Constitution Day 2022: Re-creating a More Perfect Union

Ben Franklin offered his prophetic message

The courageous men who signed the Constitution that became the Law of the Land may be turning over in their graves upon witnessing the eradication of the rule of law in the nation, not just at the street level with common criminals, but also at the very highest levels of our federal government through a political criminal cabal. However, such a dire turn of events in America may not have been that surprising to some. Wise Ben Franklin offered an accurate prophecy regarding his perspective on the fate of the Constitution.  On Monday, September 17, 1787, on the last day of the gathering of delegates in the historical assembly at the Constitutional Convention, Ben Franklin offered his prophetic message. The delegates had bantered and deliberated on signing this document even up to that very day. Franklin was 81 years of age, and in one of his last official duties, and one of the most important, was to give the concluding remarks at the Constitutional Convention to urge the delegates to sign the document giving birth to the new nation. He was actually too weak to stand and offer his speech, so he asked James Wilson to deliver it. It is advisable to read the entire speech, but among other words, he shared these with his fellow patriots:

I confess that there are several parts of this constitution which I do not at present approve, but I am not sure I shall never approve them: For having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged by better information, or fuller consideration, to change opinions even on important subjects, which I once thought right, but found to be otherwise…  In these sentiments, Sir, I agree to this constitution with all its faults, if they are such; because I think a general Government necessary for us, and there is no form of Government but what may be a blessing to the people if well administered, and believe farther that this is likely to be well administered for a course of years, and can only end in despotism, as other forms have done before it, when the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic Government, being incapable of any other. I doubt too whether any other Convention we can obtain, may be able to make a better constitution.   Much of the strength & efficiency of any government in procuring and securing happiness to the people, depends on opinion; on the general opinion of the goodness of the Government, as well as of the wisdom and integrity of its governors. I hope therefore that for our own sakes as a part of the people, and for the sake of posterity, we shall act heartily and unanimously in recommending this constitution… and turn our future thoughts & endeavors to the means of having it well administered.

Americans cannot look at the Constitution without looking first at the Declaration of Independence

On this Constitution Day in 2022, if American citizens are honest, we could admit that old Dr. Franklin was correct in his basic assessment of how Americans would "keep" the Republic.Today, the nation is divided with regard to the value of law and order in our communities, and in the seats of power. Corruption is rampant and out of control. Today, many Americans are seriously confused about the bedrock values embedded in the founding documents of the nation. Abraham Lincoln faced a similar problem in his day, and he took the problem on – full force. He explained that Americans cannot look at the Constitution without looking first at the Declaration of Independence. Lincoln viewed the Declaration of Independence as the moral foundation for the Law of the Land. Lincoln viewed the Declaration of Independence as more than just the announcement to the world of the Founder's intentions of separation. For Lincoln, it was the central core of the foundation upon which the U.S. Constitution could be built. Lincoln saw it as a proclamation of human rights. And, the basic rights of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness (virtue on a much deeper level) were expanded upon in the Bill of Rights. Yet, these rights were derived from our Creator, not given to citizens by government. These rights, according to the Founders, were not to be altered or removed from the people by government dictates.  The real quandary in 2022 is that many of those who are elected or appointed officials of our government have little regard for God, and many have no belief in God. Thus, if they do not believe in God, any concept of God-given rights evaporates in the minds of such officials. Thus, the essence of the Declaration of Independence has no meaning to those of the Administrative State. Without the Declaration, the Constitution has limited moral authority, and one must realize without any moral authority, the government only has the authority the people willingly surrender to godless administrators. And if such godless, atheistic, or agnostic administrators do not share such values, how can they protect and defend God-given rights? How can they protect and defend the Constitution?  Today is Constitution Day, and the question that needs to be asked at this point in America's history is whether those who have assumed the position of elected or appointed positions of trust, are actually still aligned with the foundational ideals. If the Constitution seems to be so easily violated at the highest levels of government, has it just become a piece of paper no longer adhered to nor obeyed by our "leaders" within the nation? If this is the case, and it certainly looks to be true, Americans who still love the Republic, need to rise up and take it upon themselves to protect and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Freedom calls the contemporary patriots, like our founding generation, to stand against and resist tyranny. Freedom calls contemporary patriots to strive with all they have to re-create a more perfect Union.