Madison and Me

After the last week's events - the Supreme Court ruling on the health care law (Obamacare), then the rant by Bill Press about how the national Anthem is "an abomination", followed by the amazing rendition of said anthem by Madison Rising, and today, a visit to the National Constitution Center,  - I was finally motivated to take the step I'd been considering for a long time - a blog about the Constitution.  Please join President James Madison ("Father of the Constitution", main mover for the Bill of Rights, author of "The Federalist Papers", and fourth president of the USA) on this journey into our nation's history.


I am not a Constitutional scholar and have had no formal classwork on the subject.  I am self-taught, mostly, on the Constitution, and my goal here is to encourage anyone reading this to do the same.  I spent 21 years in the military, swearing that:

...I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foriegn and domestic...

To that end, I might remind all of you that there are, indeed, enemies of the Constitution and to our Republic.  And I'm not talking about enemies with guns and bombs and tanks and ships.  I mean enemies with ideas and philosophies that are anathema to our founding principles and seek to subvert and circumvent our Constitutional form of government.  Those enemies are hard to see, harder to define and are very clever.  They are not to be underestimated.  

So, what is the best defense against these enemies?  Knowledge!  We all must know our history and our founding documents and principles.  That is the only way we can identify and shine the light of truth on those who would do our country harm from within.  

So, friends, your first assignment is to READ THE CONSTITUTION.  Don't rely on what someone else says is in there - see for yourself.  You can read the whole thing in maybe a half hour.  Do it for your own sake.

I plan to introduce topics from time to time, raising Constitutional questions and issues.  I invite you all to contribute and comment and debate.  But first, some ground rules:

1. No foul language.  This should be family-friendly and civil.  If you can't be civil. you can't sit at this table.

2. Be specific.  Make your arguments logical and precise and back them up with evidence.  Feel free to give voice to your feelings, too, but don't present feelings as facts.

3. Respect others' opinions and persons.  No personal attacks or name-calling.  By all means, pick apart someone's argument, but be respectful and again, be specific.