American citizens have sovereignty over their government, but it is lost if they don't know about it, actor Richard Dreyfuss tells
Newsmax TV.
Dreyfuss has started
The Dreyfuss Initiative to teach civics in schools because there is no other place for it to be learned, he told "Hard Line" host Ed Berliner.
"If they're not taught that they have civic authority and they're allowed to say, 'Please answer the question, we're not letting you leave the room,' they don't have that authority, and they don't exercise it," Dreyfuss said. "That's what's wrong with America right now."
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The battle was lost in the 1960s and '70s when Americans became tired and cynical, he said.
People now think civics shouldn't be taught until college, but that's too late, Dreyfuss contends.
"If you wait until someone is 19 years old to try to teach them love of country and respect for the ideals of the Enlightenment, you're going to be met with a solid wall of cynicism and skepticism," he said. "You have to teach them when they're young."
Educators must work together with parents to teach civics, he said, because many parents were never taught themselves.
Instead, they are bringing the values, traditions and cultures from foreign countries, and there is no attempt to make them American, he said. "That is something that is fatal."
Dreyfuss said he has yet to raise up enough outrage, but he also believes he is in for a 20-year effort. He suggested everyone read the Preamble to the Constitution. If they agree with it, he said, they should sign it and send it to his website.
"If I get 250,000 signatures, I'll start a civic strike and I'll get people to pay attention," he said.
The strike would be on one selected day, he said. "Everybody at the same time, from 12:30 to 1 p.m., you don't go, you don't do, you don't buy, you don't call, you don't do nothing. It's not big enough to hurt the economy but it's big enough to get their attention."
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