Introduction

I'm not sure what exactly inspired me to study the Constitution.  I think I just realized one day that I was completely ignorant on the subject with only a basic understanding from what I learned in public school social studies classes, a course on political science in college, and a couple of School House Rocks clips.  I never was very interested in political science and figured I would leave it up to the experts to run our country.  I never felt that my one lonely opinion made much of a difference in a vastly populated country.  However, now I realize that it does.  I'm not satisfied with the current conditions of our country and I'm not so sure those in leadership positions are the so called "experts" I believed they were.

As an American I want to take a moment of my time each week and share what I learn about the Constitution and the foundation of our country.  Collectively those of us who care can make a huge difference.  My goal is to educate myself, my children, and  anyone interested in following this blog on what makes The United States of America the great country that it is and was meant to be.  I want to learn about the kind of people our Founding Fathers were and why they spent four arduous months drafting this document that has survived over 200 years.  I want to know what I need to do to protect it and keep this country strong.  I want to be able to watch the news and better understand what they are talking about and be able to intelligently form my own opinion.  I want to feel smart.

Surely my opinion and my faith will be interjected among the facts that I present.  But my goal is to present a factual and accurate description, picture, story (whatever you want to call it) of the Constitution.  I don't claim to have perfect grammar, sophisticated vocabulary, or eloquence of speech.  I pretty much just write what is in my head.  I hope to post a lot of quotes from our Founding Fathers.

So here it goes.  I am now your new Professor (is it blasphemous to call myself a professor when I'm not really one?) for Constitution 101.  The syllabus is a work in progress.  I plan to teach as I learn.  You can reap the benefits of my summarizations and paraphrasing of the text and books that I read.  Hopefully you will read along with me too and make thoughtful and respectful comments that we can all ponder.

I'll end this post with a quote from Thomas Jefferson.  He strongly promoted education, especially that of the common people.

"Above all things I hope the education of the common people will be attended to ; convinced that on their good sense we may rely with the most security for the preservation of a due degree of liberty." - Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, December 20, 1787 (about 3 months after the signing of the Constitution.)

So let us educate ourselves and use our common sense to keep us free.