This is America, the Republic; home of the free and the brave. As a Republic, government must honor and uphold the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. It is what has made this country the most strong, free, and fair nation on the face of the earth. Without a document like it, other governments have subjugated their people to horrendous hardships and unbearable laws that assume they are guilty until proven innocent. In these countries, the burden of proof is always placed on the individual, not the state.
One of the best ways to assure a free society, besides a fair and just Constitution, is to place most of the control in the hands of local communities and within each individual state of the union. Our Founding Fathers knew this, and they worked to assure a decentralized form of government that would place most of the control in the Peoples' hands, not the federal government they were forming.
"When colonial representatives assembled to form an independent government, they favored a decentralized plan in which each state would maintain its sovereignty" (Student Handbook, United States Government, The Southwestern Company, Nashville, Tenn., pg. 60, ©1984).
The Articles of Confederation lasted for 8 years when our Founding Fathers decided that they did not provide enough control at the federal level. Thus, in 1788, they again assembled together to develop a Constitution that was decentralized while providing more control at the federal level.
"Compared with other forms of government, the system was still decentralized, allowing considerable independence to the states" (Student Handbook, United States Government, The Southwestern Company, Nashville, Tenn., pg. 60, ©1984).
The above facts are important to know because there is a movement afoot to change what our Founding Fathers worked so hard to establish. For more than 200 years, the United States Constitution has stood for the most fundamental of freedoms. Because of it, hundreds of thousands of foreign-born people have immigrated to America. Because of it, the world has looked up to America as a beacon of light during perilous times. Without it, we would not be able to speak our minds, travel and live wherever we choose, earn a living doing whatever we wish to do. All of this could change.
