Ok folks (or, more like Ok me), it's time to talk about the Constitution.
I see stuff like "it's the greatest document ever written" spewed out by Republican congressman right before they yammer about how the President is stepping all over it and I wonder, do they really understand it? I wonder if they've actually read the entire thing (including all of the amendments, not just the second) and if they really digest the meaning of it.
The Constitution is a great document used to setup the government. But, what many people don't really grasp is that one of the things that makes it so great, is the ability to change it. If we just had the original document, there would be no guarantees of protection of speech, from religion, from illegal searches and seizures and you might have a soldier living in your house. You could incriminate yourself, have no right to confront your accuser, women wouldn't be allowed to vote and people of color would be counted as 3/5. Also, we'd probably have a new constitution by now. The reason we have the oldest constitution is that it's changeable. The men of the constitutional convention knew that in order to last, it would have to change as the country did.
But, enough about that - maybe I'll tackle more on that later. What I really want to talk about is the Preamble.
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more
perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic
Tranquility,
provide for the common
defence, promote the general
Welfare,
and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our
Posterity,
do
ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States
of America.
It's only like 50 words (less if you take out United States twice). But, it conveys so much and, if you love the Constitution like some profess, you should be almost orgasmic over this part of it. It's written with such grace, such simple, direct words about what the purpose of the federal government is.
First, what are we doing here? We're trying to form a more perfect union. We were originally organized under the Articles of Confederation. Which, admittedly is not my strong suit, but suffice it say, that they wouldn't work for a nation that even back then, was divided into regions with different beliefs and priorities. So, the smart men of the time got together and started drafting a new governing document.
How are we going to make it better? We're going to establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare and secure the Blessings of Liberty.
Ok, so what does that mean? I guess it depends on who you ask, but this is what I believe. The easy part- common defence. We're going to make sure that the company is safe. While some of the founders were against a standing army (hence the first part of the second amendment "a well regulated militia" and the third (no quartering of soldiers during a time of peace)), but they knew that a strong military was important to the security of the nation. Of course, a strong military then vs. now is a whole other ball of wax.
Next, Justice. They setup the court system, topped by the SCOTUS. I'm not sure that many of them ever actually felt justice was blind or that the scales really balanced, but hey, they were all wealthy landowners (which meant they were male and white), so maybe their version of justice was a bit skewed (Lady Liberty could peek out from underneath her blindfold a bit). Still, they gave us the Bill of Rights - half of the amendments deal with the justice system - 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th. So, they really tried on that one.
Now, the Blessings of Liberty. Despite what some people think, we're pretty damn free in this country. We can bitch and moan about the government without really worrying whether that van down the street is full of federal agents. We can pack up and move, we can change jobs, marry who we want (well, that's becoming more and more true), have kids or not, and so on. Despite some overreach by the government, we have a shit ton of freedom and we live in a country that thousands of people come to to live and make a better life for themselves.
Promoting the general Welfare and ensure domestic tranquility I think are the parts of the preamble that many people forget (or try to forget). But, what does it really mean? Here's my take: The Union has an obligation and duty to make sure that all the people of the nation are provided for. We have to look out for each other. Allowing any type of firearm to be manufactured and sold does not ensure domestic tranquility (no matter what the NRA says). Letting people starve while we allow oil companies to pollute the air, sea and land is not doing either of those things. (sidenote: Great Rush lyric "Don't feed the people, but we feed the machine"). Some talking heads think that we should just let charities or churches take care of the needy. What they fail to realize is that they can't. A country of 300 million people needs a government that will help all those that need it. We need to fill in the cracks that people fall through. A huge percentage of homeless people are veterans. How do we let this happen? They provided for the common defence, but now we won't promote their general Welfare. It means taking care of the people that need it - giving them a helping hand or a leg up. Are there people that will take advantage of it? Sure. Are there people who will use is to improve their situation? Absolutely. We can't let the fact that programs aren't perfect by the excuse for doing away with them, nor should we stop trying to make them better.
Finally, it's not for just us. It's not so corporations can make more money. It's for us and our posterity. It's for our kids, grandkids and their grandkids. It's why some try to leave the world better than they found it. There is a saying (I always thought it was a Native American one, but I was wrong on that) that goes "We have not inherited the land from our fathers, we have borrowed it from our children". I think that many of the pro-business, extreme Right have forgotten this and instead of taking care of the resources of the planet, they exploit them.
So, that's my long rambling interpretation of the Preamble of the Constitution. It's important to remember that the goal of the entire document and the Federal Government is summed up in that short opening statement. There are lessons to be learned from it. House Speaker Boehner had all of the Congress read the Constitution out loud when they were sworn in in 2011. I wonder if they actually paid attention to that part of it or skipped over the "fluff" and just read the 2nd over and over again.
