Ought v. Naught
The Founding Documents
The United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the land and represents a refinement in the Founding Fathers’ thinking over a dozen or so years. It was published in 1789 and replaces the Articles of Confederation published in 1777. Those articles represented the first, loosely defined combination of what had been thirteen disparate colonies, and it was a stepping stone for this union during a revolutionary effort to overcome their collective oppressor. Think of this as an informal agreement to live together while contemplating a long term marriage, and as such it represented a fairly weak central governing concept. As such, I choose to overlook it in this Ought v. Naught exercise since it really was just a stepping stone and was superseded by such a foundational document like the Constitution. The Constitution of the United States is the oldest and longest-standing written national constitution in force in the world today and very much stands as a beacon to the world on how the principles of democracy should or at least can function.
A few years ago I attending a Broadway play called What the Constitution Means to Me, written and performed by Heidi Schreck. The play focuses on all the parts of the Constitution but especially looks at women’s rights, immigration, domestic abuse, and the history of the country, issues that are clearly Schreck’s most personal concerns. While much of Schreck’s focus is on The Bill of Rights, the first ten of its Amendments, which will be the subject of my next Ought v. Naught story, it is noteworthy that she asks the audience if the Constitution is still viable and simply needs to be modified for modern thinking and times, or whether it should be thrown out and completely rewritten. It so happens that sitting behind me at that performance was Senator Chuck Schumer, the Senate Majority Leader. I had previously met him on several occasions so we spoke during the break and agreed that to throw out such a critically valuable document that had served us so well would be unreasonable. That is the position I still hold, though the reinterpretation of a two hundred and thirty five year old document seems certainly necessary given the changes to our world and the advancement of our understanding of it. In some ways, this very Ought v. Naught exercise is my personal way of doing just that.
1. Preamble: 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. We the People ought to be who the Constitution serves…all of the people.
ii. Justice ought to be the idea that people (citizens and non-citizens alike) are treated impartially, fairly, properly, and reasonably by the law.
iii. Domestic Tranquility means that people ought to be able to expect peace and harmony within the country.
iv. Common Defense is a central reason for government in that people ought to expect that their government will protect them from external threats.
v. General Welfare is Eighteenth Century speak for what we call the common good and citizens ought to expect that their government promote what’s best for the health, peace, and safety of its citizens.
vi. Liberty for ourselves means that we are free of restraint or control by others and ought to have access to political, social and economic rights and privileges.
vii. Liberty for our posterity means that citizens ought to be able to expect that liberty is a sustainable and assured right and privilege for their descendants.
2. Article 1 – The Legislature – Establishing the bicameral system (House of Representatives and Senate) with the powers and ability to make laws necessary and proper to uphold those powers. The separation of powers between the legislative, executive and judicial branches of government are clearly explained. Interestingly, the bicameral system was adopted to balance the issues of individual states rights and power and the representation based on population. Larger and highly populated states gain advantage in the House of Representatives (based on a mandatory census every decade). Smaller or less populated states gain advantage in the Senate, where each state gets a fixed two senators. Originally, the Constitution called for state legislatures to appoint their senators, but that was changed in 1912 and since then, state citizens elect senators directly. This legislative rubric sets the stage for a nation operating under the rule of law. The powers of Congress include to tax, borrow, pay debt defense, general welfare, regulating commerce, bankruptcies, coining money, regulating internal affairs, regulating military forces and militias, suppress insurrections, repel invasions, providing naturalization, standards of weights and measures, post offices, roads, patents, to directly govern the federal district and cessions of land by the states for forts and arsenals, and, of course, to declare war and make rules of war. There is also a “Necessary and Proper Clause” that confers all other powers upon Congress they deem necessary without specifying them.
i. Citizens ought to expect a country based on the rule of law.
ii. Citizens ought to be empowered to elect those who make their laws.
iii. Citizens ought to be governed on many fronts by their community (defined as their state), but they should understand that their state ought to both owe allegiance to the country and fellow states and follow federal laws set by Congress.
iv. Citizens ought to expect that Congress is the governing lawmaker of the country.
3. Article 2 – The Executive – Establishes the office of the President and Vice President. The President is head of the executive branch, the head of state, the head of the federal government and the Commander in Chief. The President reports annually to Congress and yet also recommends “necessary and expedient” national measures. The President also has the power to convene and adjourn Congress under special circumstances, thereby acting in balance with the legislative branch.
i. Citizens ought to expect a country based on the rule of law run by their elected representatives in the form of the chief executive.
ii. Citizens ought to expect a chief executive to honor the Constitution and serve the needs and wishes of the citizenry ahead of all else.
4. Article 3 – The Judiciary – Establishes the country’s court system under the final auspices of the Supreme Court. The system, based on English Law, mandates trial by jury for criminal cases. The higher courts can only hear actual cases, not hypothetical ones. Perhaps the most important governmental power of the judiciary is that of judicial review, which gives this branch of the government the power to review the actions of both Congress and the Executive. It is the understanding of all citizens that the Judiciary owes no allegiance to any executive or to Congress and is specifically devoid of any political or commercial influences.
i. Citizens ought to expect a country based on the rule of laws administered fairly by the judiciary system.
ii. Citizens ought to expect a judiciary that is unbiased and obliged to no internal or external influences and owes no political allegiances.
iii. Citizens ought to expect a judiciary that operates in a manner to balance the other branches of government to create an equilibrium
5. Article 4 – The States – Establishes the expected relationship between the states with one another and the federal government. These states must not show bias as to rights and privileges to its state citizens versus the citizens of other states in the union. They must also abide by the privileges and immunities as provided by the federal government and other states, with the federal government acting as arbiter amongst states. States must also guaranty to each other that they will be governed as a republic that will derive its consent from the governed and will protect one another from invasion and violence.
i. Citizens ought to expect a country where states abide by federal rule of law.
ii. Citizens ought to expect that their states will act in the best interest of the union and the country as a whole, including all other states.
iii. Citizens ought to expect that their states will operate as a republic under the consent of the governed as determined by the majority.
6. Article 5 – The Amendment Process – Establishes that the Constitution can be amended following certain procedures including obtaining a super-majority (⅔) of Congress and 75% ratification by the states. It establishes that such amendments strike a balance between pliancy and rigidity so as to make the Constitution a living and sustainable governing document. There are specific sunset provisions for the ability to import slaves to the country and to allow the taxation of income by the federal government.
i. Citizens ought to expect a country governed by a Constitution which reflects the updated sensibilities of the current electorate.
ii. Citizens ought to expect a country where slavery would be abolished eventually and therefore citizenship and equality be extended to all races.
iii. Citizens ought to expect a country where taxation would be used by the federal government for the general welfare of the citizenry as determined by their duly elected representatives.
7. Article 6 – Federal Powers – Establishes without a doubt the supremacy of the federal government over the states. It validates the federal use of national debt as needed and legislated by Congress. It clearly establishes that there can be no religious tests to determine eligibility for public office.
i. Citizens ought to expect a country where states abide by federal rule of law.
ii. Citizens ought to expect a country where the federal government can fund its obligations with the full faith and credit of the union.
iii. Citizens ought to expect a country where there is no religious bias.
8. Article 7 – Ratification – Establishes the process for ratification that anticipated anti-federalist sentiment and thus a process of referendum to drive the process of adoption forward.
i. Citizens ought to expect a country where the federalist imperative takes a primary driving role in governance.