USA We The People
kevin
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EMMA'S LADY LIBERTY
The Statute of Liberty, a true American symbol of welcome, hope, and
opportunity. And, I’m sure this copper covered statute can produce countless
other feelings and emotions. But if we look at the character given to the
statute by Emma Lazarus we see a guardian, a guardian against poverty, a
guardian against oppression, and a guardian that gives rest. Emma’s Lady
Liberty can peer out over the Atlantic Ocean and around the world to see that
there is poor, tired, and “huddled masses yearning to breathe free” behind
her back and on the very same American soil she stands upon. Her now tear
stain face weathers a storm of great magnitude. Her once bright and
illuminist torch reduce to a flickering glow. She whispers out across the
Atlantic Ocean and around the world to the ones behind her, remember I am
Emma’s Lady Liberty the Guardian.
THE LOWER- CLASS AND THE MISSING LADER
Now that the campaigns are under way and every candidate has a plan
for the country of which course to take. I keep hearing two disturbing words,
middle-classes, middle-classes…. There is talk of the rich, but at a minimum
concerning taxes. So the America of 2015 has a two class system, the rich
and the middle-classes. Where are the poor and the lower- class/working
poor in the campaign? Nowhere! The candidates avoid this danger zone,
the poor. Because the candidates know that addressing the needs of the
poor will cost them votes from the middle-class. The candidates, also know
that the middle-classes are carrying America’s debt on their backs and are at
the breaking point.
Here’s America’s all seeing eye of Providence on the dollar. The pyramid
is erect and the weight at the top is equally distributed on the base. This was
America’s employment system, more jobs at the base, a chance to climb up
America’s economic ladder.
America’s current employment system can best be depicted as an inverted
pyramid. There are a good number of lower-class/working poor jobs below
the point on the pyramid. Here’s where the problem lies. There are fewer
upper low-class production jobs in the manufacturing industry, which hinder
the climb up the economic ladder, reduce economic spending and tax
revenues. This is one reason why the middle-class are carrying America’s
tax burden on their backs. This engineering feat of an inverted pyramid
cannot stand to long before collapsing form the weight.
IF THE PEOPLE DO SO DESIRER
Painting oil on canvas: Scene at the Signing of the Constitution of the United States (1940), by Howard Chandler Christy
Our United States Constitution is a marvelous document upon which to
build a nation. The framers laid out the functions of the government, laws of
the government, and the rights of the people. All of which are amendable at
any time, if the people do so desirer. A testament that the United States is a
work in progress, always striving to be better.
Sometimes the desirers of the people to change maybe a peaceful
change as was the case of adding the Bill of Rights in 1791 (amendments 1
through 10) to the Constitution. Or maybe the change is vehemently
opposed to the point of war and destruction, a chapter of American history
the Civil War in 1861. Then just about 100 years later, change came again
with strong opposition, violent but not ending in war. Another chapter in
American history the Civil Rights of the 1960s. You could say that change
comes with a price. However, let’s not get boggled down with what
accompanies change, but stay focus on the point that the United States is a
work in progress, always striving to be better.
At each of these changing points, the Bill of Right, the Abolition of Slavery,
and the Civil Rights Movement show an evolving nation. The People, the
Presidents Washington, Lincoln, and Kennedy, believed that the United
States is a work in progress, always striving to be better. I said that the
United States Constitution is a marvelous document, but it is showing its age
and needs to come current with legal times and could stand to lose some of
the baggage from the past.
If you read the Constitution “We the People” in the preamble you’ll find out
who the people are in article I sec.3, remember this is America 1788. The
Philadelphia delegates wrote it like it was “free persons, including those
bound to service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three
fifths of all other persons,” a provision for taxation. Even the 13th
amendment sec.1 it freed people in Lincoln’s time, but slavery can still exist
in prisons in the United States. Was it Lincoln’s idea to free people and then
turn round and lock them up in prison to keep the “peculiar institution” of
slavery alive in the United States? I wholeheartedly believe not. If asked
about the record number of prisons in the United States today, I would have a
totally different answer!
The United States is a work in progress, always striving to be better.
Should our school children be first exposed to the America of the past or the
America of the present? The same goes for immigrants wishing to become
United States citizens. There is a constant reminder of America’s past every
time you read the Constitution. The usual practice of a writer is to edit or
revise a manuscript by pulling out some phrase or word. That should be
done with the Constitution. Any changes to any of the articles should appear
in a revised edition and dated. So if we use the three chapters of American
history for example, the adoption of the United States Constitution in 1788,
the Abolition of Slavery in 1865, and the Civil Rights Act in 1964. There
would be three editions of United States Constitution. The two editions
should bear a true copy of the signatures on the original, and be printed with
America’s finest embellishments. They could be displayed alongside of the
original in ascending order with a plaque above that reads, “This is what we
were and this is who we are now!”
Please spread the word about USA WE THE PEOPLE !
usawethepeople.org
USA We The People
kevin