What do these words mean to you?

[saintsfanbrian]

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

We all know where this comes from, but what exactly does it mean to you?

Give me your thoughts and later I will give you what I think.

[molonlabetn]

Bluntly, this statement harkens to the belief that the people are the ultimate authority for the powers listed. And the paper document which imported this responsibility to the governing body was meant to bind them solely to those defined purposes.

Those bounds have been long over-stepped...

[TGO David]

What it means to me is that our founding fathers would be pissed if they saw what the Government "of the People by the People" has become over the past 200 years.

Edit... Molonlabe beat me to the punch!

[saintsfanbrian]

We the people of the United States

– every person that is a citizen of this country whether by birth or by naturalization

in order to form a more perfect union,

Since our forefathers knew that NO union or nation was perfect, they were striving to make something that was more perfect than the rule they had just been under.

establish justice,

Set up a form of justice where people were treated equally under the law instead of having a different set of rules for one class of people or another.

insure domestic tranquility,

Establish a way that all citizens can leave in peace and harmony together. They knew there would be some problems hence the establishing justice section came first not the tranquility section.

provide for the common defense,

Whether they intended a standing army or not is not the debate. They knew that it was a government’s job to keep its people safe.

promote the general welfare,

This meant, in my opinion, that the government was to see to it that you had the ability to provide for yourself. Not for them to provide for you.

and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

By creating this document, the forefathers were saying that it is Our responsibility to make sure that these processes we are putting in place are here for our offspring.

Remember. The Constitution is basically a term paper. The pre-amble laid out what they planned on describing in the future comments. It was the synopsis of the entire document.

[Guest Len]

It means to me that everyone elected to federal office should be required to read and pass an exam on the following documents:

1) Treaty of Ghent

2) Magna Carta

3) Mayflower Compact

4) Virginia Declaration

5) Declaration of Independence

6) Constitution of the United States (including Bill of Rights and all other amendments)

7) The Constitution of their home state.

I would also recommend the following readings to help prepare for the exam:

-Various writings of Hobbes, Locke, etc.

-Federalist Papers

-What the Anti-Federalists Were For (text I had back in college)

-A synopsis of English Common Law and French law following the French revolution.