U.S. Constitution & Citizenship Day

It was 223 years ago today that the U.S. Constitution was signed and began its first trip around what was to eventually become the United States of America for ratification in each state's assembly.

I'm a bit of a zealot when it comes to the subject, so I hope the reader will indulge me a moment...

The Constitution is a unique document historically, politically and intellectually, as it made workable law out of over two thousand years' worth of philosophically abstract and disparate ideas about citizen/subject self-rule, democracy and republicanism in the strictest sense of the word. The very idea that all citizens, regardless of wealth, property or social standing had certain rights that were not subject to the whims of a ruling or royal class (chattel slavery notwithstanding) without some sort of public process was, quite literally, revolutionary. If one ever gets the chance, it's interesting to really sit and read it. It's online here.

This is also the day when we are encouraged to strengthen the muscles of our citizenship by learning as much as we can about our country or reminding ourselves of what we may have forgotten.

Here are some helpful links:

Chippewa Falls Public Library Catalogue Search: Citizenship

Serve.gov--Serving one's country doesn't have to be done in fatigues. Serve.gov is the government's page cataloguing service opportunities for Americans of all ages.


Could You Become A Citizen?--Suppose you just got "off the boat." Could you pass the test?


Center for Civic Education Glossary

Glossary of Congressional and Legislative Terms--A bit more advanced than the above. Defines all those words they so casually throw around on "Meet the Press."

Floats the Banner, Lighted Well

Just today, I got the last of three checks donated to the Chippewa Falls Public Library by local veterans' groups helping us to offset the installation of a spotlight on the front of the building. The light shines up on our American flag, enabling us to leave it up 'round the clock.

I have always maintained that libraries, more than any other institution in an open society, symbolize freedom, so it is fitting and just that the flag fly in front of the building all the time.

The three groups that donated to the flag-lighting were AmVets Post 32, American Legion Post 77 and VFW Post 1038. The complete cost of the project was $636.00, and $500.00 of this will be paid for with donated money. Roshell Electric did the work in a very timely and professional manner, and I am personally very pleased with the results, as several people have told me they are, as well.

To see the flag up at night as I walked by the other night on the way home from downtown brought to mind part of a poem I once heard in Boy Scouts:

"Years have passed, but still in glory
With a pride we love to see,
Laureled with a nation's glory
Waves the emblem of the free;
From the rugged pines of Northland
To the deep'ning everglade,
In the sunny heart of Southland
Floats the banner Betsy made."