The Power in WE
The United States Constitution, the oldest living document of its kind, was unique not only in the form of government established and the rights subsequently ensured, but in the preamble’s use of the first person. With the exceptions of the Confederate States and the Republic of Texas, heavily modeled in its likeness, the world would not produce another such constitution for well over a century.
Over that span of time and beyond, dozens of constitutions were ratified, assimilating principles avowed within our own. Yet, the overwhelming majority were written from the perspective of the State, either by way of the third person or in the first person perspective of its drafting representatives.
The Constitution of Argentina (1853), for example, states “We, the representatives of the people of the Argentine Nation … by the will and election of the provinces … establish this Constitution.”
Even the economic leaders of today, the Group of Seven, only two are governed by constitutions written in the constituency’s first person: the United States and Japan.
Our Founders, by drafting the Constitution from such a perspective, established governmental power derived solely from its people. The State did not grant allowance to our natural rights, We, the people, secured them for ourselves. Additionally, We is possessive. By its nature, the word conveys an inclusivity of those drafting the document, to those embodied by the term. Our countrymen may not have accompanied their representatives in Independence Hall, but all were Founding Fathers.
Yet since our inception, these States united stood on fragile footing. No more culturally unified than the European Union today, the Continental Congresses were gatherings, not of a collective, but rather, of individual stateless nations established by people of various origins, classes and ideals.
For millennia our ancestors conquered, subjugated or fled from alien nations, dehumanizing each other by differences in language, religion, lifestyles and race. Now, the New World sought amicability, recognizing the merits of personal liberty.
Although, the great American experiment has not been without faults. In fact, We was particularly exclusive that day. Yet, We the People, seeking to uphold the message despite its messengers, sought to make our Founders honest men when they declared us all created equal.
Nevertheless, the perspectives of today are unavoidably influenced by those who came before. Not since the civil rights movement, the better part of a century past, has our country been so ideologically entrenched. Claims of fascism and encroaching socialism, to systemic racism and rivaling counter-protests pervade the headlines. Camps of polar political factions claim ownership in constitutional purity while asserting precedence to justify their manipulation. Thus, leaving cynics to contemplate complete dissolution.
We are in part to blame. Our representatives are a reflection of ourselves. Quasi-tyrants in our own right, concessions are seen as betrayals, seemingly unwilling to imagine the shoe on the other foot for standing firm beside our dogmas. Yet, our country would have been stillborn without compromise.
From commerce and representation to statehood, our Founders did not legislate in absolutes; neither should We.
Rather, acknowledge the cognitive biases and selective perspectives which lend themselves to party affiliations. Practice in the art of persuasion over persecution. Instead, seek common ground with your fellow neighbor for whom you are to love as yourself. If We accept this call to service, progress will follow in our stride, for our country is uniquely founded in We; its posterity is beholden to us all.
