By Ruth A. Sheets
July 4th is here, Independence Day. It was 248 years ago today, in Philadelphia when the Congress approved the report from the Declaration Committee, and John Hancock, President of the Congress and Charles Thompson, Secretary of Congress signed “The Declaration of Independence.” It was a pretty radical document at the time. Not only had 13 of the British-American colonies taken up arms against their mother country, but they had produced a document to explain why. Other nations in the past two centuries since, have done something similar to gain their own freedom.
Declaring Independence was, of course, the easy part. Fighting for that independence would continue on and off for more than 7 years. Then there was the hard work of governing a nation made up of individualists, people who believed their faith should be pushed on everyone living in the new nation, farmers, merchants (each with their own needs and issues), professional people and tradesmen. In addition, women, Black people whether enslaved or free, the indigenous people, poor white folks, and children had no say about anything, just as in Britain.
Developing an agreement among the 13 states was essential and Congress began with “The Articles of Confederation,” which proved far less than successful. By 1787, it was clear something had to be done if the union were to be preserved. The “Constitution of the United States,” as we know was a product of desperation. It too, was far from perfect, but it was a start. The men who worked to produce the framework for our government made provisions for amending the Constitution, but did not make it possible to incorporate the amendments into the body of the document. Over time, those amendments have been seen as just add-ons that could be, well, dismissed or ignored entirely if desired. Ratification of the Constitution, though, hinged on there being a bill of rights that would state the most important of the rights every American citizen would have as unalienable. So, in 1791, the “Bill of Rights” was added to our constitution. In 233 years, only 17 amendments have been added and one of those was to negate the Prohibition Amendment.” That lack of amendments is because it is extremely hard to amend our constitution, requiring 2/3 of the members of Congress and ¾ of the states to ratify. We actually have an amendment ready to add, but alas, a misogynistic Congress back in the 1970s decided it could put a time limit on its ratification, something not in the Constitution, but Congress has often made things up to suit themselves. Since there is no precedent for this time limit, and the required number of states have ratified, it seems to me the President could send it to the National Archivist to be officially added to the Constitution because it looks like our Congress has remained just as misogynistic as 40+ years ago and won’t remove its unconstitutional time limit.
Now, according to our Supreme Court conservative 6, as of July 1, 2024, our president has nearly unlimited powers if something is claimed to be official. So, Adding the 28th Amendment, The Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution would be within his powers, and would finally include women in our constitution, after just over a century of trying.
It really is strange the things that come to me when I am contemplating Independence Day each year. This year, it’s that there are many in this country who have decided they would prefer America become a dictatorship under a man who has no moral compass, cares for nothing and no one but himself, and who has no clue about our nation’s history, struggles, and attempts to “form a more perfect union.” They as a group of white, mostly male “pseudo-christians” have decided they know what is right for everyone and that it is their warped form of Christianity which actually has little to do with Christianity, just acquisition of power and money for themselves, with no opposition.
They and their fathers have been working on this project for half a century and more and are getting closer. Those men have lots of money and access to lots more as they promise the very rich that if they let those white guys get power and keep it, they will let the addicted rich accumulate even more wealth and force workers to work for even lower wages and live in even more vile conditions. Those very rich are delighted and are totally on board, even bribing our judges and justices as well as members of Congress and state legislatures with impunity. To keep women, people of color, LGBTQ+ persons, immigrants, and poor folks from interfering, they are regularly passing laws to limit the rights of those people , most of us, to vote, control our bodies, tell medical personnel whom to treat, imprison migrants, asylum-seekers, limit travel, and on and on. They have purchased so many judges and justices they can sue and get whatever they want from them, even the 6 on the Supreme Court and there is no one in power either able or willing to stop it.
As I sit and enjoy this summer day, I can’t help but wonder whether I will be able to sit here next year and enjoy the day as a continuation of American efforts toward a more diverse and egalitarian society. I wonder who will be harmed if Donald Trump is re-elected and his anti-American crew creates a throne from which they can control or harm anyone they don’t like. Somehow, those usurpers of our democracy are working hard to undermine our current president and are getting help from some Democrats too. It is breaking my heart to see the anger and resentment Republicans have inserted into the democratic process and how many Democrats are buying it. Their attacks on President Biden’s age, for example, are appalling when his opponent is nearly as old and is a lying machine that can’t tell truth from lies and needs constant coaching to spew the same nonsense at every rally, names of the insulted interchangeable.
Our founders, the ones the Supreme Court conservatives seem to love so much would have been appalled at how things have improved, then deteriorated over the past 250 years. They would have wanted us to make more progress in living together.
However, what I know is, as always, it is going to be up to us, We the People to keep or reject our democracy. Getting the truth out about who each candidate is, acknowledging the vast differences in their vision for this nation, and pushing our fellow citizens who actually care about this nation, to vote for President Biden and Vice-President Harris and Democrats up and down the ballot is critical! Dump the Republican hate fest and their racist, misogynistic, xenophobic, homo/transphobic candidates who want to control everyone’s lives except their own.
We can do this! Our ancestors have done it before. This time, we need to win and come out of the fray energized and ready to see that everyone here is treated equitably, that people have what they need, and the rich folks, not too much, and that we tackle the global warming crisis NOW, not well, when we decide to get around to it.
Happy July 4th!
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