WHAT ROLE ARE YOU WILLING TO PLAY IN “WE THE PEOPLE?”
Photo by Liz Wuerffel
These days, there's a lot of focus on those in power in our country. We have a lot of opinions about what they’re doing and not doing. Yet, at the heart of democracy, those in positions of power are only a piece of the equation. "We the People” is just that, "We the People." It is not written "We the Politicians" nor "We the Rich" nor "We the Famous." Of course, the authors of the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States had a VERY narrow definition of “people," and it has only been through challenge and struggle for hundreds of years that we the people have expanded it.
In case, like me, you don't remember what comes after the familiar "We the People," I share it here:
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.
I read this as a call for us to get involved in creating "a more perfect Union." There is a role for everyone. What compels you right now: liberty, justice, tranquility, the common defense, the general welfare or the blessings of liberty? I cannot think of a time in my life when picking up a tool and doing my part has been more urgent.
