"to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his
orphan"
There has never been a more succinct statement about the obligation and
privilege the nation has to care for its military veterans than that brief
clause in Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address. But the New Jersey
legislature thinks setting aside a day on which to remember those who have
bought our freedom with their blood is not as important as it used to be.
New Jersey legislators have unanimously passed a measure that includes a
provision to remove the state mandate to teach about Veterans Day in the
public schools. And not only Veterans Day; the bill would also remove
requirements to teach about Columbus on Columbus Day, the Pilgrims around
Thanksgiving Day, and even Commodore John Barry Day, which commemorates the
Revolutionary War hero for whom a bridge is named, which spans the Delaware
River to connect Bridgeport, N.J., to Chester, Pa.
It is the possible repeal of the law to teach about veterans on Veterans Day
that has upset a lot of people, including, understandably, veterans. There
are few enough who serve in today's all-volunteer military and a decreasing
number of citizens who have relatives in the military, or know anyone in
service. That makes it much more important for students to learn of the
contributions made by veterans to secure the freedoms too many of us take
for granted. Those freedoms mark the difference between American schools and
those in dictatorial societies that are forced to teach state propaganda.
The ban on teaching about such holidays is included in a larger bill that
passed the legislature last month. It is designed to help control New
Jersey's spiraling property taxes. Gov. Jon Corzine has not indicated
whether he'll sign it. He'd better not if he knows what's good for his
Democratic Party. Have Democrats forgotten the 1988 campaign during which
Republicans hammered presidential candidate Michael Dukakis for vetoing a
bill while he was governor of Massachusetts that would have required all
public school students in the state to recite the Pledge of Allegiance?
Sure, it was wrong to question Dukakis' patriotism, but it worked
politically for Republicans, who pounded him with the issue, along with the
line about his being a "card-carrying member of the ACLU."