“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 of the United States.”

 

First of all, I have not read the Constitution since high school, and when I recently read it the vagueness and subsequent amendments over the years illustrates a document with multiple interpretations. Amendment ratifications attempt to clear up issues requiring clarity. All the way back to 1791, the First Amendment declared Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment religion or prohibiting freedom of speech. During 1865, the 13th Amendment attempted to abolish slavery. The 14th Amendment stated all persons born or naturalized in the U.S. are citizens of the U.S.

The Constitution of the United States’ initial goal was to create three separate branches of power: the presidency, the Congress consisting of the House of Representatives and the Senate. and the judicial system. The intention was to design a system of government where there were checks and balances.

Simply stated, the Congress has the power of the purse. All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives, but the Senate may propose or concur as on other bills, and both houses must agree. It is the Congress that holds the power to collect taxes and to pay our debts.

Article 2, Section 2 states, “The President shall be the Commander in Chief of the military branches. The President shall have the power to fill up vacancies that may happen during the recess of the Senate. The President shall have the power by and with the advice and consent of the Senate to make treaties, provided two-thirds of the Senators present concur. The President can appoint officers of the United States, however the Congress may by law vest the appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper in the President alone, in the Courts of law and in the heads of departments.”

The Constitution was ratified by the required nine states on June 21, 1788 and by all 13 states by May 29, 1790. The initial amendments to the Constitution of the United States started December 1791, and the last, the 27th Amendment, was ratified was on May 7, 1992.

The Constitution obviously has been the living, breathing foundation for American democracy. It was written in a time when women could not vote and when Black people were counted as three-fifths of a person for the purpose of counting the number of residents of a state for apportioning representation in Congress.

Today, it seems the Constitution of the United States is on life support. The president of the United States is unilaterally trying to bribe the country of Ukraine, a nation savagely attacked by Russia over the last three years, for a rear earth mineral deal. The secretary of state unilaterally invoked emergency authoritiy to bypass Congress authorizing $4 billion in weapons for Israel.” The president has issued numerous executive orders including attempting to revoke birthright citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants.

The president’s secretary of the Treasury gave unprecedented access to non-elected government criminals, exposing sensitive personal and financial data of nearly all Americans taxpayers.

The coup d’état of the Constitution goes on and on — every day the news media report another piece of our unique American foundation giving way to fascism. Our elected representatives of Congress sit in the middle of the road like blinded deer with their little paddles.

The middle-class American “parasites” have no idea for recourse. We are waiting for the next Netflix release or Amazon Prime deal. The majority of younger generations have no clue who is the vice president and are unaware they may not have Social Security or Medicaid in their future because the next AI-generated influencer is dominating their ability to see what is happening.

The ongoing story is actually much worse than what we the public know. I am one of those parasites and honestly I do not know what to do!

 

“How does it feel, how does it feel?

To be on your own, with no direction home

A complete unknown, like a rolling stone.” — Bob Dylan

 

Don Simms of Northfield is past president of the Franklin County’s YMCA, an inventor, designer and former entrepreneur.