It was no idle happenstance that the Constitution, which was adopted 236 years ago on September 17, 1787, opens with these three powerful words: “We the people.”
This from rutherford.org.
As the Preamble proclaims:
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.
In other words, We the People are expected to make the government play by the rules of the Constitution.
We the People are supposed to be the masters and they—the government and its agents—are the servants.
And We the American People—the citizenry—are supposed to be the arbiters and ultimate guardians of America’s welfare, defense, liberty, laws, and prosperity.
But still, being a good citizen is difficult for those who do not know anything about their rights or how the government is supposed to operate.
As the National Review rightly asks:
American citizens have the right to self-government, but it seems that we increasingly lack the capacity for it.
Most citizens have little, if any, knowledge about their basic rights. And our educational system does a poor job of teaching the basic freedoms guaranteed in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
Americans are constitutionally illiterate.
Teachers and school administrators do not fare much better. A study conducted by the Center for Survey Research and Analysis found that:
[O]ne educator in five was unable
to name any of the freedoms in the First Amendment.
Government leaders and politicians are also ill-informed. Although they take an oath to uphold, support, and defend the Constitution against “enemies foreign and domestic,” their lack of education about our fundamental rights often causes them to be enemies of the Bill of Rights. Examples abound. Every day one or another of the elected or appointed over us says something totally incoherent.
So, might there be a solution to this conundrum?
Thomas Jefferson recognized that a citizenry educated on:
[T]heir rights, interests, and duties [is the] only real assurance that freedom will survive.
From the President on down, anyone taking public office should have a working knowledge of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and should be held accountable for upholding their precepts.
One way to ensure this would be to require government leaders to take a course on the Constitution and pass a thorough examination thereof before being allowed to take office.
Some critics are advocating that students pass the United States citizenship exam to graduate from high school. Others recommend that it must be a prerequisite for attending college. Some would go so far as to argue that students should have to pass the citizenship exam before graduating from grade school.
A healthy, representative government does not come automatically. But what is necessary for freedom to survive is maintaining an informed citizenry about the issues, educated about how the government operates, and willing to do more than grouse and complain.
The powers-that-be want us to remain divided over politics, hostile to those with whom we disagree politically, and intolerant of anyone or anything whose solutions to what ails this country differ from our own. They also want us to believe that our job as citizens begins and ends on Election Day.
Imagine what we could accomplish if at least 70% of Americans of voting age actually worked together, presented a united front, and spoke with one voice.
Tyranny wouldn’t stand a chance.
