All lawyers have had to take at least one course in Constitutional Law to graduate from law school. I loved the two semesters of Constitutional Law that were required for my graduation, and I still have a pocket version of the US Constitution for quick reference. Too nerdy for you? I accept that, but I cannot accept nonchalance about the guarantees of that document.
Whether you loved Constitutional Law as much as I did is not the point. It was a required law school course because it embodies the foundations of the American judicial system and other freedoms we have held dear for over 200 years.
Without the US Constitution, we would not have freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion, freedom to elect our public officials, and the list goes on and on and on. We have grown up enjoying these guarantees, and, in the process, it has become easy to take them for granted.
Recent events, however, should remind us that such nonchalance is very dangerous. There are those among us who would gladly take away what is granted us under the US Constitution. Those freedoms could easily slip away.
Think about the gravity of what that means. Never in my lifetime has an understanding of what it would be like to live under a different form of government — say, a totalitarian government — been so important.
Ponder that. Try to imagine a United States of America without the protections and guarantees of the US Constitution. Imagine what that kind of erosion of our freedoms would be like and promise yourself that you will do all you can to keep that from happening. Understand that there is so much to lose by sitting on the sidelines.
I have lived abroad, and it was exciting. But, I can still remember the feeling of planting my two feet back on American soil after being away for awhile. It was comforting to know that I was back in a place where my freedom was guaranteed. Or so I thought at the time. This is the greatest nation on earth and, as Ben Franklin cautioned, a democracy if we can keep it.
Let’s all do whatever we can to protect what we have. Voting in November is a good place to start.
