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Holidays

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Today is a good day to think about what you stand for; what are your principals and the truths you hold to be self-evident?  It’s National Constitution Day!

On this day in 1787, the Constitution of the United States was signed.  It still had to be ratified and accepted by the states which would take 2 more years, but today is the day 39 men gathered in agreement to sign their collaborative work after understanding the Articles of Confederation needed revising.  Since 1787, the U.S. Consitution is still the spine of our government. Regardless of how rigid in their views at the time, those original 39 authors, expected and made provisions for changes they knew would be necessary. Maybe it is because their aim wasn’t to simply satisfy their own needs but to create an inclusive document that reflected the needs and wants of citizens during their time. The Constitution has been and revised 27 times. Since 1787 the definition of a citizen has changed as have the needs and wants of citizens.  Today is a good day to think about change.

Celebrate by reading the Constitution of the United States.  Have a dinner party, discuss it with friends and ask yourselves, in light of today’s circumstances, what changes are needed for today’s “citizens”?  We the People…

HOLIDAY ON MY FRIENDS!!!

Today’s References:  U.S. Constitution, History, Art & Archives, Scholastic, History

Holidays

Tweed, not Tweet!

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jacket_tweed_3How fitting that today is Tweed Day!  Not because you are stunting in your tweed jacket, but because it’s “Politics Gone Wild” out here.  Rather than calling attention to your sophisticated sense of style, Tweed Day is calling you to pay attention to politics and the possible corruption taking place.

“Boss Tweed” born, William Magear Tweed, is most known for stealing millions of dollars from New York City in the mid-1800, while serving in a political office and as the “Boss” of Tammany Hall.  Get the entire story from Wikipedia or Biography. That’s not what I do here.  But, stealing millions of dollars in the 1800’s is like a billion dollars today, right.   So, the point of today is not to celebrate this crook, but to remind us to get involved in our local, state, and the federal government.  I suggest you:

  1. Find a cause you are passionate about and join a local activists organization of like minded people trying to make a difference.  It’s not enough to complain on Facebook and Twitter.  Who are you, Donald Trump?  You’ll never get anything done that way.
  2.  Know more about U.S. government than the most recent legal immigrants.  Refresh your basic government knowledge.  There are three branches of government and Washington D.C. is not a state, although they would like to be.   I found this video to help you out – Introduction: Crash Course U.S. Government and Politics.  This guy is funny and informed!
  3. Watch the news once a week, so you don’t become the physical manifestation of “duh” in the next political conversation you accidentally wander into trying to get to the food tray at a social function.
  4. Finally, if you are of age, please register to vote.  It does matter and I can’t believe I still find myself having this conversation with adults.

As individual citizens, we can feel very removed from politics, but we don’t have to be. When we come together, our voices matter.   Just read the Consitution and think about how some of those amendments got there.  It wasn’t because people sat around wishing for a change to come.

Let’s do better.  Otherwise, we’ll wind up with an inexperienced celebrity as our next president.

HOLIDAY ON MY FRIENDS!