Originalist | The Professor's Convatorium

Here comes the historian in me so watch out! You have been warned. 😉

I have a deep indignation for modern Originalists. That is, Constitutional Originalists. Thomas Jefferson once said:

“The question Whether one generation of men has a right to bind another, seems never to have been started either on this or our side of the water… (But) between society and society, or generation and generation there is no municipal obligation, no umpire but the law of nature. We seem not to have perceived that, by the law of nature, one generation is to another as one independent nation to another…

On similar ground it may be proved that no society can make a perpetual constitution, or even a perpetual law. The earth belongs always to the living generation…

Every constitution, then, and every law, naturally expires at the end of 19. years. If it be enforced longer, it is an act of force and not of right.”
— Thomas Jefferson, Letter to James Madison, 1789

And a renown early 19th-century French aristocrat, diplomat, sociologist, political scientist, political philosopher, and historian named Alexis de Tocqueville, who had influence upon our Founding Fathers, wrote:

“The greatness of America lies not in being more enlightened than any other nation, but rather in her ability to repair her faults.”
— Alexis de Tocqueville, “Democracy in america,”1835

How, in any possible way, does Tocqueville misunderstand the founding of our 18th-century infant country and its Constitutional precepts and foundations? Does his point-of-view solicit any form of stagnation or Originalism? Those are rhetorical questions; of course he firmly grasps what America’s ongoing “experiment” was and is supposed to be each decade. It was absolutely designed to be a work in progress. It was never meant to be a final “perfect” nation, at any time, where no further repairs, fixes, or amendments are no longer required. No, a real democracy must evolve with the times. Period.

At least half of Americans, that’s a minimum of 170.5-million Americans, do not understand what democracy is or what it looks like. They’d rather be lazy and automatons, being told what to do and what to believe. This is colossally disturbing! I can’t emphasize this enough. Therefore, let me share this fantastic symposium on CSPAN that took place this past Nov. 2023. The panelists are SO spot-on about the naïve half of Americans today:

If you are unable to watch this great symposium in your country, try this link below:

https://www.c-span.org/video/?531605-3/2023-george-washington-symposium-founders

Yes, it is an hour and a half long, but believe me when I say this, it is so very worth the time! Do you really and truly know what an imperfect, but improving democracy looks like and how it is supposed to operate—that is, a “government of the people” operates “for the people, by the people…“?

“*E Pluribus Unum,” are we there or have we lost it?*

Most, or too many Americans today, honestly do not know or certainly couldn’t explain democracy in detail, especially from a national standpoint. They most typically explain “democracy” from their own personal interests and individual and/or familial beliefs. But that narrow perspective is wrong. It does not reflect what our six Core Founding Fathers designed, drafted, and then ratified into law throughout our Charters of Freedom.

A Gilded Age cartoon depicting monopolists intensely watching the activities of the United States Congress. This cartoon depicts the elites as bloated giants, resembling large money bags, almost suggesting that they run Congress through financial means. Wikimedia

This present condition in American culture begs several questions.

Why and how has this happened after only a 248-year “experiment”? Are we teaching our tech-savvy, tech-obsessed youth the core fundamentals of a Constitutional democracy? Why are so few of our youth and young adults have ambitions to be public servants via government, military personnel, or election officials? What are the causes of this void in America’s youth? Is it economic opportunities and greater wealth in and from the private sectors? If so, how does that change in the 21st-century? What are the current American values and/or what should they be?

I’m curious to read your feedback and comments to these questions below.

Live Well – Love Much – Laugh Often – Learn Always