OBLIGATORY DAY ALERT: My Government Day! 
The 7th Cardinal Virtue is patriotism. In DeMolay we teach that good citizenship is the opportunity that peace affords for all of us to show our good citizenship. DeMolay International wants each chapter to do something that helps people understand the critically important role of government. How you do this is completely up to you and your chapter.
It is important to stress that My Government Day is about processes, institutions, rights, and liberties.
It is not about personalities or parties.
If you find yourself making a comment that Supreme Chancellor Valorum is a weak leader and should be removed from office, or saying “Senator Bail Organa is morally repugnant but what do you expect from a member of the Alliance to Restore the Republic?”, you’ve strayed from the goal and also are probably at a Star Wars Convention. In DeMolay we seek to elevate our level of discourse.
Below are some ideas:
1. Host a Speaker: Your chapter can host a digital event and invite a local elected official, your state Assemblyperson, State Senator, or someone from the office of your US Representative or US Senator. If you need help locating a speaker please let us know, we have a number of Senior DeMolays who work in and around various levels of government. You may also want to think of inviting your history or social studies teacher to come speak to your chapter.
2. Read our Governing Documents: Quick: If I said to you “In the course of human events” do you know which document it comes from? If you didn’t, it’s OK, now is a great time to learn!
The National Archives has a number of great resources on:
The Declaration of Independence (Where “In the Course of Human Events” comes from)
https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration
The Constitution of the United States
https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution
The Bill of Rights
https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/bill-of-rights
3. Host a Watch Party of Government: Most municipal bodies and the federal legislative bodies offer streaming services of their meetings.
https://www.c-span.org/ Has both the Senate and the House
https://www.house.gov/committees A listing of House Committees most of whom have video streaming
https://www.senate.gov/committees/ A listing of Senate Committees most of whom have video streaming.
Watch your government in action, learn about how they work, and how the laws of our republic are made.
4. Research a Law: All of us live under the laws of our country, state, counties, and municipalities, but have you studied how laws are made?
Do you know what the official state snack of New York is? It’s Yogurt! S. 6695 of the 2013-2014 session established it. https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2013/S6695 There was a floor debate and people questioned why it wasn’t the potato chip. It’s a fun bill to research and speaks about the important role that the dairy industry plays in our State Economy.
That same year, S. 6887 provided children of our military personnel instate SUNY and CUNY tuition.
https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2013/S6887
You can research all of this via the NY Senate website: https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation, the NY Assembly also offers a function, but as of the writing of this article it’s not working. https://nyassembly.gov/leg/
If you’re interested in researching a federal law, the library of congress has Congres.gov that allows you to research a law:
https://www.congress.gov/
5. Do a Career Conversation: There are a number of jobs relating to government, including lawyers, public administration people, civil servants, police officers, lawyers, fire fighters, EMTs, and so many other government positions that you may be interested in a career. Your chapter can have each member explore a career related to government.
6. Tour a Government Building:
New York State’s Department of General Services provides online tours of our majestic state capitol and the Empire State Plaza:
https://empirestateplaza.ny.gov/virtual-visit
The Architect of the Capitol has a virtual field trip of the US Capitol:
https://www.aoc.gov/resources/virtual-field-trips
The Architecht of the Capitol has online art tours, including the Cox Corridor which features a Masonic cornerstone laying, as well as pictures of the US Capitol when it was in New York in our majestic cities of Albany and New York.
https://www.aoc.gov/capitol-buildings/cox-corridors
Or the Rotunda Paintings, of interst to us was Burgoyne’s surrender at Saratoga.
https://www.aoc.gov/art/historic-rotunda-paintings/surrender-general-burgoyne
The Supreme Court has a tour:
https://www.supremecourt.gov/visiting/exhibition.aspx
7. Host a Contest: Maybe your chapter members want to host a contest among its members or DeMolay aged youth on an important issue, or something related to government and give out prizes!
Let us know how you celebrated my government day!
8. Write to your legislator: Pick an issue that you care about and write the appropriate legislator.
You can find your Assembly Member here:
https://nyassembly.gov/mem/search/
You can find your New York Senator here:
https://www.nysenate.gov/senators-committees
You can find your US Representative here:
https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative
Our Junior Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is here:
https://www.gillibrand.senate.gov/contact/email-me
Our Senior Senator Charles Schumer is here:
https://www.schumer.senate.gov/contact/email-chuck