We have been so short sighted that the essence of our Constitution is being circumvented.

We are plundering our natural, economic and social resources all to make a buck. We are gerrymandering our voting districts to yield governing political parties so the minority parties can rule over the majority only to further their minority interests.

We have acrimonious discord in Congress and the White House.

When reading about the beginnings of our nation and the civility exhibited between the Founding Fathers it highlights the severe difference between then and now. These men in the late 1700’s faced creating a society based upon documents, agreed to by a majority of State delegates, that would live on many decades beyond any of the signers. A task never before undertaken in the history of mankind. Henry Steele Commager notes that “Even during the most acrimonious debates members (of the founding fathers) were aware that they were framing a constitution for ages to come, that they were creating a model for people everywhere on the globe; there was a lively sense of responsibility and even destiny.” From Historical Viewpoints, edited by John A. Garraty.

Even Charles A. Beard who concluded that the Constitution was a economic document based on private property rights being anterior to government in his “An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States” observes that “Chief Justice Marshall states in McCulloch v. Maryland in 1819: ‘The government proceeds directly from the people; is ’ordained and established’ in the name of the people; and is declared to be ordained’ in order to form a more perfect union, to establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, and secure the blessings of liberty’ to themselves and to their prosperity…” Though Charles A. Beard included this in his 1921 book, how is Chief Justice Marshall’s view not relevant today? What has changed in 200 years that the view today by those in Congress and the White House seem to believe that the Constitution is there so they can bend it to benefit only themselves ignoring that the structure of our government is ordained and established in the name of the people as Chief Justice Marshall explains in his opinion?

Where will the recent manipulations of legal machinations lead us? What can we do, if anything, about it?

We all can do a better job of deciphering fact from fiction, of reality from bluster, and most of all truth from lies. Now is the time to pay attention and vote.