Why does the US Constitution say, “We the people…” when the
document really means “We, the white land-owning men…”?
You would have to get in your time machine, don your time
appropriate garments and head back to 1775 Philadelphia for the answer.
Of course, the real answer lies many years, if not centuries
or even millennia earlier when the ‘weaker sex’ relied on men to bring home
the bacon, a beaver, or a buffalo and provide safety.
But before you make like Anne Boleyn, let me assure you this
will not be a very long history lesson on the minority rule of men. It will
merely be a roundabout way of showing that while ‘the squeaky wheel gets the
oil’, ‘might makes right’ is still the rule.
There are several more aphorisms that could be used but
after a while they may take the reader’s attention away from my purpose, so I’ll
stop before it’s too late, and strike while the iron is hot!
(Sorry, I couldn't resist.)
In law there is something called, ‘Adverse Possession’ which
is generally used with regards to land ownership, but I will stretch it’s use a
bit here for reasons which will become painfully clear.
Adverse possession states that if someone owns, or claims to
own, or has in his possession, that which he was not originally entitled to,
for a prolonged period, without dispute by the original owner, then ownership
is given to the usurper.
The idea and practice comes from England, which just so
happens to be where the United States came from.
So, where does adverse possession fit into the argument about
“We the people”?
White, land-owning men have seemingly owned all other groups
of human beings in America ever since arriving here from England, so, QED.
And since the above has only been disputed a handful of
times, albeit successfully, the rule still stands and can be reinstated at any
time!
Two such successful disputes involved 'squeaky-wheel' suffragettes, and equally 'squeaky-wheeled' African
Americans marching for Civil Rights.
However, it now seems that the people noted in the Constitutionally
cited, “We the People”, have decided that enough is enough.
They have started to
rescind the hard-fought for and won rights of decades past.
Well, not all the “We the People´ have decided the above.
A mere five to four simple-minded; single-minded, simple
majority on the Supreme Court of the United States is simply about to do so.
With a stroke of their conservative pen, those five
individuals will strike down the first right from a list they should hold sacrosanct; that
of women being allowed to control their own bodies.
The archaic reason is, after all, they have been possessions
of white men since before this Nation even began and were merely on loan to themselves.
And once “We the People” have taken care of women’s health
issues, their right to vote against their husband’s wishes could be next.
Rescinding the rights of those they consider inferior sects of
our citizenry will follow, as all the dominoes will topple, and America will
finally be ‘taken back’.
But no time machine is needed to stop that which would
appear to be inevitable.
No new revolutionary war, or civil war be started, or rather
continued.
The first shot heard round the world has been fired.
Now is the time for all good “We the People" - "All the People” to stand
up and be heard before their voices are, like Poe’s Raven said, heard NEVERMORE!
