Monthly Archives: November 2012

“We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, 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.”

You don’t have to read very deep into our Constitution to find the true intent of those who penned it. I would tell you however, some extra reading on the Founders, and more specifically the personal letters and papers of John Dickinson, Gouverneur Morris, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Thomas Paine, Edmund Randolph, James Madison, Roger Sherman, James Wilson, and George Wythe, would certainly provide you the necessary context so readily dismissed / ignored by our “Constitutional Law Professor” President. But I guess the fact that he believes there are 57 states, gives you an idea how much emphasis / value he places in one of the most influential documents written in all of human history. Nevertheless, let’s briefly examine what was intended to be a simple but definitive preamble to and explanation of the document for which it was written.

1. “We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union,” – Very simply put, this sentence is meant to identify who the document refers to, and also to make it plain that a perfect union is unattainable by any reasonable measure, hence the (“more” perfect) reference. It is the individual’s journey to that end which makes us collectively exceptional.

2. “establish justice, insure domestic tranquility,” – These are references to law enforcement as would be necessary within the framework of a “republic under law or representative republic”, and include things like community policing and local jurisdiction as granted, and for the purposes of security within the borders of the nation and the states.

3. “provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare,” – This is where folks go off the reservation and attempt to make the Constitution say something it doesn’t. The first part is clearly the authors stating that a military shall be responsible to protect the country (common defense). And the second part says to promote, (NOT PROVIDE) for the general welfare. (Promote – Further the progress of (something, esp. a cause, venture, or aim); support or actively encourage.) NOT to dictate and/or pay for that which is not set forth therein.

4. “and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity” – I feel this is the most important part of the entire preamble. Liberty and freedom must forever be at the root of all we do regarding our Republic, for our sake, and the sake of our children.

I think it’s fair to say that much of this “originalism” as it is now referred to by the academic elite, is lost on many a 60’s burn out, as well as subsequent generations, and has been replaced with a selfish revisionism intended to alter and eventually accommodate those of lesser fortitude and/or values oriented intent. The operative word here is intent, and is meant to infer that I understand the Founders were not perfect. But they themselves understood this well. It was their acknowledgment of that lack of perfection, but also their “pursuit” of it, that made them far different than the grievously flawed leaders of today.

Like it or not folks, there are undeniable truths in this life. Historically speaking, it is human deviation from these truths that is inevitably and always the downfall of free nations.