The Constitution Revisited

Those of you who know me or who have read my commentaries since February of 2013, understand above all else that the common thread which runs through each of them is the Constitution,  that document which is sacred to me. It is my scripture, my singular bible which I carry in my smart phone and on my laptop.

I am never without it. 

To me, every dotted “i”,  every crossed “t”, each “p” and each “q”  was discussed politely and argued over heatedly until each and every word placed in the Sacred Document was agreed upon by the Framers for all posterity. Yes, there are mechanics built in to change it, by both an Act of Congress, with the consent of the States, and by Article V. But since its inception in 1787, when it replaced the Articles of Confederation, it has been changed only twenty-seven times.

That is pretty impressive.

Essentially, the Framers, led by James Madison, who is known as the Father of the Constitution, were able to see far into the future and made certain that the need for change would be minimal and difficult, in order not to bow to public pressure for every single change in our societal views of a given time.

Those changes which were made, for example, banning slavery, granting women the vote, forbidding the payment of a poll tax, and reducing the age to vote to eighteen years old, were done, not out of changes in society's views but out of fairness. Other changes were made for pragmatic reasons, ie, reducing the time from Election Day to Inauguration Day to about 75 days, fixing the succession issue caused by the death or resignation of a President or Vice President, and allowing American Citizens who resided in the District to vote for President. And thus far, only one amendment was repealed by passing another.

There have been others but they have been enacted to fix issues which had no remedy except Amendment. And of course, there is the Bill of Rights, which encompasses the first ten amendments.  THESE NEVER SHOULD BE CHANGED OR REMOVED. THESE ARE OUR GUARANTEED RIGHTS AS FREE AMERICANS.

Nevertheless, I am providing you a link to last year's commentary called Constitution Day.

Perhaps you will agree with me or won't. But that IS the beauty of living in this country. We have the right of free speech, the right to agree or not with each other and the right to criticize our government and our leaders without fear of reprisal.

That is why I consider the Constitution our Sacred Document and our Scripture, along with the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution's precursor, the Articles of Confederation, and the Federalist Papers, which explains it all.

Harry Reid, Barack Obama and Chuck Schumer notwithstanding, the Bill of Rights should never be changed under any circumstances. These represent a CONTRACT between the Founders/Framers, us and our posterity. Never forget that.

And also, never forget that unknown, countless men and women died to secure those rights to US, you and me, without the petulant whims of petty politicians interfering because they can't get their way any other way. Too bad, Senators. You don't know any better than any of us.

In fact, you don't know jack, apparently, of the Constitution you swore to uphold. You are failures as leaders because you just don't get it.

And folks, THAT IS WHY FREEDOM OF SPEECH IS FIRST. It is the most cherished, and within that amendment, so are the Freedom of Assembly and the Freedom OF Religion, NOT Freedom FROM Religion.

Read our Sacred Document; it is our contract with the government, which exists because we grant it the powers it has with our consent, called “consent of the governed”, guaranteed by the Constitution; hence, the Sacred Document.

Happy 227th Constitution Day!