The Constitution: Read it and Pass it On

The Constitution: Read it and Pass it On
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First a pop quiz:

How many articles are in the Constitution of the United States?

a. Eight

b. Twenty-Four

c. Twelve

d. I don’t know.

If you answered any of the above, join the club. I didn’t know either. The correct answer is SEVEN. I was prompted to look this up this morning after reading that President-elect Donald Trump had referred to Article Twelve of the Constitution in a meeting with House Republicans (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/05/opinion/trumps-threat-to-the-constitution.html). Many of my friends and colleagues have been in deep mourning since the election. But although I was very upset about Trump’s victory, I hadn’t had that level of feeling about it. Until today.

What was it about this article that made me shiver with fear? Was it that the soon-to-be president of the United States clearly did not have command of the document upon which our government is based? Was it that Trump’s ignorance of the Constitution wasn’t enough to keep him from being elected to the highest office in the land? Was it the scary thundercloud-laden photo that the Times paired with the article? Was it that I was reading it at 5 am?

I realized that what made me most afraid was that I didn’t know the Constitution. I’m not a lawyer, but I’m a physician who was educated at two Ivy-League institutions and who is currently a professor at one of them. I took an elective on law in the 11th grade, but that might have been the last time I actually read the Constitution cover-to-cover. I vote, I read the paper, but I was fuzzy on the law of the land.

Sitting at the kitchen table, I googled “The US Constitution.” The first thing that popped up was the White House website. There, headed by a shot of the iconic “We the People” preamble on parchment, was the whole Constitution – with commentary. I started to read. It’s a beautiful document. Hamilton is currently in vogue, but James Madison is generally credited with writing the Constitution. Of course, he’s had help over the years in the form of amendments, but it’s quite a piece. Short, well-written, complex, brilliant, flawed. It reminds me of the Torah - everything is in it. Once I decided to read the Torah every week, parsha by parsha – just to get to know it. Millions of people read the Torah every week. But not the Constitution.

A great introduction to the Constitution is Chapter 3 of Barack Obama’s book The Audacity of Hope. “School House Rock” is another fun way in – especially if you’re a baby boomer who watched a lot of TV in the 70’s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EfnNUt_nwY. Seven articles that outline the government, and 27 amendments. Did I work like a dog to get the ERA passed in 1980 to no avail? You betcha. But that doesn’t make the Constitution any less amazing. It lives, it breathes. Like all incredible texts, it is both clear as day and subject to dramatically different interpretations. That’s the way it grows with us while keeping us rooted in the things make us Americans.

So why on earth would Donald Trump think that it had twelve articles? Either he hasn’t read it or he has a bad memory. Or he just doesn’t care. But we can care. And that’s about more than saying that we went to see Hamilton. If you’ve watched enough cop shows you know about “taking the 5th” but do you really know what the “5th” says? You should!

Here’s an idea: read the Constitution. It’s not long. In fact, here it is - https://www.whitehouse.gov/1600/constitution. Read it in your book club. Read it on the subway. Read it over breakfast. Read it to help your kids go to sleep at night. Read it in an hour or read it for the rest of your life. Read it and pass it on. Read it to know your rights, the way the country is put together, and who is in charge of what. Because these days, if you don’t know, maybe no one will.

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