Speech on Constitution

[Thalassamania]

I think you guys have it wrong. It is my belief that the Constitution DOES set forth obligations and responsibilities of the citizens towards the govt -- including, but not limited to:

a. Duty to be informed -- to be a "good citizen" of the US -- that is, to understand the nature of government and what it can do/should do (two different things)

b. Obligation to be involved -- the Constitution defines a large part of the "social contract" among us all -- without involvment by an informed citizenry, the social contract would fall apart

Without an informed and involved citizenry, the USofA would fall apart. What you all seemed to have missed is that WE ARE the United States of America as defined by the Constitution. As such, we have all of the duties and responsibilities of being a citizen -- those duties and responsibilities flowing up to the Govt, down from the Govt and across to all the other citizens.

I think you could make a very nice speech based on that premise.

With all due respect (and I agree with you in principle) the Constitution does not address any of the concerns that you raise. If one chooses to be a "good" citizen, that's great ... bur there's no requirement.

 

[JahJahwarrior]

some quotes in my second try at it:

“It is not the function of our Government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the Government from falling into error.” is the way Justice Robert Jackson put it.


Voting is indeed very important, as Dr. Eric Williams said in a speech on the first day of Trinidad's freedom from Great Britain, “Democracy, finally, rests on a higher power than Parliament. It rests on an informed and cultivated and alert public opinion. The members of Parliament are only reprsentatives of the citizens.”


I would like to end with a quote from James Garfield, the twentieth president of the United States. “Now more than ever before, the people are responsible for the character of their congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness and corruption. If it be intelligent, brave and pure, it is because the people demand these high qualities to represent them in the national legislature...”

 

[Thalassamania]

I think you guys have it wrong. It is my belief that the Constitution DOES set forth obligations and responsibilities of the citizens towards the govt -- including, but not limited to:

a. Duty to be informed -- to be a "good citizen" of the US -- that is, to understand the nature of government and what it can do/should do (two different things)

b. Obligation to be involved -- the Constitution defines a large part of the "social contract" among us all -- without involvment by an informed citizenry, the social contract would fall apart

Without an informed and involved citizenry, the USofA would fall apart. What you all seemed to have missed is that WE ARE the United States of America as defined by the Constitution. As such, we have all of the duties and responsibilities of being a citizen -- those duties and responsibilities flowing up to the Govt, down from the Govt and across to all the other citizens.

I think you could make a very nice speech based on that premise.

I think you could make a very nice speech based on that premise.[/quote]With all due respect (and I agree with you in principle) the Constitution does not address any of the concerns that you raise. If one chooses to be a "good" citizen, that's great ... but there's no requirement.

Consider:

If I may venture the suggestion, it would be well for the statesmen of the world, in planning for the erection of this world court, to study what has been done in the United States by the Supreme Court. I cannot help thinking that the Constitution of the United States, notably in the establishment of the Supreme Court and in the methods adopted for securing peace and good relations among and between the different states, offers certain valuable analogies to what should be striven for in order to secure, through the Hague courts and conferences, a species of world federation for international peace and justice.

 

[RJP]

Remember, the audience (70-80yr old veterans) fought for their COUNTRY not their GOVERNMENT.

They shed blood and died "so that others might live free" not so that "the government might carry on."

 

[JahJahwarrior]

So.....

What about some points for a speech ? I can handle the intro and conclusion, it's the middle I need help on.

So maybe I should attack it from an angle of obligations to our country.....how can I tie the constitituion in?

we are obligated to: ____________________ in order to protect our country and brethren


?!? For once in my life, I'd rather work on physics homework than a speech. Even impromptu speaking is easier than writing a speech on a vague topic for 80 year old veterans where there is money involved.

 

[RJP]

Did you poke around their website at all?

One of their stated objectives is "to inculcate a sense of individual obligation to the community, state and nation"

That reads to me like "individual obligation to each other", not to the government.

Take their preamble and turn it into the outline for a speech:

Preamble to the Constitution of The American Legion
For God and Country

We associate ourselves together for the following purposes:

To uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America; to maintain law and order; to foster and perpetuate a one hundred percent Americanism; to preserve the memories and incidents of our associations in the Great Wars; to inculcate a sense of individual obligation to the community, state and nation; to combat the autocracy of both the classes and the masses; to make right the master of might; to promote peace and goodwill on earth; to safeguard and transmit to posterity the principles of justice, freedom and democracy; to consecrate and sanctify our comradeship by our devotion to mutual helpfulness.

 

[adurso]

As stated by others there are NO duties nor obligations owed to the government by Constitutional guidelines. Yet there are IMPLIED duties and obligations. As other posters have pointed out essentially citizens get the government they deserve, so it might be said that there is an obligation to make oneself aware of the issues involved in government and to exercise one's franchise. The Constitution exists to defend citizens from government, but speaking as one of the "old" Legion guys (though not quite 70-80) citizens do have an affirmative duty to defend the Constitution. This is part of the oath service members, police officers, and some politicians take.

The defence of the country is an ideal, the defence of the Constitution is an ideal, people actually fight and die for ideals (actually they fight and die for their kin groups, but you don't want to get into that unless you are addressing a group of honest combat veterans) so the ideal duty is the defence of the embodiment of the country, that being the document upon which all freedoms are based, the Constitution of the United States of America

 

[JahJahwarrior]

I poked around a little bit, but the design is decently poor...I've seen worse but they don't have an extremely user friendly or well done layout.

I'll see if I can turn their preamble into a speech somehow....

and I think what they are going for is some sort of "obligation to defend and uphold the Constitution" sort of thing. It's very cliche in a way, I think. It seems like they have the same topic every year.

 

[JahJahwarrior]

Okay, what about an idea working with this:

Obligation to country, nation, not to government. Constitution forms our nation and our government, and lays out ways we can protect our nation by holding our government in check.


possible points would include ways we can get involved and protectour nation by holding our ogvernment in check, like voting, petitioning our representatives and by joining the military (congress has right to keep one, and to institute drafts, but you can join of your own free will)

thoughts?

 

[RJP]

Okay, what about an idea working with this:

Obligation to country, nation, not to government. Constitution forms our nation and our government, and lays out ways we can protect our nation by holding our government in check.

In general I like it, and perhaps semantic but the idea of "keep the government in check" is a bit adversarial. We should not let the government get to the point of needing to be "checked."

If everyone stayed involved, informed, etc the government would not get to the point of needing to be "checked."

They talk about "Americanism" and maybe that would be the answer to the problem. If we had a more involved/engaged citizenry then the government wouldn't need to be "checked"

Make "Americanism" the next MOVEMENT. Forget feminism, environmentalism, etc

Lobby for "Americanism" as the answer to all of the countries woes!