The Preambe of the Constitution taught me everything i ever learned in school (revolution, lobbyist)
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After leaving school and reflecting on everything i've learned. I suddenly realized everything i ever needed to know i learned in the Preamble of the Constitution. Almost every civics, finance, history, and liberal arts class coverd one of these seven things discussed in the Preamble of the constituion.
"We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, 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"
Establish Justice - learned how the supreme court works and functions to secure and uphold the constituion. Also learned that the current superme court no longer abids by the constitution and currently over powers states rights
Insure domestic tranquility -another facet duty left to the federal government to defend citizens against mob violence, tryanny, and civil war.
Provide for the common defense - Federal government should provide a strong defense against foreign enimies
Promote General Welfare - which does not mean transfer programs from the Federal Government, but a system that acts in the best interest of all people involved not at the benefit of few and the expense of many.
Secure the blessings of Liberty and Posterity - the most important and oftent he most taught throughout school. The value of Freedom and Liberty and the ability to pursue your own destiny and make your own way in life.
This is probably discussed most often througout school. Almost every class you deal with in the American education system points to how much more effective it is to have the right of choice and no be ruled by a central authority.
It is funny that every class teaches the rights, privlidges, and power we have in exercising our free-choice, but when many of us leave school for political office, all these educational values seem to go by the way side. It becomes democracy for few at the expense of many. It becomes more and more like an Authoritarian government where power is only concentrated in fewer and fewer hands. Judging by many of these boards and the pro-big government stance taken by a lot of posters it would seem, that people think big government is in their best interst.......??
Funny you bring this up, my daughter just had to memorize this for school. I was pleasantly surprised when she didn't flinch when we had a 90 minute discussion about the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. It's amazing what they don't teach you in school about the Constitution because they're too worried about you memorizing it.
They sure were way ahead of their time. Too bad they teach the kids in school now that they were only selfish, rich, slaveowning Tyrants...
I take issue with idolizing them or demonizing them... it makes them appear as if they are different than you or I. Doing either makes children feel distanced from them and any accomplishments or mistakes that they have made.
We need to present the good with the bad, and allow our children to understand that they too can achieve greatness, but that we must learn from history as not to repeat the tragic mistakes of our forefathers.
The were truely courageous revolutionary geniuses who, if they were here today, would be sickened at seeing the government based on personal responsibility that they fought to build as it is today: a bloated, overbearing, socialist nanny state.
There is a reason why so few kids learn about the Constitution today, for if they learned the truth they would see that the government's power and influence over our lives is supposed to be as minimal as possible. Of course, most kids are never taught this since most kids attend government run schools. Abolish the Department of Education and you will see this problem start to go away. Ok, I'm now getting down off of my soapbox.
If everything I learned was covered in the preamble... I'd ask for my money back.
If you're only studying US gov't, I can understand your statement, as the preamble is similar to a mission statement.
While i'll refrain from making a personal attack, but let me clarify, because you clearly did not get what i talking about. The current structure whether business or personal, we operate under, is a system, that is very similar to what we are were taught in school (mainly in the teaching of the constitution). For instantance, the work place is set up like a bunch of small governments with their own tiny feifdoms, that regulate and control the flow of work. You have people that lobby various bosses for monies for their various business programs. A central authority dictates what should and should not be done(ie legislates office and company rules), but they almost all uniformly run like our current government system. Power can either be spread freely through a large number of individuals or power can be concentrated within the hands of a few. For some companies this works well for others it does not etc all differ under their different structures, but they all resemble what we discussed in the constitution. Some places of work allow for their employes to fully enjoy the freedom of autonomy without having a boss over their shoulders others are more like the soviet union and require large groups to work together while a central authority or boss hoovers over the group making sure things get done etc.
This is also seen in how we operate our personal lives. Some families operate with shared power between a mother and father. While some families operate with a central authority perhaps maybe the father dictating all the rules and the mother acting like a national policing force attempting to enforce the rules, but when they escalate beyond her control see may send them directly to the the judicial branch and meet the federal consequences (ie the dad intervening). I'm just throwing out examples, that you may not think of, but they are all a function of a small government and most of us run our small family governments like the US government runs thiers. Children are lobbyist in a family structure they lobby for money, time, and love in certain cases some children in a family with siblings maybe better lobbiers than others and get considerable more attention etc, which leads to squabbling amognst siblings etc.
Here's another example. I have a friend who swears out he's a "conservative republican," but he lives his life with no self accoutability for his actions. He is always blaming others for his mis-steps. He expects others to clean after him, help him do almost everything etc. While he views his politics as conservative his actual life is approached and lived in a very collective way, because he "expects" everyone else to help him do things. He is not an individualist in any way shape of form. Although I digrees, but main point is that like politicans we all my feel we are one thing, but the way we actually operate and live our lives may be totally different than those views we express. Hency why Pres Bush may consider himself a "conservative republican," but push for bigger government and out of control spending. Views and actions almost always seem to differ when given power.
Last edited by truthhurts; 02-16-2008 at 06:58 AM..
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