Peace is the highest aspiration of the American people. We will NEGOTIATE for it.
We will not surrender for it.
Now or ever.
We are Americans.
— President Ronald ReaganThe pronoun “we” has meaning. And I gave it some more thought than just a rote repetition.
The collective “we” formed a Constitutional Democratic Republic with the purposes and goals outlined in the Preamble and the details fleshed out in the body of that Constitution which has governed our nation since 1789.
The Supreme Court has held that the words in the Preamble are nothing more than wishes and supplications and create no legal obligation—”precatory” language and not the law. However, as John Adams said, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” I believe these words have some application to the citizens of this United States, and place an obligation on “we the people”. Cotton Mather reminds us that “Religion (virtue) brought forth Prosperity, and the daughter destroyed the mother.” So we have a role to play beyond casting votes.
The “we” is “us”. It is “you”. It is “me” – a grammatical category of pronouns and verbs the speaker uses to refer to or talk about himself or herself with others. Yeah that’s us.
The Preamble of the Constitution adds weight and meaning to the “we.”
The “we” embodies the core principle of the American Government—the power of our government is derived from the people it serves—we, the people. Our collective wishes are to be guided and governed by our laws and justice. This was earth-shattering during a time when monarchies ruled through the Divine Right of Kings. You can thank Locke, Montesque, Polybius, Rousseau, Plato, and others from the Enlightenment for this gift.
No tyranny of the majority, no factions. Just separation of powers, checks and balances, bill of rights, and a democratically elected representative of the people they serve.
Who are “we”?
WE ARE AMERICANS.
Be careful —
Who you are.
Who you stand with.
What you stand for.
When you make that stand.
Where you are standing.
And why.
It matters to you.
To me.
To us.
To all Americans.
As an “aside”, an unelected bureaucracy able to pass regulations (legislate), impose unfunded mandates (tax) , run administrative tribunals (judicial), and dictate spending without oversight (budget authorizations) seems to me a government within a government. Then, of course, there are the emergency “war powers” act which ignores the war powers clause in Article I, Clause 8, Section 11 – “[The Congress shall have Power …] To declare War,….”