'The greatest political privilege' - Never forget how blessed we are

President Calvin Coolidge once opined that, “To live under the American Constitution is the greatest political privilege… ever accorded to the human race.”

He was right. The Constitution truly is, as William Ewart Gladstone, former Prime Minister of Britain, put it in 1878, “the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man.” We have been blessed beyond measure—beyond comprehension—to live for 234 years under the most exceptional governing document in the world, which, in turn, has made us into the most exceptional nation in the world. We ought all join Thomas Jefferson “cordially in admiring and revering the Constitution of the United States, the result of the collected wisdom of our country.”

But today, we have instead disvalued our U.S. Constitution, disvalued our great American heritage. Far from “admiring and revering the Constitution,” we have dismissed it as a slaveholders’ document. Our politicians, in particular, seem to hold the view that the nation’s self-declared “supreme law of the land” is outdated, outmoded, and otherwise obsolete. They find little use for it but to occasionally vaunt it—disingenuously—to bash the opposing political party for “not being constitutional enough,” as if anyone in Washington cared. At this point, that’s all it is to them—a prop in their arsenal of meaningless platitudes.

But in so deprecating that blessed document, we are only robbing ourselves; robbing ourselves of a wealth of political wisdom tested and proved by the epochs of human history. Yes, the Constitution has presided over its share of dark chapters—slavery, a trail of tears, civil war, segregation, and internment camps, to name a few. But what makes the Constitution exceptional is that it survived, ensuring a stabilizing thread between the dark and bright phases of our nation.

America has radically “reinvented” herself many times. From an isolated pack of thirteen states to a global superpower, from “half slave and half free” to the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments in less than ten years, from vicious segregation to the glorious triumph of civil rights, these are monumental changes that would threaten to topple most any other society. But not ours. Through all our growing pains on the path to a more perfect Union, the Constitution has remained. We have had to alter it, but we have not yet had to “abolish it.” We have laid our foundations and organized our powers in such form as to effect safety and happiness for millions. Not always to everyone. Not always perfectly. But the bedrock—the promissory note—has always been there. And in that sense, I suppose, America never truly has “reinvented” herself—she has simply come to herself. The Constitution has enabled us to do that.

Such political stability should not be taken for granted. Unfortunately, it is. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have forgotten how good we really have it, how blessed we are to enjoy “the greatest political privilege… ever accorded to the human race.” And in our forgetfulness, we risk losing it all. We stand at the vault of liberty, its funds marked sufficient, and we risk throwing it all away.

And for what? Ingratitude? Ignorance? Yes, both. As historian David McCollough once said, “We have to value what our forebears… did for us, or we’re not going to take it very seriously, and it can slip away. If you don’t care about it—if you’ve inherited some great work of art that is worth a fortune and you don’t know that it’s worth a fortune, you don’t even know that it’s a great work of art and you’re not interested in it—you’re going to lose it.” That, my friends, is what we must guard against.

This week, as we celebrate Constitution Week, we must revitalize interest in and appreciation for the Constitution and the freedoms enshrined within those fading words. “No free government, or the blessings of liberty can be preserved to any people, but by frequent recurrence to fundamental principles," George Mason once reminded us. Indeed, we cannot expect to continue to bask in freedom, prosperity, and stability if we reject our governing lodestar, if we reject the not-so-secret secret to our success.

To that end, Convention of States is hard at work to preserve the Constitution through the unused half of Article V. To join us in that mission—and in fulfilling generations of Americans’ dreams for a more perfect Union—sign the Convention of States petition below and get involved today.