Thus begins the current "Contract with America" (the Articles of Confederation having governed us the first 12-14 years of our existence):
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, 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.
Today marks the 225th. anniversary of the adoption of the framework of our federal government. From its inception, what has been written on these four pieces of parchment have been hotly contested in terms of what it does (or should) mean. Still, now in its fourth century of existing, it remains one of the greatest achievements of civilization. That individuals would come together peacefully, but not without contentiousness and compromise, and craft a document which spells out how they wish to pursue self-government is something on this side of miraculous. That it has held up, even through a civil war, for this long is a tribute to the men who arduously worked through the summer of 1787 to create it.
When was the last time you read it, just for the sake of it? We argue over what it says and what it implies, but do we really go to the source? Are certain groups of people just in love with one portion of it while being ignorant of the whole? It may have been a while for the vast majority of us (a government or civics class back in our days of formal education).
How about brushing up on the work itself?
From there you may begin to make your case.
It does, after all, belong to "We, the People."
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