New feature coming: the U.S. Constitution
You may have seen a letter to the editor from area farmer Kennon Forester regarding meetings in Royal City every other Tuesday night sponsored by The Thomas Jefferson Center for Constitutional Studies.
The purpose of the meetings is to encourage citizens to learn what they can do to return the nation "to that path that was originally set forth" by the founders.
Forester and his wife Paula are co-chairpersons of the organization for the Northwest Region. They believe the country has lost sight of the Constitution. They are local Tea Party members, and they blame both political parties for what has happened.
The Foresters blame themselves, too. They really didn't start thinking much about the Constitution until they began noticing the rapid, unending growth of the federal government.
They decided to do something about that and started to study the Constitution in earnest. Now they are in a position to teach.
I spoke with Forester at length recently. He has agreed to write a series of short essays for us on the Constitution. They will be historical and politics-free.
Forester will re-introduce us to the men who wrote the Constitution. He will use their own words to explain what they were thinking and doing on each of the amendments.
You may be surprised at some of the facts. For instance, the Constitution took a long time to write.
The Constitution wasn't finished until 1787, 11 years after the Declaration of Independence. George Washington, who was trying to be retired, had to go to Philadelphia from Mt. Vernon to push the other founders over the final hurdles.
Using their own words, Forester will let the founders tell you why they took so long.
Another fact that may surprise you is that the last item to be written was the preamble, which is the lead-in to the Constitution.
Forester promises an educational and entertaining column. It will be strictly about the Constitution and how we got it.
The column should be valuable to newcomers to the country. And it wouldn't hurt us regular old Americans to learn the Constitution again.