Janine Turner: Time For A 180, America

We the People need to turn around and look back at our Constitution and the Federalist Papers for guidance on how to move our nation forward in this time of crisis. We must join together in a unifying mission to become aware of what is in these great documents. Let’s get cracking and do 90 readings in 90 days.

I was driving my mother’s car the other day and I commented on how small her rearview mirrors were. My rearview mirrors are big because, as a Texan, I drive a large SUV that I use to work my ranch. As I was looking out of her rearview mirrors, I wondered, as a Constitutionalist (my new self-definition), about whether Americans have something in common with rearview mirrors. Is the traditional American view — the basis of our country, our thesis, our founding principles, our United States Constitution — receding in our rearview mirrors? Are we, as a country, driving away from these founding principles?

In order to be a more perfect union in today’s environment we need to be more aware. Without awareness there can be no subsequent resulting action as citizens. Trying to evaluate legislation and governmental action without a knowledge of the Constitution is a lot like sitting in the passenger seat as the driver moves ahead in the dark – without headlights. An enlightened people were the hope and the engine of our new Republic in the 18th century. It is no different today.

But wait, maybe a better metaphor is better represented as the driver of a car moving forward toward the results of a horrendous earthquake – an earthquake that has left a deep, uneven division on the land. Thrust upon the divide are the clumps of dry parched land left to bake in the sun – the American Republic, the America loved and cherished by many patriots of yesterday and today.

As we look to the future with angst and thirst for righteousness we realize we must look back in our rearview mirrors. The nourishment our land needs is already available to cultivate the soil, to fertilize the country of America and her people. In the rearview we see the vitamins and minerals we need. — They are in the United States Constitution and its companion piece, The Federalist, or The Federalist Papers.

In these documents are all the answers America needs but to solve the riddle of how we move forward we must read them! We must join together in a unifying mission to become aware of what is in these great documents and to understand them. We should no longer let Washington, D.C., our representatives, the bureaucracy, or Obama administration officials do our thinking for us. Ignorance enables them to get away with all of the things we do not understand.

If we are to protest or approve of the actions of the three branches of our government we must do so with a foundation of knowledge. We must educate ourselves and we must educate our children. It is like preparing for the great debate. As a nation we are either moving away from our Constitution, watching it shrink in the rearview mirror, or we are turning around and driving toward it.