Celebrate Constitution Day Septemember 17

 

So, now that we are past July 4, semi quincentennial of the Declaration of Independence, don’t sell all of your flags, sparklers, and other items of celebration. In eleven years, September 17, 2037, we will celebrate the semi quincentennial of the adoption of the Constitution.

But, if you need a celebration a little closer on the horizon, let’s celebrate the Constitution this coming September 17(Constitution Day) through September 23, those seven days known as Constitution Week.

Whereas the Declaration did not form a new government or nation; it merely “Resolved, That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.”

The Constitution did, in fact, create a nation from thirteen free and independent States.

E Pluribus Unum.

I count the beginning of our nation as September 17, 1787.when the members of the Constitutional Convention signed and adopted the document.

I recognize and celebrate the Constitution more so than the Declaration as the beginning of nationhood.

I acknowledge there are no long-odds battles won, heroes in blood-stained uniforms, or stories of sacrifice to effervesce the emotions regarding the Constitution. Probably, the state-by-state ratification process, as the inevitable became clear, muted whatever emotional fizz may have been present on September 17, 1787.

But the Constitution, debated and discussed all summer long in 1787, establishes and articulates the essence of the United States version of Americanism.

By ratifying the Constitution of the United States, the independent States, whatever proclaimed religious views those States previously required, embraced this new law of the Land that provided, in Article VI, Clause 3,  no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.

This very preeminent right provided by the Constitution, even before the Bill of Rights, established absolute right of individual conscience, free of State imposed religious acquiescence.

That is worth celebrating as much or more than the Declaration of Independence.

 

Actually, the Constitution, after a series of votes to ratify among the various states, became effective, the law of the land, on March 4, 1789. But let’s keep it simple for the purpose of celebration by observing September 17 as Constitution Day.

Vote for Mother Teresa Rather than Gordon Gekko

 

My point in this commentary, which I present upfront here, is:

The purpose of business is in stark contrast to the purpose of government and so, when electing officials, we should elect people who have a grasp of the government systems rather than people who will try to run government like a business.

The goal of free market business is to make a profit for owners and shareholders.

The purpose of production and sale of goods and services is to make the business profitable.

The accounting method, known as Financial Accounting and Reporting, is structured to identify income, expenses, and resulting profit or loss which then impact the balance sheet of Assets, Liabilities, and resulting Equity.

The management systems are in place to efficiently affect productivity.

The whole mindset of the organization is toward profit. Not charity or social conscience.

In short, financial accounting asks “How much did we make or lose?”

Contrarily, the goal of government, much like charitable organizations, is to spend money and apply other resources so as to provide goods and services; not to make a profit.

Deficits in business immediately affect equity negatively.

Deficits in government, if managed according to predetermined policies, can achieve favorable economic conditions.

The accounting systems for governments, usually known as Fund Accounting, differ from Financial Accounting and Reporting.

Government Accounting aims to see that the funds are received, applied, invested, and spent according to policy and law.

In short, government accounting asks “From whom and where did the money come and to who and where did it go?”

Business accounting is all about profit.

Government accounting is all about policy.

Having formally studied both, Business Management and Public Management, I have concluded that much of our problem in government is that far too many business-minded people are trying to run governments as if they were businesses.

Of course, many people who have been good in business can, with diligence and reordering of their management mindset, become effective at governing.

But, I think our governments are at a precarious moment and are in need of managers, leaders, and politicians that can navigate the public policy arena free from the hinderance of the business profit/loss mindset.

As we move toward election day in November, become accurately informed of candidates. Vote for the candidates that understand government policy rather than quarterly corporate financial statements.

To become accurately aware of the qualifications of candidates, familiarize yourself with a candidate’s work history, was it about self-serving profit or about service to others?

A candidate’s history of service to others will reveal the creative capacity to achieve policy objectives, often with meager financial and volunteer resources with which to work.

Business people know how to make money.

We desperately need people that understand how to implement policy, law, and government.

They likely will not be the headline grabbing, envy-stirring, greed advocates such as Gordon Gekko of the Wall Street movie.

And I don’t expect Mother Teresas on ballots in November.

But I would definitely vote for those candidates that more closely resemble Mother Teresa rather than Gordon Gekko.

Voting citizens cannot abdicate their responsibility to be accurately informed.

The elected official is in office because we gave them our consent to govern.

 

 But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

Those words from the Declaration of Independence are not an incitement to succeeding generations toward violence in change of government.

Those words helped steer the design of the Constitution.

Article I of the Constitution provides each change in Congress (currently number 119th) much legislative authority to, in effect, change government by proposing bills which, being voted and subsequently signed by President, then change, by small or large impact, national governance.

Members of the House of Representatives serve a two-year term, providing for relatively immediate change by will of the voters, senators a six-year term, again by voters, but provide stability and deliberation before drastic governmental change.

The President is elected to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed”. This executive will serve a four-year term followed by a second four-year term if properly elected. The election of a President is also an aspect of a “change in government”.

And the Supreme Court , the least change in government as they “shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour” (it does not say “lifetime”). The Supreme Court helps anchor government so that it may be predictable rather than abrupt and unwieldy. Provided they actually and faithfully abide by “good Behaviour”.

Yet another element of designed change of government embedded in the Constitution is the amendment procedure. Although I acknowledge that ratifying an amendment among fifty states is a bit more cumbersome than a few thirteen, fifteen, or twenty states.

My point is that the Constitution was designed for a continual and incremental change in government without violence.

I believe that the Constitution, when faithfully implemented, is the best form of provision of government available in history.

But the buck stops with the voting public.

Not with any elected official.

The burden of good Constitutional governance rests with the voter.

Not with any appointed Justice.

The elected official is in office because we gave them our consent to govern.

The voting public cannot abdicate our responsibility to become accurately informed of the issues, the candidates, and to actually cast a ballot.

Our Constitutional government is properly designed.

It is our voting behavior that directs the changes.

Like it or not, we, the voting public, own the government we have.

Note of clarification…the Second Continental Congress took the extreme action of separation from Great Britain, not because the colonists were inconvenienced by King George III. They did so because they had been subjected to absolute Despotism.

Sharing Resources and Responsibilites is Part of our National Conscience

 

 

The national, state, and local sharing of resources and responsibilities is neither socialism nor communism.

The practice of shared resources and responsibilities is embedded in our national conscience.

The Mayflower Compact of November 11, 1620, speaks of “the general good of the Colony”. Nowhere does this Compact speak of willy-nilly anarchical liberty, or even free market capitalism.

From the conclusion of the Declaration of Independence, we read: “we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.” I believe those words applied, not only to the fifty-six signers, but also to their families and everyone they represented as members of the Second Continental Congress. But, the Declaration, like the Compact before it, does not enshrine free market capitalism.

And from the Preamble to the Constitution: “to promote the general Welfare”. Again, no mention of free market capitalism.

This is not to bad-mouth capitalism. But it is to assert that self-serving capitalism is not all that that our nation is about.

In all of these founding documents we gather a sense of a national conscience that reaches beyond personal or individual interests only.

Examples of these shared resources and responsibilities:

    Police and Fire protection, even for churches which pay no income, sales, or property taxes, thereby shifting that tax burden to homeowners, and consumers.

   Roads, highways, interstates, and bridges; along with the National Transportation Safety Board.

  Weights and measures departments that protect the credibility of amounts of consumer goods purchased.

Social security and Medicare because we know that, left to our own immediate gratification tendency, most of us would not save sufficiently for retirement or health provision. Many of us never have reasonable opportunity to earn enough to save sufficiently.

Medicaid and Snap because often our entrepreneurial business projects fail and resort to bankruptcy leaving our creditors to lose financially and moving us to need public assistance.

And many other services that benefit the general population.

To label services of our National Conscience as socialist or communist is egregiously un-American.

Hot Dogs at Bonneyville Mill and Discovery of William Tuffs

 

Today, July 4, 2026, Sherry and I visited Bonneyville Mill County Park in Elkhart County.

As a celebration for Independence Day, they were offering hot dogs and apple pie with ice cream for a very reasonable price of $5.

While paying for our treats, an employee, on the mature side of age and noticing my attire, jokingly said to me “Are you’re the ghost of William Tuffs?”

I figured he was referring to some Revolutionary War fellow, but I did not know the name and so I responded, “I don’t know that fellow.”

He then went on to explain that Mr. Tuffs was a member of the Boston Tea Party. I was tempted to ask if the Boston Tea Party had issued membership cards but thought perhaps, I should not confuse the moment with my “Bob Newhart” style of humor.

But, thanks to this employee, I discovered that William Tuffs is buried in the Bonneyville Cemetery close to the County Park.

The gravestone has a plaque mounted by the Improved Order of Redmen, which I had not previously known.

It appears that they are still in existence. At the website of

http://redmen.org/

On July 25, 2026, there will be “Boston Tea Party Participant Marker Ceremony” hosted by the William Tuffs Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Elkhart County. Indiana.

This event will take place at 11:00AM.

Sherry and I are sure to be there.

You can view my video recorded today at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JygmHMVfB1U