It is being said that America is more divided now than ever before. We are divided into tribes, with each tribe taking a position on how they see America in the 21st century. As Abraham Lincoln said many years ago “A house divided cannot stand.” I know that Abraham Lincoln was right in his day and he is right today. I continue to worry for our country and our Constitution.
I took an oath, as all who served in the military, to defend the Constitution of the United States. Most of us took that oath on faith knowing that we loved our country and were willing to give our life to defend it if necessary. When I was nineteen, I hadn’t read the Constitution and most certainly did not know what it said. It has taken years of study, as a police officer, for me to understand the 4th, 5th, 6th and 8th amendments, which are used by police officers every day. The Constitution has been interpreted rightly and wrongly for over 243 years. I am a strict Constitutionalist, many on the left are not. They believe the Constitution is a “living document” meaning it can be changed or interpreted to mean anything they wish, arguing that our founding fathers had no idea what problems would arise in our day.
There is no guarantee that Constitutional lawyers, who have studied the Constitution for years, understand what they are talking about. Remember what President Barak Obama said about it. He described the Constitution as merely “a charter of negative liberties. It says what the states can’t do to you… What the federal government can’t do to you but doesn’t say what the federal government or state government must do on your behalf.”
President Obama, who taught Constitutional law, is wrong. He is playing on our ignorance and our fears which is easy to do as most people do not understand the Constitution. The framers told us what the Constitution was to provide all citizens. All you need do is read the “The Preamble to our Constitution” which states:
“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.”
The Preamble was written as a brief introductory statement of the fundamental purpose of the United States Constitution. It is reliable evidence of our founding fathers’ intentions regarding the Constitution’s meaning and what they hoped the Constitution would provide to us all.
Why is the phrase to “insure domestic tranquility”, (yes, I know ensure is spelled wrong, but that is the way it was spelled by the framers), in the preamble? The framers had good reason to seek domestic tranquility. Domestic tranquility literally means peace at home in America, as opposed to in other nations. Tranquility for the framers meant the absence of riots, rebellions, and similar symptoms of social disorder.
Are we free from riots, rebellions and symptoms of social disorder? I don’t believe we are. Is law and order being preserved in sanctuary cities and states? Is law and order being upheld when certain people, illegal aliens, the homeless, and gang members have more rights under the law than others. Is domestic tranquility being ensured when law abiding citizens are harassed and threatened because they believe in the 2nd amendment, the freedom of religion, and the rights of the unborn? I think not.
When I have tuned into the impeachment hearings over the past few months, I see the Democratic party doing its best to divide America. Dividing America has been in the Democratic play book for as long as I can remember. It seems to me that they never talk about the greatness of America or what wonderful things America has done in the world. It’s always negative, which is not the way to ensure domestic tranquility.
The framers of the Constitution had this fear from the beginning. In Federalist #9 Alexander Hamilton wrote, “A firm union will be of the utmost moment to the peace and liberty of the States, as a barrier against domestic faction and insurrection. It is impossible to read the history of the petty republics of Greece and Italy without feeling sensations of horror and disgust at the distractions with which they were continually agitated, and at the rapid succession of revolutions by which they were kept in a state of perpetual vibration between the extremes of tyranny and anarchy.”
At the beginning of the movie “Patton” George C. Scott gives a speech which explains what most of us feel about living in America. “When you were kids, you all admired the champion marble shooter, the fastest runner, the big-league ball players, the toughest boxers. America loves a winner and will not tolerate a loser.” I want America to be that winner, that shining light on a hill, an example to the rest of the world. I long for domestic tranquility. I want the other nations in the world to be as successful as we have been for the past 243 years. I do not want America to fail. I do not want it to be like other countries in the world, which won’t take long if the liberals get their way. Just look at what has happened to Venezuela.
