Questions
FAQ
Plain answers. We do not invent programs we do not yet run.
Who is this for?
Legal immigrants. Our work is for legal immigrants only. People who chose this country should understand the civic order they joined: a written Constitution, a republic under law, separated powers, and freedom of expression. We do not serve other purposes, and we do not pretend otherwise.
Do you help with immigration, green cards, or citizenship tests?
No. We do not help with the immigration process, obtaining a green card, or passing an immigration or citizenship test. Civic education may indirectly prepare someone for the civics and history part of a test, but we are not a test-prep service and we are not a legal-immigration service.
Are you a political organization?
No. We are not a political organization. We do not run campaigns or endorse candidates. Civic education is not a campaign, and we do not treat it as one.
Do you support protests or movements?
No. We do not support protests or any movement. We teach how the country works; we do not organize people to remake it. That line is the difference between civic education and activism.
What does assimilate mean here?
To leave another country’s way of life and to live in this one. Not to remake America in the image of the place you left. The honest bargain of legal immigration is to adapt: learn the language of the law, the habits of self-government, and the limits a Constitution places on power. We come not to alter but to adapt and assimilate.
What do you teach about the United States?
How government works, why power is split among Congress, the President, and the courts, and what the Constitution actually says. We teach that this country is a republic under law, not a pure democracy of majority will. The civic order legal immigrants chose includes a color-blind republic: the law is supposed to see a person, not a racial, ethnic, or sexual category. We teach equal protection as it is written. We oppose sorting people by race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation instead of treating them equally under the Constitution. The point is to understand the country, not to campaign in it.
Is the United States a democracy?
People use the word that way in ordinary speech. The form of government is a republic under the Constitution. Democracy, as the Founders used the word, means majority rule without a higher law. A republic means the public thing: the law binds the majority too. Rights are not a 51 percent question. The Constitution does not use the word democracy. Madison, Hamilton, and Adams warned that pure democracies are turbulent and short-lived. Franklin said they had made a republic, if we can keep it. Limited government that protects rights makes people freer; anarchy is not freedom.
Do you run classes yet?
Not yet. Classes on U.S. history and the Constitution for legal immigrants will come later. We do not run them now, and we do not publish a schedule. Until then, our work is listening, explaining, and writing in plain language.
Do you offer grants and scholarships?
Yes. Grants are up to $10,000 per person or organization per year. Scholarships are up to $5,000 per student per year. They are outgoing awards from a self-funded foundation. This site does not raise money.
What are the conditions for a grant or scholarship?
Agree with the foundation’s civic teaching, and publish essays, voice recordings, or videos in agreement with that teaching that reach an audience. We do not list audience size, forms, or deadlines here. Write to info@lisun.org. Grants and scholarships are not for campaigns, candidates, protests, or movements.
How can I contact the foundation?
Write to info@lisun.org. That is the public address. We do not publish a street address here.