George Washington said that "The Constitution is the guide which I will never abandon." But just take a glance at the city that shares his name, and you'll see just the opposite:  Most politicians have no reservations when it comes to abandoning this critical document.

Sadly, this is also reflected in our schools. The youth of America spend very little time learning about our founding documents and the role that they played and continue to play in shaping our republic. However, Ohio Senate Bill 165, The Founding of America Documents Bill, aims to change that.

Few people will argue that what the Tea Party stands for is not, at the very least, a great push toward individual liberty: free markets, fiscal responsibility, and constitutionally limited government have all been the main focus of the Tea Party, at least in principle, since its inception during the Obama Administration.

Luckily, those principles have spread across the pond to Europe, sparking similar movements to reduce the democratic welfare state which has controlled the lives of Europeans for the greater part of a century.

Luca Bocci, Head of International Outreach for Tea Party Italia, was kind enough to answer a few questions for me over email in this interview. They face the same problems, such as  "attempts by career politicians to hijack the movement and use it for their personal interests," but they also share the same goals, including "the end of the social-democrat experiment and the return to a culture of self-reliance in every aspect of the political discourse."

'United we stand, across the seas' has been a sort of mantra from day one. Putting these words into practice has been much more difficult than we imagined, but also potentially more rewarding than we could have ever imagined. ~ Luca Bocci

Click here to read the full interview.

What is the most important of the following four efforts?

• Punish the bad guys
• Reward the good guys
• Share what you know about liberty
• Learn more about liberty

There are six "Which is more important" questions that will each divide people into two groups:

1. Punishing bad guys vs Rewarding good guys
2. Punishing bad guys vs Sharing what you know
3. Punishing bad guys vs Learning more
4. Rewarding good guys vs Sharing what you know
5. Rewarding good guys vs Learning more
6. Sharing what you know vs Learning more

I wanted to characterize the kind of people on each side of these questions, and see if that generates some feedback.

1. Punishing bad guys vs Rewarding good guys

Those who feel that punishment is more important than reward are, perhaps living among people who already feel pretty free, and they see more negative behaviors than positive ones.  They would like to stop others from "being bad" and they sense a failure on the part of the status quo to help limit those behaviors.  I submit that they haven't realized that carrots work better than sticks.

I could also title this post "Yet Another Reason for Year of Youth."

ISI recently conducted a civic literacy survey with 2,508 people and found that those who had held elected office scored an average of 44% vs. 49% for those never elected.

Among the more tragic statistics about elected officials from the report:

• Seventy-nine percent of those who have been elected to government office do not know the Bill of Rights expressly prohibits establishing an official religion for the U.S.
• Thirty percent do not know that “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” are the inalienable rights referred to in the Declaration of Independence.
• Twenty-seven percent cannot name even one right or freedom guaranteed by the First Amendment.
• Forty-three percent do not know what the Electoral College does. One in five thinks it either “trains those aspiring for higher political office” or “was established to supervise the first televised presidential debates.”
• Fifty-four percent do not know the Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war. Thirty-nine percent think that power belongs to the president, and 10% think it belongs to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
• Only 32% can properly define the free enterprise system, and only 41% can identify business profit as “revenue minus expenses.”

I'm guessing that the average Year of Youth participant -- or even YAL member in general -- could ace this test.  (I'm pretty sure that I could, though I admit I'm a little fuzzy on Sputnik.)  This is a great example of how much we need a new generation with a strong understanding of liberty, history, and the Constititution to win on principle.