Richard Dreyfuss unveils 'Dreyfuss Initiative' to teach civics to students K-12

Actor Richard Dreyfuss told reporters at a press conference at the Majestic Theater, Gettysburg, that journalists are the only representatives citizens have left in Washington.
“Every one else has gone,” Dreyfuss said. “Congress is too busy raising money, the Senate is too busy working for special interests and the presidency has not decided yet whether it's returning to monarchy or whether it's going to remain a member of a free government.”
The public's ignorance of how to maintain U.S. democracy is enormous, Dreyfuss said. The world he said, knows that America is a miracle.
“The end of a long and bloody battle for the progress of man and a representative of light and reason against the darkness of stupidity and fear,” Dreyfuss said. “We are the representatives and the only ones who don't know this are Americans.”
Dreyfuss, who was in Gettysburg for the 146th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address, unveiled the “Dreyfuss Initiative,” a nation-wide program to educate youth in grades K-12. The non-profit organization, he said, is approaching the private sector and general public for funding, rather than having any connection to the political arena.
Dreyfuss said he is passionate about the U.S. Dreyfuss was one of several dignitaries, who braved the gray, overcast,mist-tinged Dedication Day ceremonies, Thursday morning, at the Soldiers National Cemetery; the site where Abraham Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address. When asked by the Philadelphia Examiner, how Lincoln would react to the current state of the union, he said:
“I think he would despise it. I think he is rolling over in his grave right now, trying desperately to get out, so he could make one more speech. I think he was the greatest writer in presidential history and he could say it better than anybody else … He never referred to this country as anything other than an experiment … the experiment of government of the people, by the people. An experiment – which means the science is not in, the data is not in … not enough information for a decision and right now it does not look good.”
Dreyfuss said he fears that the country is in the end game, the latter days of democracy. Technology, he said, has removed time from decision making. Without proper restraint, technology “will kill us all.”
“I believe the word civics has attained the iconic position of being the most boring word in the English language,” Dreyfuss said. “I call it power. The younger you get them the better. If you withhold the teaching of civics until the university level you are creating a niche of a privileged class and you are also growing an ignorant crop of an unquestioning work force.”
America was founded by dissenters, he said. The U.S. is a country of debaters, but the last great debate occurred in the 1960s. The theory and practice of political power needs to be taught to improve the health of the democracy.
“We are the villains here,” Dreyfuss said. “We have lost our sense of outrage … and the ability to sustain outrage for more than one information cycle. The key to power, as a sovereign nation, as Jefferson said, is information.”
Dreyfuss accused the media of rolling over when faced with confrontation. For the first time in this country's history, he said, the children today will not be better off economically than their parents.
“How would you like to live in the United States of America where civil rights and the constitution are only words?” Dreyfuss asked. “There is an announcement being made right at this moment about the establishment of a non-profit organization to create this program nationally.”
Dreyfuss said it will be done, region-by-region, community-by-community. To fund the Dreyfuss Initiative, he intends to approach local governments, civic organizations, corporations, individuals and other non-profits.
The No Child Left Behind program is the worst legislation in history, he said. There is a civics lesson to be learned in how to dismantle the legislation.
“I am starting in San Diego, because I live there,” Dreyfuss said. “They are the center of wireless communications.... I am going to ask the Republican and Democratic parties for big checks.”
The media avoids asking the hard questions, Dreyfuss said. It is the job of the press to inform the public about the issues. The media, he said, for too long, has been equating neutrality with cowardice … and blaming parents or the schools for failing to teach students.
“The public is not a noun, it's a verb,” Dreyfuss said. “This is a machine that will not go by itself. It needs you and it needs me; it's friends and foes; it needs partisanship, but it does not need toxic partisanship; it needs civility, not because of its politeness, but because it is the oxygen that is required by any republican democracy. We must have an understanding of who we are and why we are who we are and why we came here to be whom we became; and if we don't, we are not only a failure, but we will be convincing our grandchildren that we were also self-deluded and that it, (the American dream), never existed and we're just kidding ourselves.”
Dreyfuss said he comes from a very political family. It's not a question of why someone chose to be an activist; the question they ask is why not.
“Citizenship is something that should be in our DNA, whether you are Republican or Democrat,” he said. “We should all understand that we are all connected and are all responsible. I want you to realize that you are responsible for the level of decency your children will grow up into. You are responsible for their ethics and the crime rate in the year 2020.”
Dreyfuss said “the war on terror” is a meaningless phrase. The country, he said, has been living in an “Alice in Wonderland of common senselessness.” The press needs to ask the right questions and demand politicians for an answer.
“It's a question of understanding that politics is more than just checks and balances,” he said. “Politics is television; politics is television advertising. How can we be good neighbors; be good parents?”
The Bill or Rights, he said, is a picture of the goals and moral character of the country. Calling the Bill of Rights a courageous and naive gesture, Dreyfuss said it was ironic that immigrants know the country's history, its political system and understand the obligations of citizenship, better than Americans.
During his speech at the Soldiers' National Cemetery, Dreyfuss said that the lessons to be learned from Lincoln and the founders of the country are being wasted. To produce the next generation of visionaries and leaders, young people must be taught civics so that they understand the inherent requirements of living in a democracy.

For more information visit http://www.thedreyfussinitiative.org