In your own words, describe what the Constitution of the United States means to you personally. Please limit your entries to no more than one thousand words, although well-written submissions will be considered. Humor and satire are also acceptable.
You may also comment on other great founding documents, please provide web references.
Bring it on!
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Submitted by Bing Van Gorden
“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 of the United States of America.”
James Madison, Preamble to the U.S. Constitution, his emphasis with the capital letters
The Constitution lays out the framework for a proportionally representative government with co-equal branches. It establishes a government of by and for the people, a republican democracy. It forbids them from tyrannical and compels it to ensure the liberties protected in the Amendments to the Constitution including the Bill of Rights.
The 1st Amendment prohibits Congress from making laws respecting an establishment of religion or prohibit the free exercise of. What many, including Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and John Adams all agreed meant that there was a wall of separation between the two. Freedom of speech and the press and the people to peaceably assemble and petition the government for a redress of grievances are also protected. It stands to reason that if Congress can’t prohibit these things it must also protect them from being infringed upon.
The 2nd Amendment, regarding a “well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State,” prohibited any infringements on the right of the people to bear arms. Of course this was before a standing military was considered an option and militias were viewed as our only defense from invasion. Right wing groups like the National Rifle Association focus more on the “shall not be infringed” part of the Amendment. The left’s ACLU reads the whole thing, like I do. I think gun ownership should be a right, but the 2nd Amendment doesn’t guarantee it. It’s outdated just as Amendment 3 regarding the involuntary quartering of soldiers in any one’s home.
The 4th Amendment couldn’t be clearer. “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable search and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the person or things seized.” Sadly opponents of Roe v. Wade and other issues that involve what several Supreme Courts have termed a “right to privacy” don’t comprehend the concept. Neither did the last President, who allowed sneak and peak searches and wire taps without warrants and lied to the American people about the “Constitutional protections being followed.” Some on the right argue, well if you’ve nothing to hide why should you care if the government is snooping around you, while those of us on the left argue it’s none of your damn business. One of us has the Constitution on our side.
Further Amendments lay out rights of the accused to ensure fair and speedy trials. The Writ of Habeas Corpus is already protected in the body of the Constitution except in the case of invasion or rebellion. During the Civil War and the 2nd World War exceptions were made by acts of Congress. (Lincoln tried by executive order and was rebuked by Supreme Court. Congress had to do it, and did) It’s a big deal. It means no person can be held without a chance to question their imprisonment. It’s a concept as old as the Magna Carta. The last President found it to be optional. His AG, Alberto Gonzales once told a Senatorial committee that the Constitution did not grant habeas corpus protection, it merely prevented Congress from taking it away. Senator Arlen Spector pointed out that if Congress was forbidden from denying it, it implies the right to it exists.
Other Amendments recognized the equal rights of woman and minorities, ended slavery and prohibited the states from denying these liberties. The right likes to argue about State’s being able to decide but Amendment 10 clearly states that is not the case. The State’s must abide by the Constitution. Groups like the Federalist Society and Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia cling to a belief that the Constitution is not a living document. This defies reality. If it were not living, it would be un-amendable. Obviously through our history we abandoned the prevailing philosophy to begin to recognize, by law and it’s enforcement through government action spurned on by massive popular protests by citizens.
The Constitution protects me from religious zealotry and persecution. It protects the rights of those the simple majority would deny. It provides a framework that ensures fair and equal treatment. It prevents the petty bigotries people harbor from becoming law. It is not a democratic document. It is the gun that arms the sheep who sits at the table between wolves. It is rooted in law and legal precedent. And the current Republican Party including their echo chamber on radio and tv hate it. They have shown nothing but contempt for it. They have consistently fought against the interests of labor and consumers on behalf of their corporate masters. (Democrats have their share as well) They empowered the last president with authority beyond the Constitutional boundaries and impeded any attempt to look into any breech of public trust it have may have been involved in.
The Constitution does not protect profit, does not endorse or establish a religion (in fact prohibits it’s participation), impose a moral code or ignore the rule of law. It does not mandate that potential economic gain trumps Constitutionally protected individual liberties. It protects the liberties of we the people. It supplies a government that is supposed to represent us, not corporations. The Constitution is what makes this country the envy of the world. And it’s been ignored. The “great experiment” that is the United States of America has failed if we continue to do so. Republicans, take your party back from the right wing ideologues who abhor the Constitution. Want motivation? Read, http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/ and learn what our founding fathers were thinking and why those chose each word so carefully and more importantly how important this document really is. Hundreds of years from now historians will marvel at it’s lasting wisdom and effectiveness. But ! only if we the people remain “eternally vigilant” as Jefferson warned.
Satire (I’m assuming)
By: Joe Republican (obviously faked address)
I get so emotional when I think of our founding document, the Declaration of Interdependece (also known as the Constitution,) I just feel so proud to be an American. Because we’ve strayed so far from the founding father’s original intent and really need to go back to it. I mean I know prayer in schools is in there and some stuff about how great God is and it’s just unfortunate those loony lefties keep insisting it’s a sexular document. Why are they so perverted?
My favorite line, is “there’s is nothing to fear but more fear..” I think I’m close on that one but it just shows you how in touch with the lord they all were. They knew to fear the lord and that the lord gives us our rights, not government’s. Although I’ve never tried to exercise my god granted rights in a country like Somalia, which I think is in Europe.
Jesse James did a great job writing it too. The Irish navy were bombarding his bungalow all night and he wrote it on a giant flag they put up in the morning to show those Irish, that are flag was still there! His wife, Betsy Ross warned the the townspeople before the barrage began by putting a lamp in the window of her cottage. It was part of the undergrounded railroad. Finally Sherman marched to Atlanta which is now in Georgia and the Irish went back to Great Britain and began calling themselves British as I recall.
I mean I am just so grateful that a white kid like me can get into my daddy’s college despite my poor GPA in high school. I have no interests but my future is set and that’s the American dream, right? So anyways, This is what the constitution means to me, America can do no wrong as long as god is on our side which of course he is.
thank you,
Joe Republican
Well… that was… special…
