Web design is not my forte. So, much tweaking to the layout and a few rewordings of introductions were necessary. (If you’ve been here before, you might have to clear your cache or reload a page to make sure you’re looking at the most recent version – my apologies for that.) Finally, the original text of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights (the first ten Amendments), and the remaining Amendments are all here for all to see.
Of course, this isn’t the only place where you can find these historic documents. My motivation is to educate people – and to motivate some of you to help educate others – about our political process and how it affects our lives. No discussion about the process is complete without mention of how it fits with and adheres to the Constitution. So, I’ve posted the Constitution first, primarily to encourage you to read it (and re-read it), but also for ready reference.
The Constitution is eminently relevant, of course, because our entire system of federal government is based upon it. Further, it recognizes individual’s power of self-determination as well as that of the various states in all ways that are not specifically delegated to the federal government in the Constitution. This is a very important point that seems to be lost on most people – Congressmen and Presidents, in particular; but even on many Supreme Court Justices over the years.
These are challenging times for the United States of America. As such, we are seemingly bombarded daily with news of failures in our government. Amazingly, most of these failures are a direct or indirect result of one or more branches of government failing to adhere to the Constitution to which they owe their very existence. So, let’s get educated and set about educating one another. We have an outline for a system that can work wonderfully, if only we would insist on its enforcement by those whom we elect. Of course, we need to be confident in our knowledge of it and then make sure our elected officials are similarly knowledgeable. (A recent survey showed Congressmen to be disturbingly ignorant of Constitutional law.)
While most of the language in the Constitution is as clear today as it was when it was written, some of it bears discussion. So, we should discuss accepted meanings of key words (militia, e.g.) during the time of our nation’s founding. As time permits, I also intend to dedicate space here to discussion of our Founding Fathers. Knowing the men who gave us this nation helps to better understand the laws they laid out in the Constitution. Even when that is of little or no relevance, however, there is much about them that you may find fascinating. These were the best and brightest Americans of their time; some of them were some of the best and brightest citizens of the world – of any time.
Here’s looking forward to many exciting (or, at least, interesting) conversations!
In Liberty,
Bob Giesen