Does the National Holiday for Christmas Violate Separation of Church and State? There are religious and non-religious sides to Christmas. This blog will briefly identify a number of these and take a look at how the Constitution has been applied in “separating church and state” as regards the federal holiday of Christmas. What Is Separation [...]
Do the Ten Commandments Belong in Public School Classrooms? Louisiana recently passed a law to post the Ten Commandments in all state public schools. Does posting of the Ten Commandments in Louisiana public schools violate the doctrine of separation of church and state, and the First Amendment? Is Posting the Ten Commandments in Public Schools [...]
What Are the Purposes of the United States Government? If one knew the purposes of our government, they would have a workable yardstick to measure how well our government, its employees and elected officials were doing. And they could make decisions based on what they observed. The Constitution’s Preamble Lists Six Purposes for Our Country [...]
When Was Politics Not a Dirty Word? Most American view politics as a dirty job. Majorities say the political process is dominated by special interests, flooded with campaign cash and mired in partisan warfare. Elected officials are widely viewed as self-serving and ineffective. This quote is from a September 2023 [...]
4th of July Take a moment and get inspired by the language of our Declaration of Independence We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure [...]
How Come Most Americans Don’t Understand the Constitution? In 1787 Americans Read and Understood the Constitution Back in 1787 before our Constitution was ratified, newspapers in every state printed the entire text of the proposed Constitution. These newspaper articles were filled with arguments for and against ratifying the Constitution. Tempers ran high on both [...]
What Happened to a Constitution for “Rational and Social Beings”? In Noah Webster’s famous 1828 dictionary, he defined “constitution” as “A system of fundamental principles for the government of rational and social beings.” You cannot find a modern dictionary that even vaguely has the concept of rational and social beings linked to the definition [...]
Why Do We Still Have the Income Tax? In 1788 when our Constitution was originally drafted and approved to be the supreme law of our land, the income tax was illegal. Having or not having an income tax has flip-flopped several times since 1788, and of course, we have an income tax today. To understand [...]
What Happened to a Constitution for “Rational and Social Beings”? In Noah Webster’s famous dictionary published in 1828, he defined “constitution” as “A system of fundamental principles for the government of rational and social beings.” You cannot find a modern dictionary which even vaguely has the concept of rational and social beings linked to [...]
Why Study the Constitution? The American form of government has been the most successful among nations for the last 230 years. The Constitution has been a beacon to people around the world seeking freedom in their own countries. Yet, how many of us today are truly familiar with the document and principles that we [...]
