08/21/2026
Fabulous article by Keith Whippie
Thinking about our Grandchildren
Two hundred and fifty years represents an inconsequential lifetime for an empire in human history. The significance of the United States longevity is its genesis as an experimental state, lacking the problematic class system of the old world. Equality under the law, one man one vote, were core concepts of the blended philosophies that were distilled into the legal foundations of our government, the United States Constitution
The Preamble to the Constitution reveals the concerns of the Founders, and enumerates their goals and expectations for the government they created: “… form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty…”. The stark textual clarity is timeless, formidable, and unambiguous. These should be the goals of every American citizen today.
In the current state of our polity, the Constitution seems diminished. Society became exploitative and shortsighted. When confronted with norms, rules and laws, we search for loopholes. We have become the obstacles to a more perfect union, and domestic tranquility. The problem with the United States is Us.
We know how to solve these problems. Our Grandmothers, and our kindergarten teachers taught us the Golden rule, to guide our conduct as children. The teaching of the Golden rule is contained in every major religion; perhaps the most appropriate expression for today’s world is the Silver Rule: “Do not do to others what you do not want done to you”.
Timing should concern us. Martin Niemoller, a theologian who lived sorrows and reflections during a lifetime in Germany wrote “First they came for socialists”, a confessional poem about the social inactivities that allowed the n***s to fragment and then dominate Society during Hitlers rule. We have witnessed, in our own time, an increase in all manner of hate crimes and prejudice directed at Jews, Blacks, Muslims, immigrants. Can we imagine we will be secure once all the easy targets have gone? Our Solidarity is strength, our division is opportunity for evil ones among us
In a powerful scene from Kingdom of Heaven, Baldwin instructs Balian “Remember…your soul is in your keeping alone. When you stand before God you cannot say ‘but I was told by others to do thus’ or that virtue was not convenient at the time” Our form of government imposes obligations that cannot be fulfilled by meek acquiescence in passions and outrages manufactured by those who benefit from chaos and distraction. The collectivism of the US Constitution envisions universal care and universal prosperity for ourselves and our families. We must strive in this cause. When our grandchildren ask about these times, we can not answer that virtue was inconvenient.
- Keith D Whippie
