“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, 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.“
This preamble to our U.S. Constitution is, to me, the cornerstone of this country. It’s also a list of goals not yet achieved.
Why do we fail to establish justice and general welfare? I brush past the issue of whether we are failing, because the facts undoubtedly show that so many of our brothers and sisters are failing in ways that cannot be denied. We fail in education, health care, housing, incarceration and hunger. These are the bitter and brutal consequences of the slavery of poverty. Do those who fail share the blame, to some degree? You decide, but the failure itself is undeniable.
It is hard to square the words of the preamble with the conditions of slaves owned by many who fought for liberty and ratified the Constitution. Democracy and liberty often collide and leave major contradiction. But I will never understand the institution of slavery in any of its forms in the modern or historical context, or the ability of anyone, even George Washington or Thomas Jefferson, to tolerate it.
Nevertheless, I try to refrain generally from viewing Washington or Lincoln outside the contexts of their eras. One abided slavery during his lifetime, while the other ultimately knew that slavery must end for the country to reunite. Both did what they could in their times to advance the causes of justice and liberty for some, and in Lincoln’s complex case, perhaps to keep the country together. But now, in our time, how do we advance the causes of justice and general welfare, as we work to preserve and also then to establish a union more perfect than the one we now have?
We are on a dangerous course toward a more divided and imperfect union, which soon will be no union at all if we fail to respect the fundamental principles which have brought us this far.
In Arkansas, which is a microcosm of this country in so many ways, we are nearing the merger of the three branches of government. Control of the executive, legislative and judicial functions may soon reside in the same hands. And what if the hands in which those powers reside are not those of the persons in the formal positions of power, but in the oligarchs? Will the holders of elected positions of power in all branches have the courage of Lincoln and Washington? Or will they look to kingmakers and queenmakers for their marching orders?
The recent efforts to put the Educational Rights Amendment and the Arkansas Abortion Amendment on the ballot provide some interesting insight.
Both amendments are opposed by the governor. The Legislature gratuitously approved resolutions to oppose both amendments. Kingmakers gave more than a million dollars to oppose these amendments. Did those donors oppose the amendments because the governor and Legislature did, or was it the other way around? Who was in charge and giving the directives?
Supporters of the Educational Rights Amendment raised and spent about 1% of the amount spent in opposition to it. When the efforts to get signatures came up short, the governor declared this a “huge victory” for Arkansas. Why wouldn’t it make sense to take a vote on such an important measure, and then let the citizens of Arkansas decide? There was no victory, because there was no vote. In this case, who was victorious? Who decided?
When Secretary of State John Thurston decided, or was told, that Arkansas Abortion Amendment supporters hadn’t properly documented their canvassers, the governor called the supporters of the amendment “immoral and incompetent.”
Gov. Sarah Sanders should have paused before she hit send on that impetuous political tweet. What’s the purpose of calling the 100,000 or so folks who wanted this issue to be on the ballot immoral and incompetent? She is the governor for all of us Arkansans. Is it just plain old meanness, or is it political witchcraft, conjured up at her pollster’s request?
After the shouting and name calling is over, when we the people get to vote, and we will, the law will be settled. Let the people rule.
Power, political muscle and money often win in the short run. The governor may call us whatever names suit her political purposes. She may belittle us, and say we are wee and insignificant, with our collective incompetence and immorality.
History is spattered with the salivary bloviations of powerful people excoriating the activists who want things to change. Often the fight is long, and uphill, with setbacks and tribulation. I can hear the echoes of George Wallace shouting, “Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.”
Aspiring and mean-spirited politicians often say that their rivals are small, underfunded and insignificant. Often the rich and powerful believe that their money guarantees their intended results, and it often does in the short run.
But truth is a powerful thing. It never goes away. It never gives up, and it never changes.
King George is not our leader. Slavery in its most despicable form is over. Women and minorities vote now. Poll taxes are illegal. Faubus was defeated. Trump was convicted by a jury of his peers. Same-sex marriage is legal.
Never underestimate We the People. We will prevail.