General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSaw an interesting film about Hubert Humphrey last night
It was "Hubert Humphrey, the Art of the Possible" A broad range of discussion topics could be raised, but what I found striking was his take on the preamble to the Constitution.
We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
He focused on the verbs, and made the case that our government was set up to be an active player in our society. Domestic tranquility, justice, common defense and general welfare don't just happen, we have to work to insure, provide, and promote them.
Tea party types see WE THE PEOPLE in huge type and think (or have the thought supplied to them) "It's we the people, not we the government", missing the point that We the People is the government. I can't respect a party that says its core is the Constitution, but doesn't read or comprehend the fine print.
The whole thing is set up ensure that entities with concentrated wealth and/or power are held in check if they are detrimental to the common welfare. We are living in times that have those who would be restrained by such checks convincing huge numbers of voters that the government is the enemy, the other. An agency set up to make sure your water is safe to drink is portrayed as a job killer, and idiots take the bait.
joelz
(185 posts)in history class I always wondered if the framers understood the meaning of the word perfect,it struck me as a silly idea. Presidents are always tossing more perfect ideas out in their speeches and it still sounds like an impossibility.
jwirr
(39,215 posts)before in history. Democracy that survived more than 80 years. However, I am willing to think that it meant that the government they formed would be an ongoing work.
JEFF9K
(1,935 posts)I missed the broadcast but will try to catch a rerun on PBS. It's funny how you seldom hear Humphrey's name mentioned anymore.
Smarmie Doofus
(14,498 posts)He had a tendency to get carried away.
And he made some *serious* political misjudgments.
Cresent City Kid
(1,621 posts)He, and maybe us, would have been better off if he had not been the vice president under Johnson. When he voiced his opposition to the war early in the term and got got slapped for it, he chose to become a better vice president over stopping the war. Even as a candidate in 1968 he kept quiet about his opposition too long.
Cresent City Kid
(1,621 posts)The film showed how he bridged the gap between lofty rhetoric and idealism to the nitty gritty grunt work of getting laws passed that actually turned the ideals into reality.The modern liberal does well just to defend what he helped create from erosion.
Smarmie Doofus
(14,498 posts)It's probably *always* been the case... the framers once again caught w. their ideological pants down, as it were.
But it sure as hell is true NOW.
I propose a constitutional amendment to *remove* those words from the preamble. Let's not add rank hypocrisy to our other charges.
Octafish
(55,745 posts)"Ronald Reagan was a transformative president."
Cresent City Kid
(1,621 posts)is that if you include the military, Reagan made the government HUGE.