Fixing America In 500 Words Or Less Chapter 57 DO AMERICANS REALLY BELIEVE IN THE CONSTITUTION?        Many politicians and other Americans claim to believe in the Constitution of the United States.  But, do they really believe in the Constitution or, are they only hiding behind pseudo-patriotic rhetoric, while in reality promoting a selfish anti-American agenda?        The Preamble to the Constitution definitively addresses the intent and purpose of the document.  Thus, in order to interpret the Constitution correctly, we must first and foremost consider what the Preamble states:        “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. . .”        The first thing we learn from the Preamble is that “we the people” are the government.  Not surprisingly, Americans who claim to stand for “smaller” government generally back an agenda that appeases a minority and is harmful to the majority of we the people.        The second thing we learn is the Constitution's authors didn't believe they were creating a perfect government.  Rather, they wanted it to be “more perfect”, better than previous governments.  Far too many Americans oppose wise policies because they aren't perfect, which policies created by imperfect people never will be.        The next purpose stated in the Preamble is to “establish justice”.  Many Americans support unjust policies that are against the human and civil rights of minority, working class, poor and other citizens.  Many support policies denying American workers and others the right to freely organize and demonstrate against injustice.        The fourth purpose the Preamble states is to “insure domestic Tranquility”. The word “gun” doesn't appear anywhere in the Constitution.  Is it insuring domestic tranquility to allow every Tom, Dick and Harriet to own as many “Arms” as they wish, which today include machine guns, tanks, biological weapons and nuclear bombs? ¹        Next we find “to provide for the common defense”.  Defense is just one of several stated purposes of the Constitution, yet many politicians and other Americans today act as if this is the only purpose of government, ignoring the rest of what the document clearly states.        The Preamble then says to “promote the general Welfare”.  Yet many Americans oppose universal health care, affordable housing, job programs, infrastructure rebuilding and many other things clearly needed for the general welfare of ourselves and future generations.        Don't Americans realize that people without adequate nutrition, shelter and health care more easily become ill and spread contagious diseases?  Don't we realize children without a strong educational and moral foundation become our society's burdens of tomorrow?  Don't we realize unjust policies indiscriminately harm everyone, including ourselves and our own children?        The Preamble says the purpose of the Constitution is to “secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity”.  Why do so many Americans oppose environmental and other legislation desperately needed to secure the blessings of liberty for our ourselves, our children and our children's children?        Do Americans really believe in the Constitution?  You Decide. Do Americans really believe in the Constitution?  You decide. ² NOTES: 1. The NRA and mainstream media have both been deceiving Americans for a long time, artificially drawing a line through the 2nd Amendment where none exists.  The 2nd Amendment is not about guns but rather, it addresses the much larger issue of "Arms", which today are incredibly more lethal than when this amendment first became law.  And no, the 2nd Amendment does not merely apply to small arms or hand held weapons;  Thomas Jefferson owned his own private canon, the largest weapon of his era.  Many early Americans owned private arsenals because there was no organized police presence, no national guard and no federal military to defend them and their property.   For more information, see Does the NRA Really Defend the 2nd Amendment?. 2. American politicians, educators, media pundits, the Supreme Court and Americans in general often interpret the Constitution wrongly by failing to view it in context of the whole, instead endorsing what they agree with while carelessly disregarding the rest.  I graduated from the American public high school system and have read, listened to and otherwise studied many advanced courses in history and related subjects and yet, I have never once heard an American educator teach that the Constitution is correctly understood in light of the stated purposes for government found in the Preamble.  What the preamble says is generally just skimmed over and otherwise ignored, even though it very deliberately and carefully outlines the purposes of government in the opinion of the American founders.  The Preamble lists several functions of federal government those today who fancy themselves to be limited government advocates generally oppose. However flawed the U.S. governmental system may be, people who claim to believe in and defend the Constitution should be called out when they ignore what it clearly says.  To be fair, the U.S. Constitution represents a significant advancement in many ways over European governments in general of the time.  It appears to have been very carefully worded with much forethought, in particular the Preamble, as is also the Declaration of Independence a carefully worded document.  It is impossible to ignore what the Constitution and Declaration actually say and, retain any hope of understanding or defending what the American founders actually believed and stood for.  For information on deism in relation to the American founders, see Does the ACLU Really Defend the 1st Amendment? Note #1. One of the greatest contributions of the American founders is they made the new United States government peaceably pliable through amendment.  That is a significant historical achievement, as most previous governments represented rigid non-pliable systems usually only changed either by force or on the approval of the king or similar ruler.  Previous governments may have had a type of parliamentary and/or democratic structure, but important decisions were generally subject to the approval of a single powerful ruler.  Nobody knows where the idea of “we the people” originated, but some historians believe it represents a deliberate response against “I the king” proclamations common to European nations of the time.  It is hard to imagine what would be historically true today on a global basis, if there was no provision for peaceable amendment in the U.S. Constitution.  For more information, see "Uncommon Sense"; The Freedom of Amendment. Click Here to Go Back to Contents Click Here to eMail the Author Copyright © December 10th, 2019 by Richard Aberdeen. Copyright © December 10th, 2019 by Freedom Tracks Records. ( including from several earlier copyrights ) No part of this material may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including printing, photocopying, recording or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher and signed by the author. For inquiries, please contact Freedom Tracks Records.  The essays entitled Revolution and Revolution ~ Side B are open copyright and may be reproduced and distributed as desired.