In a constitutional America, there would be absolute protection of the people’s rights and equal justice under the law. That’s not our reality today.
Constitution Day, which falls on Sept. 17, is the national observance holiday that most have never heard of. Yet this year it may be our most important holiday to understand, for all our pressing national problems today flow from corruption and a departure from governance and law enforcement consistent with the Constitution. As a result, our country is threatened more now than at any other time since the Civil War broke out in 1861.
The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were revolutionary political doctrines because they clearly delineated citizens’ rights and established that these rights come from God and not the state. These rights thus being sovereign and inalienable put the people in charge and subordinated the government — not the other way around.
One genius of the Constitution was that it limited government abuse by creating checks and balances of power among three separate branches of government: the executive, the legislative, and the judicial. Another constitutional check was the delineation of power between the federal and state governing authorities.
Frequent elections are yet another important constitutional mechanism limiting the extent and duration of government incompetence and corruption. This also means that the most sacred responsibility of citizenship the Constitution established is that of people to be informed, vote, and decide who shall govern.
This combination of limiting government power and maximizing peoples’ rights made the U.S. Constitution unique — the longest-running written charter of government in human history.
