Inside the editorial page
Inside the editorial page

This blog is designed to give readers a glimpse of our editorial-page operation and how we make our decisions. We’ll let you know who we’re meeting with, what they’re telling us, what events and issues we’re looking at. We’ll also pass on information and observations that may not make our print editions. In addition to the editorial board members who post on this blog, the board includes Publisher David Zeeck, Executive Editor Karen Peterson and Managing Editor Dale Phelps.

Editorial board bloggers

Editorial page editor Patrick O’Callahan oversees the online and printed opinion sections of The News Tribune. He came to The News Tribune in 1987 and has worked at Washington newspapers since 1979. E-mail him at patrick.ocallahan@thenewstribune.com

Editorial writer Cheryl Tucker, in addition to writing commentary, manages the daily production of the editorial and op-ed pages and edits letters to the editor. She began her journalism career in 1974 at a Virginia newspaper and came to The News Tribune in 1978. E-mail her at cheryl.tucker@thenewstribune.com.

Editorial writer Kim Bradford manages the online opinion section of The News Tribune and writes commentary. She joined The News Tribune in 2005 after working 11 years at newspapers in Washington and Maryland. E-mail her at kim.bradford@thenewstribune.com.

Guest bloggers

Editor emeritus David Seago retired from The News Tribune in 2008 after 41 years at The News Tribune. E-mail him at sds99@harbornet.com.

Richard Davis’ column on state politics frequently runs in the print edition of The News Tribune. He was president of the Washington Research Council, a statewide think tank, from 1986 through 2006. Currently, as a principal with The Simeon Partnership, Inc. he coordinates the activities of the Washington Alliance for a Competitive Economy, a business coalition founded by the Research Council, the Association of Washington Business and the Washington Roundtable.

Karen Irwin of University Place, a mother of four, has been a frequent contributor to The News Tribune's print editions. She has also written for Seattle's Child, Puget Sound Parent, the Tacoma Weekly, the Fayetteville Observer Times and the political blog Right Meets Left. She graduated from California Lutheran University with a degree in English literature and is currently working toward a history degree.

Michael Allen, professor of history at the University of Washington Tacoma, was born and raised in Ellensburg. He served with the U.S. Marines in Vietnam from 1969-70. He has written five books, including the prize-winning "Patriot's History of the United States: From Columbus' Great Discovery to the War on Terror," "Rodeo Cowboys in the North American Imagination" and "Western Rivermen, 1763-1861: Ohio and Mississippi Boatmen and the Myth of the Alligator Horse." Allen lives in Tacoma and Ellensburg and has three children.

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What's on the minds of Tacoma News Tribune editorial writers
Thursday, July 2nd, 2009
Posted by Patrick O'Callahan @ 07:55:33 pm

This editorial will appear in tomorrow's print edition.

Thomas Jefferson – chief author of the Declaration of Independence we celebrate tomorrow – had a lot to say about an informed electorate.

On one occasion, he wrote: “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.”

On another occasion: “The information of the people at large can alone make them the safe as they are the sole depositary of our political and religious freedom.”

Native-born Americans can, if they choose, remain ignorant as stumps about their government. Maybe that’s a luxury of living in a country that enjoys political stability unheard of in many parts of the world.

But what a dubious perk if ignorance keeps Americans marginalized on the periphery of civic life. They cannot hope to hold government accountable from that vantage point.

This week, more than 6,000 immigrants will become citizens. They have demonstrated a grasp of U.S. history and government that sadly eludes many Americans for whom citizenship is a birthright, not a privilege.

Here are a few question from the citizenship test that naturalized citizens must pass. Test your own knowledge and see how “free” you really are.

1. What is the supreme law of the land?

[More:]

2. Who is one of your state’s U.S. senators now?

3. The idea of self-government is in the first three words of the Constitution. What are these words?

4. If both the president and the vice president can no longer serve, who becomes president?

5. Who is the chief justice of the United States now?

6. Name one U.S. territory.

7. There are four amendments to the Constitution about who can vote. Describe one of them.

8. Name one problem that led to the Civil War.

9. The Federalist Papers supported the passage of the U.S. Constitution. Name one of the writers.

10. What did Susan B. Anthony do?

11. Who was president during World War I?

12. Why does the flag have 13 stripes?

ANSWERS:

1. The U.S. Constitution.

2. Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray

3. We the people

4. Speaker of the House

5. John Roberts

6. Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands

7. Election officials cannot charge a poll tax, citizens 18 years of age and older can vote, a male citizen of any race can vote, any citizen of either gender can vote

8. Slavery, states’ rights, economic problems

9. James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, Publius

10. Fought for women’s and civil rights

11. Woodrow Wilson

12. For the 13 original colonies.

Categories: What's coming