on developing a disposition to get involved (Though skills of involvement and knowledge about what is going on is certainly necessary). What the Tea Party (and the ideologically polarized and rigid tenor of much of the current political narrative) bring up for me is the need for more discussion about what knowledge is necessary - in schools we generally stop at a fairly superficial level, like how a bill becomes law or what the three branches of government are. I believe citizens need to have better knowledge about potential implications of policies. Certainly, these implications are not clear, but this knowledge can be developed through discussions of current events and past policies, which, though potentially contentious, are necessary discussions to have in schools (i'm talking high schools here).

What worries me more with the Tea Party/polarized & rigid ideological political tenor, is the lack of a willingness to engage in dialogue. This is another important disposition that democratic citizens must possess and it is another important measure of citizenship (beyond participation). We cannot require that citizens listen to one another, but if we want a functional democracy, schools must encourage this disposition.