The Preamble to the Constitution

The Institute for domestic Tranquility takes its name from the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States. A quick look at the preamble shows six conditions the Constitution is to meet in the making the Federal Government. These are to:

• form a more perfect Union

• establish justice

• insure the domestic Tranquility

• provide for the common defence

• promote the general Welfare

• secure the Blessings of Liberty

Form a More Perfect Union

The Constitutional Congress was called because the Articles of Confederation were failing and needed to be patched up. The States had reduced themselves to petty squalling—greedy governments interested in their own self interest—rather than sharing concern for the nation as a whole. In their disorganized condition they would have been easy prey to European intrigue and mischief. The Convention realized it was exceeding its charge when it threw out the Articles and wrote a new constitution from scratch. It resolved to move to strengthen the Union. The Civil War quelled internal dissention by force and established the principle of a Federally superior union. The problem has not been solved completely and requires constant attention and concern to assure the balance of power, responsibility and duty between the Federal Government and the several States.

The Old South. which ended the Civil War in defeat was strong in its resolve to preserve its solid Democratic Party affiliation, and has just recently emerged as a two party region.

The task of perfecting the Union, in short is not complete and requires the wisdom of intelligent people.

Establish Justice

A judiciary which is not independent can not protect the natural rights of the sovereign, in our case the people of the United States. The Soviet Union has splendid words in its constitution, but since its judiciary is not independent, the words are meaningless. Thee Federal judiciary is appointed and serves for life because the men and women appointed to the bench are supposed to bring with them wisdom, not a popular mandate. They are not to represent the main stream of American thought because from age to age and time to time, the mainstream of American thought is fad or incredible prejudice to whit: Prohibition; Dred Scott and the internment of American Japanese in concentration camps. The Supreme Court must establish the lead is protecting the natural rights of the sovereign. It's acquired duty of reviewing constitutionality of American law should supplement its main duty to oversee the protection and extension of the unalienable rights to all citizens. The Court must assiduously guard the Constitution and assiduously promote the enfranchisement of all citizen sovereigns of the nation.

The Court can not passively accept the Constitution as immutable gospel, but seek ways to promulgate new more ecologically equitable understandings and meanings of the natural rights of citizens as expressed in the Declaration of Independence and other relevant sources of the natural rights of man.

insure the domestic Tranquility.

This is the missing piece of the puzzle that balances all the forces for good working at the level of the Federal Union. The domestic Tranquility is the neglected force for the empowerment of individual citizens to take their rightful places in a popular democracy. Full support for and exposition of the pacific arts and sciences together with a free and uninhibited expression of the unalienable rights will add the necessary ingredients to make the United States a true democracy not just a nation with a democratic form of government. The unalienable rights, domestic Tranquility and the pacific arts and sciences will transform our nations human morality to a humane morality. In such a nation, poverty and homelessness will be inconceivable.

Provide for the common defence

We fomented a rebellion against mother country and won. We subdued the Indians and by manifest destiny annexed a large part of Mexico. Efforts to do the same in Canada failed. We fought a civil war and the Union forces without a strong business environment, the United States could not compete with Europe, and in fact would promote debilitating dependency on European manufacturing and industry. The South in someways a surrogate for England was not particularly strong for business and industry. It took the Civil War to define our environment for business and industry and led to the development of the United States as the richest and most powerful nation on Earth and probably in history. The current decline in the fortunes of the United States—the world's largest debtor nation—is the result of the misguided policies of Nixon, Reagan and Bush with inadvertant help from Jimmy Carter in giving away the United States economic hegemony to Japan and Germany while amassing a huge debt, based upon purposefully falsified intelligence about the potential threat from the former Soviet Union. These policies will be reversed sooner or later, hopefully sooner, and the United States can resume it's destiny as the richest, most will find our partners (not client states) sharing the burden and the whole world will have grown up a little bit. The adage, "You can tell the men from the boys by the price of their toys," will not be applicable to our Defense Department then as it is now.

Promote the General Welfare

I believe this promise of the Preamble is widely misunderstood today to refer to our social welfare programs. Our social welfare programs would be largely obsolete if all citizens were enfranchised with their unalienable rights, which are rights not welfare. As long as we deliberately weaken, enervate, and disenfranchise our citizens, we will need social welfare programs.

What the phrase "Promote the General Welfare" meant to the framers was the promotion of our the economic welfare through the creation of a strong business community. Some of the most creative thinkes of the day, men like Hamilton and Madison, realized that prevailed. We fought on the side of the Allies in World War I and helped save the world for democracy. We emerged from World War II as the leader of the free world. Providing for the common defence no longer means the defence of the 13 original or the 50 present states but the common defence of the free world. Since we have voluntarily assumed the burden of defending the free world, we are paying the price of empire in which to exert our political hegemony. It is not only time for the United States to share the burden of paying for the common defence of the free world, it is time to start sharing the leadership role for the defence of the free world. Along with shared leadership will naturally follow shared costs. We as a nation can not claim to have all the answers, although we have a lot of them. We can not either be the policeman, the teacher, the ag extension agent, or moral philosophers for the free world. We cannot act democratically at home and dictatorially abroad. When we learn to share the authority and the responsibility we powerful nation on Earth by fullfilling its Constitutional imperative to promote the General Welfare.

Secure the blessings of liberty

What is liberty? What is freedom? Without an ecologically humane ecosystem, without domestic Tranquility, without the unalienable rights there can be no liberty, no freedom. How do the disadvantaged, the poor, the ignorant or the sick exercise their liberties? Liberty and freedom are conditions founded upon other conditions of ecological and economic equity. The great moral systems are based upon the concepts of good, right and just. The good, right and just do not flow from morality, morality flows from good, and just. Good can be conceived as the product(s) of the processes of humane ecosystems. Right can be considered the unalienable rights and just can be conceived as the ecological equity in the humane ecosystem. Taken together, when good, right, and just form the basis of human society liberty and freedom are the logical outcome.

The Institute for domestic Tranquility

ldT promotes the pacific arts and sciences as the basis of domestic Tranquility. IdT promotes research and education into the ecological aspects the society to promote understanding and the acceptance of ecology as a means of understanding and therefore hastening the development of the processes of humane ecosystems. IdT sees the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution as two great foundation stones upon which the edifice of a humane morality can be built.

Join with us in teaching (preaching) ecology, perfecting the Union and redeeming (saying) ourselves, the nation and the Earth. IdT needs your philosophical and scientific support. Help us think these things out. IdT needs your commitment. Write to us and tell us your ideas on ecology and human society. IdT needs your financial support. Help us build the concepts then help us get out the word. Write or call with your ideas, your contribution or pledge today.

...Ted Sudia...

© Copyright 1991
Institute for domestic Tranquility