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I cherish the Constitution, but not as a lover might.
Its concept was special, its adoption historic.
But it is not perfect; it was never perfect.
Nor was it Christian or ordained by God.
It does not govern the Promised Land
Nor privilege those who believe it does.
I cherish the Constitution; I do not worship it.
It was written by wise men;
It was not written by perfect men.
Some framers were not wise,
Perhaps not even virtuous.
The pact was a product of compromise,
For compromise is sometimes necessary,
Even compromise with evil.
The framers are rightly viewed as heroes,
As prescient solons of a new order,
But they saw the future through a glass darkly.
They did not foresee the rise of parties
Or that their checks and balances
Would not always check and balance.
Yet heroes they remain.
They thought imperfections could be corrected,
That the “more perfect Union” might, when necessary,
Be made more perfect still.
The text could not remain stable forever,
So they provided a mechanism for change,
Though change was made difficult,
And it has become harder still.
One oversight was promptly corrected;
Amendments limited government reach.
I cherish that Bill of Rights,
Even if its meaning is sometimes distorted.
I value my freedom to speak, to worship as I see fit,
To benefit from a constrained legal system.
But the Bill did not assure control of our own bodies.
The Constitution had one ruinous flaw,
Allowing the peculiar institution to flourish.
The house divided could indeed not stand;
The exploitation of millions
Was expiated by the deaths of hundreds of thousands.
The carnage brought forth a new birth of freedom
In an amended Constitution.
The Constitution promised freedom—
Freedom from King and Parliament,
Limited freedom, but freedom nonetheless.
Over time, liberty has expanded,
Though it has not always flourished;
We embrace freedom today,
And long tomorrow for a circumscribed past.
The presidency was a new idea—
Of a person chosen, not born.
A locus of authority unlike that of a king.
Presidents have been giants;
Others have been inadequate.
Each has changed the nation,
Some for good, some not.
The framers could not have known
The importance of the Supreme Court
And the consequences of life tenure.
The court has extended law and sometimes liberty
In Marbury, Brown, Miranda, Roe,
and Loving.
But there have also been missteps
Like Dred Scott, Plessy, Korematsu,
Bush, Citizens United, Dobbs, and Trump.
Having a Senate was a fine idea,
But are not the people of California
As important as those of Wyoming?
Such disparities were not anticipated.
Nor was a filibuster,
A monstrous yet consequential invention
Found nowhere in the Constitution.
The House is democratic,
At least in principle.
But members represent increasingly more people,
For which the Constitution is innocent.
Lobbyists have influence,
But ordinary people have little.
Surely, this was unintended.
We have a republic
Though a less-than-democratic one.
The Electoral College
Teaches that votes count unequally.
Gerrymandering skews results.
Partisan primaries skew results.
Corporate money skews results.
I cherish the Constitution,
But it can be hard to love.
Its spirit is often violated,
And its faults exploited.
Can we correct its faults?
Can we control greed and lust for power?
Perhaps. Perhaps not.
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