CONSTITUTIONAL CONVERSATIONS
America Is Not Perfect but It Is Exceptional
by
M. E. Boyd, Esq., “Miss Constitution”
Miss Constitution is reminded of the several times she has witnessed parents with young children where it is obvious that the child is in charge. “No” to the candy bar at the check-out; “no” to the sweet soda in a cooler next to the candy; “no” to the potato chips and other addictive treats. Then the surrender and the reinforcement for the brief respite until another demand must be met. The parent never sought this result it just happens. It happens because parenting is hard. That is why our former standard was one parent working and one at home. That is why it takes all the energy and will for two adults to parent with integrity as it is difficult for one to do it alone.
The first requirement of excellent parenting is a deep love for the child. This deep love wants the child to learn those things that will ultimately be the baseline for the child’s purpose and fulfillment in life. What is natural to the child is to test that parenting and in testing it find out if that love is true and strong and solid. So, this is the irony – retaining control, the “no”, is the marker of that deep love and relinquishing it sends the inadvertent message that the love might not actually be there. The insecurity this causes in a child compels him or her to test ever more ardently and a vicious cycle has started. Eventually, another insecure adult is unleashed on the world.
If we think of America as the parent, with her Constitution and Rules of Law and other “no’s”, what message is she sending her children when she does not maintain those things? The rules established in our country over a long period of time are meant to guide the American people toward lives of wisdom and virtue. In America, each person has an unalienable right to personal Liberty and to the pursuit lawful happiness. It is the rules that make happiness possible. The message heard by some in our current social crisis is clear – “you don’t love me, and you never have loved me.” For some it is the excess that proves there is no love. The excessive toys and trinkets, the excessive unwarranted praise, the new car at age 16, the college education and the brainwashing included in that education, the room in the basement, the food fixed by someone else eaten alone in front of the newest computer, the unwillingness to volunteer, the resistance to helping out with chores, the refusal to visit a sick grandparent in the hospital, the repugnance of church with the family, the inability to think outside of one’s self about the feelings of others, the demand for unearned material success, and the inability to form secure long-lasting relationships based on trust and love.
For some it is not the excessive but the inattention and injury that proves there is no love. Your ancestors enslaved mine; you created laws that hurt me and thwarted my potential; you disrespected my parents; you burned down my church; you did everything possible to deliver a message to me that this country was not my country and that I was an interloper at best. Now you say you are sorry. Now you say that the unalienable right to Liberty is mine and should never have been denied me. Now you say that I can trust you. Now you say that you want to be a rightful parent and that you have a deep love for me. Now you say that all the racist laws are off the books and that there is general good will for me and for my people. How shall I test you? I shall test you by making it impossible for you to say “no.” I shall test you through a complex system of extortion that you will not be able to resist. I shall wear you down and exhaust you. I will never, ever believe you.
So, this is where we are in the view of Miss Constitution. And like many parents who have spent years with the issue of irreconcilability with their children, plus the behaviors that go along with it, what must happen to create a new beginning is hard but also easy if one’s love is true. Our country must say “no” to your violent behavior; “no” to your lawlessness; “no” to your cruelty; “no” to your destruction of other people’s property, “no” to your hubris, and “no” to your disloyalty to your country. We mean “no” and we will enforce “no.” That is our new beginning, the end to our nation’s enabling.
But what we want to introduce you to is an exceptional country with exceptional opportunity for those who want to test themselves, not their parents. America values Liberty and impartial justice. America has created an economic system of great efficiency and possible prosperity for all who live here. America asks that those who receive the benefit pass it on to others. America demands that all who live here give back and help out. America requires voluntary compliance with the rules of law that include the moral (right from wrong), the legal (statutes and ordinances), the natural (life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness), and the unwritten (courtesy and good will). America offers optimism not cynicism and energy not complacency. Those that are influencing you another way, into the darkness of hate, into the abyss of rebellion, will not be there for you when all is ruined.
We shall clean this mess up together. We shall start with a simple broom, we shall start as a real family, we shall start with building a trust, we shall learn what our educators have deliberately and maliciously denied us, we will not allow that old deluder Satan to carry us away, and we will make the promise of America a reality for as many as possible. It will not be perfect, but it is the last best hope for all humankind, and we are blessed by God to have the chance to make it right.
Copyright©2020 M. E. Boyd, Esq., “Miss Constitution”
APPLES OF GOLD – Voices from the past the Speak to us Now by M. E. Boyd is available at
www.amazon.com
