A Birthday Invitation

Guess who's turning 219 years old? The Constitution of the United States! Sept. 18 is the anniversary of the world's oldest still-in-force governing charter.

You're cordially invited to celebrate. No presents are expected--a quick reading would do the honors. Don't think it's exciting enough? Thousands of Americans who've argued its implications and died in its defense might disagree with you.

Americans once revered the Constitution with a respect second only to that of scripture. It was considered the result of a Providential gathering of statesmen who were able to wisely place a new nation on a beneficial course. Our zeal for defending legacies, however, whether of faith or of founding documents, is not what it once was.

Whether one gives God any credit for the Constitution or not, it is widely acknowledged the document is a remarkable distillation of the human experience of governance. It is, at the same time, a principled document and a pragmatic one. It calls for the best of expectations, and safeguards against the worst of mankind's tendencies. It seeks to strike the delicate balance enunciated by Alexander Hamilton:

"In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men the great difficulty lies in this: You must first enable the government to control the governed, and in the next place, oblige it to control itself."

Whatever the document's flaws--and as a human invention they are many--no other system of governance has so succinctly and effectively straddled that challenge. By building on a foundation of ageless truths and a realistic assessment of fallen man, the Constitution deserves the devotion of every generation--devotion that could never safely be entrusted to any human leader, however benevolent they may first appear. Principle, not power, is meant to be the foundation of our government.

Once again this legacy is being attacked by enemies, foreign and domestic. What, then, does it say when our society laughs at the idea of transcendent principle... and is largely ignorant of the covenant that binds our nation?