Thread by @jacknielsenN7

As #HeirsOfLiberty it is our solemn duty to honor the founding words and principles of our Constitution:

“We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice and ensure domestic tranquility...
/1

“... provide for the common defence, 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.”
/2

Written words are precision instruments. They say what they mean, not what we wish. Words have historical context we cannot ignore because it conflicts with our agenda.
/3

Conservatives have said for some time they would like to get the gov’t down to the size where it could be “drowned in a bathtub.”

We had a government we could drown in a bathtub. The founding document of that gov’t was the Articles of Confederation.
/4

The Constitutional convention metaphorically drowned the Articles of Confederation, which established a gov’t, without the means to keep it’s promises to its veterans, without power to regulate interstate commerce, without a national monetary system.
/5

The only VALUES enshrined in the Constitution appear in the preamble. The rest of it lays out the structure, powers & limitations of the gov’t.

So let’s address those values.
/6

WE THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES.

Not we the whites, we the men, we the straights or we the Christians. We the people are white, but also of non-European descent; men, but also women & children; straights, but also LGBTQ; Christians, but also all religious & non-religious.
/7

IN ORDER TO FORM A MORE PERFECT UNION

That didn’t end in 1789 with ratification. We had 10 amendments in the decade that followed. The formation of a more perfect union is a process, not a singular event.

The framers challenged us to make the Constitution better.
/8

ESTABLISH JUSTICE AND ENSURE DOMESTIC TRANQUILITY

We had an ineffectual, virtually unenforceable system of law, beset by rebellions & interstate tariffs. The Constitution corrected those problems by creating a sustainable #RuleOfLaw.
/9

PROVIDE FOR THE COMMON DEFENCE

Right in the nick of time, too. With Napoleon engaged in Europe, Britain’s invasion in 1812, without our old ally, France, would have seen us once again, subject to British rule, had we not had the power to provide for a robust military.
/10

PROMOTE THE GENERAL WELFARE

We didn’t have any kind of social safety net back then, but Thomas Jefferson was very clear on what free people needed to maintain a representative government: we had to be informed and educated. This is the opposite of what Republicans want.
/11

AND ENSURE THE BLESSINGS OF LIBERTY TO OURSELVES AND OUR POSTERITY

The formation of the United States was predicated on the principle that people are equal, endowed with the right to LIFE, LIBERTY AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS. This is not only for us, but future generations.
/12

The framers understood their work was imperfect, unfinished; that it would necessarily require amendments to address the realities faced future generations of Americans (tw 1,2,8,12).
/13

Our posterity. Our children are #HeirsOfLiberty, too. They have the right to live, and the deliberate, malevolent corruption of #2A by the NRA has everything to do with profits of arms makers and nothing to do with a commitment to the Constitution.
/14

Even Antonin Scalia said there are limits to #2A. And for all the self-proclaimed “Constitutional purists” who think it was crystallized in 1789 & perfect from day 1, remember that #2A was an afterthought.

Kids are in the preamble.

#NoRA
#GunSenseNow

—Jack Snow
The Resistance