How You Can You Help the Constitution Survive?

These are my thoughts on the Constitution and how to support it.

Every day it seems like there is a threat to the Constitution of the United States, whether it be a change in the balance of power between Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches or a weakening in the freedoms listed in the Bill of Rights. Those of us who believe in the importance of that document may find ourselves wondering what we can do. 

If you don’t believe in the Constitution and its importance to a free people, I’m not going to try to convince you in this article. You can find plenty of information on the purpose of the United States founding document in other places. I want to think about how we can support it and what does that look like.  

What gives these words written on a piece of paper the power? For that matter, what gives any form of government power, whether it is parliamentary, dictatorship or a king? The only thing that gives any a leader the ability to rule is if the majority of people agree to it. 

If everyone in the kingdom decides the king is no longer the king, he can no longer command his will to be done. If the army ignores him and the citizenry doesn’t follow his edicts, he has no power.  

It is the same with the constitution. It works because we all agree it is the law and we follow what is written there. Should we stop believing in it, if we decide it is out of date, written by old men from another era, the constitution will no longer govern us. 

So, how do we support the constitution living miles from Washington DC? Some would say make a sign and stand in front of a government building, or maybe write opinion pieces to sway the public. I think that is all good, but I think there is something more fundamental we can do. We can believe in it.  

That’s it. Believe in the document. And when I say believe in it, I mean believe enough to live by the principles it contains. For example, if you rule your business or your family like a tyrant, do you really believe in the constitution? Is your life matching up with the principles contained there? In your life are you doing the things that the document was trying to prevent? 

I’m going to explore this line of thinking on a weekly basis. I hope you find it intriguing.