The United States Constitution. Heart and soul of the greatest Democracy the world has ever known.
We learn about it in school. Pass tests. Then forget the words.
Or we take it more seriously, and read it from time to time.
Either way, we know what it says. It gives us rights.
The right to vote. The right to promote our opinions as if they were true. The right to buy weapons …
Things we must have to lead any quality of life.
So how are we doing? Forget about poverty—that’s too tough. Forget about war. There will always be enemies. Traffic accidents? Can’t be helped. The environment? The fault of corporations. Drugs? Obesity? Unhappiness? It’s a free country.
So really, how are we doing? Is this as good as it gets?
A handful of us (us?) will spend the balance of our lives as Supreme Justice of the People’s highest court, enunciating such interesting—and antithetical—notions as Separate but Equal, Corporate Personhood, and the extra-governmental governance of public resources (eg, the Federal Reserve).
The Constitution also declares two Legislative bodies and an Executive Branch.
The Constitution is very specific on such details as the President needing to be at least 35 years old—but says nothing about the undemocratic use of money or advertising to become President.
The Constitution has remained largely untouched since the days of powdered wigs and boundless frontier. So much has changed in the world since then. How has the Constitution been keeping up?
The Constitution is a teething ring, weaning us from a liquid diet of feudalism to the solid sustenance of self-determination. Though we resolutely oppose self-determination. We expect the strong to dominate the weak, excess to outshine modesty, self-interest to power innovation, retaliation to enforce consideration.
We cling to the teething ring. Draw strength from it. Wield it—dripping—like a flaming sword.
While observing “the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer.”
We thank the Constitution—our “Government of Laws, not men”—for our personal good fortune. Generously give alms to the poor. As they get poorer. And to the rich. As they get richer.
Wait patiently for Laws to be born—as if Laws solve problems, not people.
Consider. What if peace and happiness is not only the goal of good government, but the means to achieve it?
People who are peaceful and happy surely produce more peace and happiness than people who aren’t.