Contributed by JP Turner
Our United States constitution is more important than any ideology that may be prevalent or individually important in our society today. In this time of division and separation our community and country need to find common ground. That common ground exists in a document that has been our national course of action for more than 200 years. We have charted our trajectory for over 2 centuries on the study and intuition of the leaders who founded our great nation. Party ideologies have been a part of American politics since its inception. This document gives us framework to govern but it does not set standards for the division in ideologies that we are living with every day and in every aspect of our lives as Americans today.
These divisions are not a new concept and have existed in American government since its inception. The Federalist and the Democratic Republican parties were at odds as early as the 1790s in respect to the power of a federal government, taxation, banking power and international policies. Our focus and scope through time has added but not changed from these original concerns. Today, human rights, minority rights, gun rights, abortion rights as well as the traditional discrepancies in opinion are what drives our voting majority.
These differences of opinion, these ideologies that represent all of us as Americans are our own and personal. They may be at the core of the way we identify ourselves, but they are ours alone and stand independent of the thoughts and feelings of other Americans.
This ideological separation of our country is something real and tangible to every person that feels the need to involve themselves in these issues. The natural course it seems is to pick sides and separate oneself from the opposing position.
The course of a national affinity and a broader view of our nation, as a whole, is the only answer to this problem that has so divided us. Our Constitution is our blueprint for governance. Our will to stand together as a nation, as Americas, our ability to see our neighbors as fellow Americans with different lives, different needs and different opinions is crucial to our ability to uphold our Constitution and keep our Republic in takt. Without consensus and understanding there will be no forward progress of our government other than division. This division could in turn lead to the end of this Republic as we know it.
Our Constitution and our nation depend on us as Americans to realize we are not in this alone. We have all Americans and their opinions and desires to contemplate in every decision we make. Our Countries future depends on it.
