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A Day Worth Remembering
Today, September 17, is Constitution Day in the
United States. It is a day to celebrate and remember our founders' signing the U.S. Constitution, back in 1787!
Today, we can be proud that our Constitution was the first written and codified constitution in history. It is a contract between the American people and the U.S. government.
Today is also a time when we can meditate on the many struggles facing our country. As a nation, we find ourselves in two wars, our economy is in a downward spiral, and U.S. citizens and residents face unbridled assaults on our basic civil liberties, including the right to privacy and due process of law, voting rights, and the right to be free from torture.
I ask you to take a moment to reflect on the challenges that our forebears overcame to provide us with a viable democracy that allows us to amend the Constitution and improve the quality of life for future generations.
Even as we consider this year's election, arguably the most important election of our generation, let us remember the true meaning and legacy of our democracy. With our Constitution and its subsequent amendments, let us remember that we, as a people, have overcome slavery, although we must still eliminate its evil legacy; that we have legislated the equality of women, but we still have a long, long way to go; and that we must restore civil liberties for everyone!
Many years ago, in another time of great turmoil and doubt about the strength of our democracy, during the struggle for civil rights for African Americans, women's rights, and an end to the Vietnam War, I swore to uphold and defend the Constitution. For me, like you and millions of other Americans, the Constitution was not an abstract concept, but the promise, indeed the contract, that binds us as a free people with the guarantee that all men and women are created equal.
Although saddened by the loss of civil liberties and the current misadventures of our nation, we must not surrender and we must keep faith that we, as a people, will one day restore civil liberties and the rule of law. If we recommit ourselves to strengthen our nation, one day, once again, we will see the United States as a land of true democracy and equality, with justice for all.
Today, I ask you to recommit yourself as a defender of our Constitution and our democracy by joining UUSC and its work in defense of civil liberties and human rights! Today is worth remembering.
www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.overview.html
Today, we can be proud that our Constitution was the first written and codified constitution in history. It is a contract between the American people and the U.S. government.
Today is also a time when we can meditate on the many struggles facing our country. As a nation, we find ourselves in two wars, our economy is in a downward spiral, and U.S. citizens and residents face unbridled assaults on our basic civil liberties, including the right to privacy and due process of law, voting rights, and the right to be free from torture.
I ask you to take a moment to reflect on the challenges that our forebears overcame to provide us with a viable democracy that allows us to amend the Constitution and improve the quality of life for future generations.
Even as we consider this year's election, arguably the most important election of our generation, let us remember the true meaning and legacy of our democracy. With our Constitution and its subsequent amendments, let us remember that we, as a people, have overcome slavery, although we must still eliminate its evil legacy; that we have legislated the equality of women, but we still have a long, long way to go; and that we must restore civil liberties for everyone!
Many years ago, in another time of great turmoil and doubt about the strength of our democracy, during the struggle for civil rights for African Americans, women's rights, and an end to the Vietnam War, I swore to uphold and defend the Constitution. For me, like you and millions of other Americans, the Constitution was not an abstract concept, but the promise, indeed the contract, that binds us as a free people with the guarantee that all men and women are created equal.
Although saddened by the loss of civil liberties and the current misadventures of our nation, we must not surrender and we must keep faith that we, as a people, will one day restore civil liberties and the rule of law. If we recommit ourselves to strengthen our nation, one day, once again, we will see the United States as a land of true democracy and equality, with justice for all.
Today, I ask you to recommit yourself as a defender of our Constitution and our democracy by joining UUSC and its work in defense of civil liberties and human rights! Today is worth remembering.
www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.overview.html