People of the United States

A page about Fidel Castro in our World History book stirred me to consider how I thought about "the people" in the "We the People of the United States ....." which begins our Constitution.

I believe that "People" is meant to be inclusive. I don't think that it refers to the comfortable ones among us alone. I think that word includes those who want a better, more just nation.

I believe that the People of our Constitution includes the hundreds of thousands of Americans without work  and the hundreds of thousands who have work, but don't earn near enough to care for their families well. I think that 'the People' includes industrial workers who not only lost their jobs, but also watched their benefits and retirement funds disappear.

The People must include those men and women who pay interest on money borrowed to get their families from one month to the next, from one week to the next. The People includes tens of thousands of teachers and professors who are paid less than jailers and honored little more.

Tens of thousands of small business men and women weighted down with debt and confounding paper wok are equally part of the People.

Tens of thousands of young professionals with fresh degrees and a desire to work who find themselves before closed doors are included among the People.

Each  of these Americans are responsible for his or herself each stands ready to pay taxes and to defend the country with blood; each is ready to help us unite in a more perfect union.

The Constitution

If you have read Ratification: The People Debate the Constitution 1787 - 1788 by Pauline Maier please tell me if you think I might enjoy it.

By The People

By The People

Good place to begin learning about America the Beautiful.

Tyranny

People Know when they are being tyrannized. They see where that tyranny is coming from. The know about the process of tyranny even when they don't know the word. 

You can know the meaning: It feels arbitrary and despotic. To the majority it appears random and without reason. The thoughtful and those directly hurt know that it is abusive and oppressive. The people don't like it.

The American people of the United States support tyranny over the people of other countries. I have seen it first hand in Latin America and have been told of its activity elsewhere. When asking about it at our embassies and else, I  was told that it was done in the name of 'stability,' and knew that meant 'comfort to American business.' When I mentioned that I was taught that one of the principle advantages of democracy is stability, I met blank stares.

Now I hear American officialdom using the term democracy a bit more. But when questioned one finds that what they mean by democracy is 'like us.' By 'like us' they mean comfortable to American trade. To them it seems to have nothing to do with governance of the people, by the people, and for the people.

There meaning seems pervasive and sinister.

The Will of the People

A republic is designed to reflect the will of the people.

A democracy must reflect the will of the people.

How do the people let each other know their will?

We The People

We the people have the responsibility of taking our Congress. The Congress has the responsibility of taking the Power.
We must claim, not wait to be given.