Happy Constitution Day to you all

I am not, by any means, a fan of United States Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia, but today I must tip my hat to him for his effort to see that we have this day to celebrate. Yes, this day – Sept. 17. Today is Constitution Day.
Sen. Byrd placed an amendment in the Omnibus spending bill of 2004 which created this day to honor our country’s supreme document of law. Unfortunately, it seems Sen. Byrd and his many cohorts on Capitol Hill only pretend to honor our nation’s most important document. Many times they seem to view it as nothing more than a floor mat to wipe their feet upon.
But, still, I have to give Sen. Byrd proper credit for creating a holiday to recognize the ratification of the United States Constitution which was signed on Sept. 17, 1787 – 222 years ago today. The bill passed by Sen. Byrd and the United States Senate, and of course by the United States House of Representatives, does not just present us with an opportunity to honor the Constitution; it requires our schools to teach our children about this important document on this very day. I wonder if that is being done.
I asked a couple of local teachers about their plans for Constitution Day and they looked at me with blank stares and asked, “What’s that?”
Well, that was very disappointing to me. The law which created Constitution Day mandates that all publicly funded educational institutions provide educational programs on the history of the Constitution on Sept. 17 of each year. This law applies to any school that receives any federal funds. Schools that fail to observe Constitution Day and provide educational programs should, in my opinion, lose all federal funds. But, that is just my opinion.
Because most of you who are reading this column today are not attending a publicly funded educational institution, I want to share some information on the United States Constitution so that you will not feel left out on this important holiday. The first thing I want you to know is how stable this document has been over the course of its 222 years. There have been only 27 changes to it in that time – well, if you consider the inclusion of the Bill of Rights in 1892, there have been only 17 changes.
Now, do not think that there have not been attempts to make changes over the years. In fact, there have been over 10,000 proposed changes to the Constitution in 222 years. Fortunately, the great majority of those proposed changes have been rejected. Why is that? Well, I like to think it is because the document was so finely crafted by our Founding Fathers that very few of the proposed changes were necessary.
Some proposed amendments to the Constitution which were not approved over the years include an attempt to forbid religious leaders from holding public office (1876), replacing the office of President with an Executive Council of Three (1878), renaming this nation the “United States of the Earth” (1893), abolishing the United States Army and Navy (1893), an attempt to limit personal wealth to $1 million (1933), an attempt to set the maximum income tax level for an individual at 25 percent (1947) and an attempt to abolish the United States Senate (1876). If they had included the abolishing the United States House of Representatives in that last one I listed, it might have passed. I’m sure it would receive strong consideration today if left up to a vote of the people. There are several on that list that are probably still under consideration and still have a shot at being approved. As for limiting an individual’s income tax rate to 25 percent, well that will never pass. Politicians are always trying to take more of our money away from us and 25 percent is just too low for them to waste time stealing. How could they expect us to repay them for all the recent bailouts they made with our money at that income tax rate? Get real.
Since the passage of the 18th Amendment, there has been a seven-year time limit for ratification of changes to the Constitution – sort of. The seven-year rule has been the norm, but it did not apply to the 27th Amendment. It took nearly 203 years for that one to get approval. The 27th Amendment was first proposed on Sept. 25, 1789 and finally approved on May 7, 1992. The amendment prevents senators and representatives from changing the compensation for their positions prior to an election cycle.
It sure did not take our local officials 203 years to change the compensation for their positions. They did within about six months of being elected and made the change take effect immediately. And with that biased statement, I have just provided you with an example of what the Constitution provides each of us in its 1st Amendment – the right of free speech. You have a lot of other rights provided to you by the Constitution. I hope you take the time to read this document and learn what those rights are before they are taken away from you. Happy Constitution Day!