Meg Mott, a longtime Marlboro College professor of political science, serves as Putney's town moderator and describes herself as a "Constitution wrangler."
Democracy has a lot to recommend it: all those opportunities to participate in the governing process, to consider public matters with your neighbors in Town Meeting or with elected representatives in Congress.
Unlike a monarchy, with a single person in charge, or an aristocracy, with a few elites in charge, a democracy gives ordinary citizens the chance to think beyond their private concerns and about the public good.
But thinking about the public good is extremely challenging for human beings. We know how monarchs confused their personal whims for divine decree. But that can't be true of citizens in a democracy, right?
Not so.
Just as monarchs devolved into tyrants, so (lowercase-d) democrats dissolve into factions. And when one faction becomes a majority, it can threaten the body politic.
A tyranny of the majority, just like an individual tyrant, can impose its will on everyone, thus destroying everyone's freedoms.
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Luckily, the Constitution puts up a lot of guardrails to protect the rights of minority viewpoints.
Majorities are thwarted by the separation of powers. Just because a faction takes over the legislative branch doesn't mean it will control the White House.
Majorities are also thwarted through federalism. A faction may take over in one state but not the nation as a whole. The majority may impose its will on the citizens of Alaska but not on the citizens of Vermont.
And finally, an independent judiciary ensures that the rights of minorities are protected under the Constitution.
These three elements - separation of powers, federalism, and rule of law - are designed to save us from ourselves. By forcing each branch of government to check the other, by giving states sovereignty over their own affairs, and by limiting government powers through a Bill of Rights, the Constitution makes it harder for any single faction to take over.
This form of government is the most complicated form of government there is. Indeed, its complexity is why it has lasted as long as it has.
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Without a civics education, however, people have no clue about the purpose behind the complexity. They may not understand why we have a Bill of Rights, why we have three branches of government, or why the states have as much power as they do.
Without a civics education, citizens might come to believe that the right to free speech serves only fanatics or that the right to religious expression serves only bigots.
They might come to believe that a majority faction has pretty good ideas and that the real threat to democracy is their political opponents, who certainly shouldn't be allowed to say nasty things or believe superstitious nonsense.
In other words, without a civics education, we are more easily seduced by the beliefs of the majority.
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Vermont is one of 11 states that do not require students to study civics before graduation. The only Vermonters who are required to understand the complexities of a (small-r) republican form of government are those taking the U.S. Citizenship Test.
Immigrants are more likely to know that there are currently four women on the Supreme Court and that the Constitution was ratified by state conventions and why that is important. They are more likely to know that to run for Senate does not require that you are native born.
Recognizing the need for civics education, the Secretary of State's Office recently launched a civics program offering resources and incentives for public school teachers.
Two children's books by Vermont author Christy Mihaly, one on the First Amendment and one on the Supreme Court, explain the complexities of a republican form of government using poetry and pictures.
Young readers learn how the five freedoms guaranteed in the First Amendment are "democracy's foundation" and how the Supreme Court protected the rights of school children to not pledge allegiance to the flag just one year after they had ruled in the opposite direction.
Both of these books help young Vermonters see the guardrails in place to restrain democratic excesses.
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Focusing on democratic engagement itself does not necessarily save us from the error of failing to protect minorities. It becomes all too easy to believe that one point of view speaks for the whole.
A recently published Vermont civics education resource shows how this can happen.
On page 14 of the informational comic book Freedom and Unity, Take Back Vermont protestors are labeled as an "anti-gay" movement. The caption informs us that Vermont has a history of racism and eugenics, implying that only conservatives are cut from the same fabric as the bigots of the past.
Just as religious majorities in other states revel in imposing their values on LGBTQ communities, so Vermont progressives take delight in imposing their values on religious minorities.
A fundamental premise of freedom of speech is that minority voices have value. Without an informed understanding of the First Amendment, leaders endorsing a liberal orthodoxy may believe they are acting in everyone's interests when they make it harder for conservative and libertarian speech to be heard or for religious beliefs to be respected.
Without civics, Vermonters are at risk of believing that the majority speaks for everyone.
The First Amendment reminds all of us that our freedoms depend on our capacity for mutual respect. These freedoms give minorities the opportunity to counter the reasoning of the majority.
If more people knew their civics, minorities might be more outspoken, causing the majority to reconsider some of their own biases.
We don't have to endorse what others say, but we all benefit from their right to say it.
We don't have to believe what others believe, but we all benefit from their rights of conscience.
By respecting each other's freedoms enough to actually consider dissent, majorities have less control over what can be said.
This Voices Viewpoint was submitted to The Commons.