Welcome to a discussion about the upcoming 5th Revolution in the US, which I’ve titled the “Revenge Revolution.” For more about the Revenge Revolution and the author, click “About the Author” tab.  Periodically I write a “sense check” to assess whether a revolution in the US is possible or whether the entire exercise is based on a statistical aberration — i.e., a roughly 50-year cycle between major upheavals in the US. The previous “sense check” was ENTRY #500.

BEGIN #507: In the previous entry, I indicated an intent was to publish a series of ideas about how to rebuild American democracy.  While I had a general idea about what suggestions to put forth, no issue stood out aside from politics.

Well, one issue has now  jumped out, or crawled out as it were. The event should not be a surprise to anyone who is 21 or older, and by now no surprise to most who are younger.

The event occurs with such regularity it can be predicted accurately for decades ahead.  Depending upon your locale in the US, the event occurs every 13 or 17 years.  In some lucky locations, both events occur.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’d be hard-pressed to miss the news about cicadas emerging from the ground.  Yes, these little guys stay underground for 13 or 17 years, then come out and party for 4-6 weeks.

The partying gets annoying and awfully loud, and likely includes a lot of sex.  After all, the cicadas are teenage partygoers.  Also, like teenagers, the cicadas get into all kinds of places that they shouldn’t be, including occasionally jumping on to your shirt collar, then crawling inside.

Cicadas don’t bite – at least I’ve never been bitten – and as far as I know, do not transmit any infectious diseases. But they are still annoying.

We live in an area with an extensive number of trees. These trees are old enough that cicadas probably have used them for several of their 13/17-year cycles.

All this activity makes for great national and local news stories and casual conversations.   With all that, do you think some people still don’t know about the cicadas’ party?  Unfortunately, yes.

In the Nextdoor app a surprising number of people have made comments along the lines of, “Does anyone else hear that grinding sound? And where’s the noise coming from? “

In response to an explanation provided, some of the brain-dead people who’ve asked the question then reinforce their Ignorance by such explanations as they did not know about the cicadas because of spending too much time spent with the kids or some other nonsensical reason.

If you don’t know something, spending 15 seconds on a search engine often provides a credible answer. The people who use the Nextdoor app obviously have access to the Internet.  And we expect them to study candidates before voting?

 Another example of being braindead is a fellow alum from that technology school on the Charles River in Cambridge, MA. The guy is obviously bright – or was at one time – and I am embarrassed to tell this story. 

During a recent conversation he wondered why Democrats were pursuing prosecuting Trump in Manhattan over a simple business fraud case. His rationale was that everyone in business commits fraud, and no one was really hurt by Trump’s actions. 

Excuse me. The trial is not about fraud or even about hush money.  The trial is about election  interference. The fraud case against Trump was already decided with his substantial financial penalty – at least $175 million and possibly $500+ million.  And, no, the trial is not a Democratic political issue. Election interference and fraud are legal issues that should be of interest to all citizens, regardless of political party.

There are many other examples of “what were they thinking?” beyond the couple cited. Where does such lack of thinking lead us?

To begin to solve the problem of lack of logical thinking, the recommendation is that before being able to graduate from high school, everyone should have to pass a test on the major components of the US Constitution.  Prior to the exam, each student would have at least one semester about the history of the US Constitution, how it has evolved and been amended over the years and how it is being interpreted today.

Ideally, civics classes would begin in 7^th or 8^th grade. Courses would include participating as an elected representative in a mock government.  The elected representatives would be charged with trying to solve real-world problems.

As part of the course, students would be required to read about local events.  The problems required to solve could be wide ranging, including such seemingly mundane issues as “does the city government need to do anything special to educate citizens about the emergence of the cicadas?’

One occasionally hears a statement along the lines of, “you can’t legislate away stupid.“  True, but a good start would be teaching students how to learn about issues and to learn how to solve problems rather than trying to blame someone else.  And another result of this effort might be students learning how to work together – and then teaching adults.

All for now. Another major idea next entry. END #507

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