We had a hell of a good ride, but it’s finally over. The only consolation is that its end came about slowly and largely without a great tragic, violent event. It is time we acknowledge that our Constitution has failed. It simply does not work. We can stick our heads in the sand or spew volumes of political speak to try to convince ourselves it isn’t so, but the facts remain. We broke it and very likely we will be unable to repair the damage we’ve done. I won’t point the finger at any particular person or group, other than to say, it was the result of our human condition. We are flawed, and apparently, we will always find a collective way to screw ourselves no matter what we do.
This may sound dark, gloomy, and pessimistic, but an objective analysis of what we are now, compared to what we were intended to be, can yield no other conclusion. Having said that, what we have is still orders of magnitude better than most other countries, but consider this fair warning that if continued on its current path, it will eventually reach a point at where that is no longer true. That will be a sad time in history.
It took us 240 years, but since the day it was enacted, we began whittling away at what in my view is the best document meant to constitute a government ever devised. We have finally reached the tipping point. In one sense, our constitution is no better than than those of the rest of the world because it failed. Yes it lasted longer than others, but it failed nevertheless. Even China calls itself a republic, but we all know what it really is. We also call ourselves a republic, but we no longer are.
What we’ve lost is an appreciation of the concept of liberty and for the rule of law. For God’s sake, our own government now considers those who champion that cause as potential terrorists. Oh how we’ve fallen. Liberty in it’s true sense, embraces the concept of natural rights. Our Constitution attempted to identify those rights and even went so far as to declare them inalienable. Guess what. They are alienable and our government proves it every single day.
I can find innumerable examples where we’ve codified the exact opposite of what our Bill of Rights claims to protect. We have thousands of pages of laws and regulations which routinely violate our Bill of Rights – every single one of them. I won’t bother to begin to try to list them. Besides, there would be no shortage of those who disagree with me and would offer justifications for every single one of those violations. Just as a lawyer can look you straight in the eye, and justify the rights of pedophilia, they can do the same with any subversion of our natural rights.
I can only speculate the cause, but I suspect it is a symptom of affluence. We have effectively become a world of spoiled brats – unappreciative and with no respect for what we established those many years ago. Our country is almost single-handedly responsible for drastically reducing poverty and suffering on this planet. But with that came responsibility and it is there where we’ve failed. We have raised generations of people who believe that their individual wants should be accommodated. Somehow, success should be guaranteed. It was never intended to do that. It was only to give individuals the opportunity for success.
Now, we can only watch it crumble before our eyes. It most assuredly will continue unless massive change is undertaken and because we do not have the collective will to do it, it is only a matter of time before things get very ugly. The masses will revolt at some point, but more than likely we will repeat the mistakes of the past and seek the change that makes it worse. History has shown that to be true. I pray about this frequently and only hope that the inevitable will be delayed for as long as possible. I’m not sad for myself, but I fear for our children and their children too.
The United States Constitution. May it rest in peace and serve to remind future generations that it can be achieved, but can be lost with apathy and selfish desires.