The lessons of how we should view and apply the unique document that is our Constitution go back centuries and even appear in the works of the Bard of Avon.
“The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.”
I believe that we, the people of the USA, pretty much missed perhaps the biggest point of the Constitution. And I’m not talking about recent history but prolonged history such as it is here in the States.
It, the Constitution, was created as a response to Monarchy and rule by, well, Rulers. Rulers do what they want based on their own beliefs or interests. If those interests truly include the welfare of the people you have better rulers, if they include themselves alone or a small class of elite “crats” of any kind, you have a top heavy and even despotic result.
That is what the Framers framed against: A top heavy rule.
But, and this is where the mob seems to rule, people seem to LIKE to be ruled. The proof is that power is continually pushed by the people to these leaders. It’s not that the people want to be owned or tortured or subjugated to the yoke, it’s that they don’t want to have to deal with it and just keep on ladling more and more responsibility and fault and blame and POWER on the leader or ruler.
But, back to the Framers, they were trying to create a SERVANT to the People. Neither a Ruler nor a Leader, but a Servant.
This strange desire to be lead is what leads to someone who was on the verge four years ago—and may still be—of completely seizing all power and destroying the USA, completely destroying the entire frame of the Constitution. It’s not just that he has a lust for more and more, which he clearly does, it’s that people WANT him to. The underlying idea is that we need a strong leader, a ruler. He exists because of this, he doesn’t cause this.
Or they want SOMEONE ELSE to be just as strong. Many people, not all certainly, just want the problem to go away and see the solution as strength and more power wielded by a Leader/Ruler.
The media on all sides serves this notion continually. It’s always the quote from the President that leads whether it’s a bake sale or a hurricane.
But, and this is one big ass but, that is exactly what the Framers created the Frame for, to keep the responsibility with THE PEOPLE. This requires, ultimately, that this unwritten precept that underlies the whole game be understood. We are not intended, in the USA, to fall in love with the President! We are not intended to want to be Ruled.
Our job as citizens is to stop rulers who aren’t servants. No matter whether they speak to my “side” or not. It they want to Rule and not to Serve they must be rejected or the entire game known as the USA no longer exists, period. This part of the Frame is the most important part because it was the reason for the whole thing.
And, giving a big nod to Shakespeare, in that little quote up there, Cassius, a nobleman, is speaking with his friend, Brutus, and trying to persuade him that, in the best interests of the public, Julius Caesar must be stopped from becoming monarch of Rome.
Brutus is aware of Caesar’s intentions, and is torn between his love of his friend Caesar and his duty to the republic. Cassius continues by reminding Brutus that Caesar is just a man, not a god, and that they are equal men to Caesar.
They were all born equally free, and so why would they suddenly have to bow to another man?
Peter Kjenaas is an author, screenwriter, theater director, producer, chef, AirBnB host, parent and caregiver extraordinaire. And now he adds travel writer to his resumé as he sets off across the country in a 1971 VW camper bus. But first and foremost he is a caring and productive human who has graciously allowed us to post some of his writings to this site. See his latest book at PeterKjenaas.com, and his travel adventures at Riders on the Storm Bus.
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