Our most important day

This Saturday is an important anniversary that most of us are oblivious to, but as Americans, this day SHOULD be more important, more meaningful, and more valuable than President’s Day, Flag Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, and even Patriot’s Day combined. On September 17, 1787 our Constitution was first adopted by the Constitutional Convention of United States.

The Preamble to the Constitution is often mistaken for a portion of the Declaration of Independence. It is just as important, maybe more so, because it is our “mission statement” if you will, it summarizes what we as a nation, and what our government are supposed to be doing:

“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.”

If I were to put it into today’s language, I might say “We agree to these laws and this Constitution, so that we can stand together, to create fairness, guarantee that we all get along, make sure everyone is safe, look out for each other’s best interests, and make sure that not only we, but future generations will enjoy freedom and the ability to participate in the democratic process for years to come.”

I think it’s summed up even better by our motto, “E. Pluribus Unum” which is Latin for, “from many-one.” We are not one race, we are not one faith, we are not one ethnicity or nationality, we don’t even speak one language, yet we are one. What unifies us is what we believe in, what goals we strive for, and what laws we agree to follow, that is what the Constitution was written to express, those rights, those freedoms, and those responsibilities, those duties. What makes us one is our Constitution, not our political party, not our leaders, not even our flag, but rather it is what our flag stands for, and that is our Constitutional rights.

The Constitution is divided into five main parts. Since it is a legal document, lawyers call these parts “Articles,” and each paragraph in an article is called a “section.” When it gets down to it, they did that so that it would be easier to refer back to specific parts that you need to talk about or study. Kind of like how the Bible is divided into books, chapters, and verses. Nobody really talks or writes that way, it just helps you look up things. On web pages there are anchors and tags, in textbooks you underline, highlight, and stick post-it notes everywhere.

The first Article explains in ten sections, how Congress and the Senate are supposed to work. The second article explains what the President and Cabinet are supposed to do. Article Three sets up the Supreme Court and the Judicial branch. Article Four talks about how the State governments are supposed to get along and Articles Five through Seven explain how fix, change, or add to the Constitution itself. The “founding fathers” had no idea how long America would be around or what our lives would be like, what our technology would be like, so they thought that we should have a way to be part of the process.

As a matter of fact, the word “citizen” basically means “member of the government.” Likewise, the word “idiot” originally referred to someone who refused to take any civic responsibility.

I’d love to write about the Bill of Rights and all of the twenty-seven amendments to the Constitution, especially the First Amendment, but that should be saved for a column celebrating the day that the Bill of Rights was first adopted, December 15, 1791.

We stand united not in our hate for or anger toward terrorists. We certainly don’t stand united in our loyalty to parties or politicians. We are united when we strive for the same goals in the Preamble and engage and participate in the process of our Constitution and when we protect and exercise the rights set forth in the Bill of Rights and Constitutional Amendments.