The Constitution

I found a book this summer. It’s what is commonly referred to as a “coffee table” book. That means that it is large and colorful. It is approximately 11x 15 and the illustrations are amazing. The print is also large. It is a flowing Old English type of script. It is indeed a beautiful book. It looks much like a child’s book.


It reads as easily as a child’s book. The large print, the beautiful pictures and the simple text make it enjoyable to read as well as look at. The title of this book is “The Constitution of the United States of America”. It has the entire Constitution including Amendments. When was the last time you read the Constitution? I recommend that you get your hands on it and read it soon. It is simple enough for even a child to understand. It is plain enough to be beautiful.

The first page of this book has a picture of a backbone. It states “This is a backbone. Man cannot stand erect without one. Neither can a country. The backbone of the United States of America is her Constitution.”

The next page has the simple, beautiful words: “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.” How perfect those words are!

Many of the Articles and Amendments are only a few sentences long. There are four amendments that state clearly who has the right to vote. Amendment XV states that you may vote regardless of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”

Amendment XIX states that the right to vote “shall not be denied…on account of sex”. Amendment XXIV declares that the right to vote cannot be denied to people because they have not paid taxes. And Amendment XXVI gives the right to vote to citizens “who are 18 years or older”.

Politicians would have us think that understanding the laws is too difficult for most of us. They would have us think that we shouldn’t worry our small little brains with the running of the government. We ourselves may convince ourselves that we can’t do anything to change the way things are done.

I would say to you -read the Constitution. IT IS SIMPLE. I would say to you that it is not the Constitution alone that is our country’s backbone but also, the people willing to stand by it. Election Day is in a few weeks. Exercise your right to vote, it DOES make a difference. Let the people in Washington know there are people willing to stand by the Constitution and abide by its simple concepts.

That’s the view from my side of the street, what’s yours?