Our Magnificent Constitution: Part II

It is a document which guarantees opportunities for citizens to pursue individual dreams and passions. But it is also a document which stands guard against the harmful personal aspirations and whims of the people.  It is a treatise of the human spirit and a window into the soul of man.  But more than anything else, it is a body of law which has stood the test of time during the seasons of great tumult within our Republic.  It is almost as if our forefathers threaded an optic nerve into the  parchment - a product fittingly made from treated animal skins.  These men looked not to the season but toward eternity. They strongly desired that America - would last forever. It is the primary difference between dreams and vision .  This document was crafted from the skin of man which was endowed by the Creator, and something  which still stands today as the dominant witness upon the parchment. It is the triumph of a conscious, rational being in communion with God.

The optic nerve has seen the tumult:

17 September 1862:  The Battle of Antietam.

I spent a few hours at Antietam with a fellow analyst.  It was a sobering experience to digest the information. Confederate soldier deaths were 10,316 and Union soldier deaths were 12,410.  The real issue was not slavery, but did states opposing federal policies have a right to secede and fracture the Republic?  It was a Constitutional question which required a sacrifice of blood.

20 April 1951:  New Yorkers threw a hell of a street party for General Douglas MacArthur.  Hell! They didn't give a damn  the Commander-in-Chief had fired him nine days earlier.  New Yorkers celebrated his accomplishments.  Years later, in his memoir (Reminiscences) a remarkable military man penned these words:  "...the supremacy of the civil over the military is fundamental to the American system."  He understood.  Really, he did. This was also a Constitutional issue.

In 1973, Roe v Wade was a landmark SCOTUS decision which placed all Americans in muddy political troughs hurling accusations at the other.  The passion... occasional unwarranted violence... the strong voices... and the unheard cries of those not yet born,  were dealt with again from the SCOTUS bench, this time reducing the issue to one which was best decided on the state and not the federal level. There was wisdom invested in this ruling

And then of course, the personal convictions, deep biases, and libertarian hearts which clashed over the issue of public school desegregation. Protesters on both sides of this fence engaged punching brawls, acts of arson, and in what is a famous image - a man charging his adversaries with a flagpole with the cloth of our nation still attached - using it as a bayonet against his opponents.  This aforementioned scene occurred years after SCOTUS ruled that public school segregation violated the Fourteenth Amendment guarantee of equal protection under the law.  Eventually, the skirmishes subsided.  And as always, the state of our Union remained strong.

Since our infancy, our Republic has been buffeted by the passionate, the ludicrous and the ridiculous. And every single dynamic, whether a flash point, a form of urban guerrilla warfare, or prolonged battles in our communities or within our courts continue to provide lessons for our next generation of Americans. Our Constitution is the closest thing to an infallible document which exists, and is preserved for the benefit of mankind.  And because of this document, Americans remain free and largely able to pursue their dreams.  We are for the most part safe to go about our daily business. Encouraged to pursue educational goals.  And because we are Americans, we continue to bless others - starting with our neighbors first - and for others, a lifetime of service to some of the poorest regions of the globe.  All of this is made possible - because of the enduring nature of one magnificent United States Constitution.

"America!  America!  God shed His grace on Thee."