TWO UNKNOWNS I often think of how grateful we ought to be as citizens of a nation of our very own, marked as being distinctive in many ways, ought to be especially grateful for two things we do not know.
Such negative philosophy is not often applauded, or even mentioned in public, less we be thought of as being inherently stupid and unaware of what makes us “tick” as a governing mechanism designed and built by men and women not unlike our own sum and substance.
During recent weeks with all the hassle about those elected officials we insist on calling “Senators” have been engaged in playing an enlarged version of a silly little poly-play game called “filibustering “. If it gets started, one side has to keep talking to prevent the other side cannot say anything... and it's all said to be legal, too. I have been wondering what might have been fermenting in the mind of Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia
who is now is now the sole remaining super-filler-blustering champion since Strom Thurmond stopping talking and hence, assumed to be dead. Byrd is no slouch at it and kicks off bluster like he does one of his endless fiddle tunes.
Back in 1999 we were in a snit about putting our entire Constitution of our States United on line along with a time-line study which would tell exactly what it had been, what it seemed to be then, and to guess-to-mate and what it might be to us for us now in the next century. Some wanted to do a “plain” text version which would enable all know what the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation and other such documents said and how the Constitution's writers are supposed to have summed it all up.
One of enduring qualities of our present system is that it cannot be pinned down absolutely and definitely to favor a specific concept without allowing for potential changes and modifications. Cataloging the nationals Constitution in such a way would have been a tragic thing , and it is entirely possible that it will all come up again that faction wish to do so.
And, I am in favor of retaining the “Star-Spangled Banner” as our national anthem, too I may not sing it well; I may not play it properly to keep the high note within reasonable distance, but I have felt” what it can mean - on several occasions in my life time. A simple little tune invites parodies and demeans our being what we ought to be.
A.L.M. May 25, 2005 [c442wds]
