Today’s Constitution
From the preamble to our Constitution: “to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare.”
Since those words were written, our nation has become much less isolated from the rest of the world. The world has become smaller and “flatter.” We must now deal with different kinds of international threats: terrorism, cyber-crime, disease and more.
Our “common defense” has come to mean much more than military power. To defend ourselves from 21st century threats, we need a more capable citizenry. We need to be better educated, which implies greater educational opportunity. We need to be healthier, which implies more available health care. We need a more just society, which implies less poverty.
“The common defense” has come to imply (and hence include a need for) greater “justice,” more “domestic tranquility,” and more attention to “the general welfare.”
Henry D. Friedman, Sanger
This story was originally published May 26, 2015 at 4:09 AM with the headline "Today’s Constitution."