I hear some strange comments when I’m leading a tour of Boston, along with occasional odd questions. Some are funny and some show great insight. But the comment I heard last week really set me back. A woman from Oregon told me that most people on the west coast thought that American history started with the Mississippi River.

Oblivious to American History

King George III

Now, if this is true, it says a lot about the state of teaching history in America’s schools. Do people on the West Coast think that King George III realized the 13 original colonies wanted freedom and just let them go? “Oh, well, we’ll just let them have their own way. So much easier, you know. Off to the cabbage patch!”

Do they think that the people of those colonies kicked back in front of the fireplace just “waitin’ on the world to change?” “Oh, well. Sooner or later he’ll let us have our own country. No use fretting about it. More tea, anyone?”

Perhaps they have never thought about it at all.

I see a certain irony in this. King George III of England was a fat old man who wanted to be a farmer and had mental problems. They didn’t call him the mad king for nothing. Here we are 250 years later with a fat old man with mental problems in the White House who wants to be a king.

Something Must Be Done

Questions like this make me feel the same way I do about people who complain that something must be done about the current president. And who, I ask, is going to do that?

These social media users clearly never got a civics class. I have to explain that when one party holds the White House, both houses of Congress, and a majority in the Supreme Court there are no checks and balances in our government to restrain excesses or even to hold criminal behavior to account.

This is especially true when the party in power is so terrified of the president that they abase themselves, fawn all over him, and give him everything he wants. Sure, something should be done if we are to preserve our democracy. That’s easy to say and saying it on social media will get you lots of likes and reposts, but it doesn’t really mean anything.

Getting a Warm Feeling

Complaining about taking action against the current president is like wetting your pants in a dark closet. It gives you a warm feeling but doesn’t accomplish anything. And, as Woody Allen said, “when it comes to light it’s a public humiliation” because it shows how little you know about our government and America’s history.

These days, it’s hard to predict what’s going to happen in America’s government. I have lost faith in the American people even understanding what’s going on, much less how to respond to it. I really think so much of that is due to a lack of knowledge about how our government works, how our country began, and what we have to do to fix it.

Where does that leave us? Are we using west-coast thinking or are we in a dark closet?