On the walls of the “old” US Army School of the Americas hung a copy of the US Constitution. All 4 pages of it. Along side was Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms speech. I was a lowly GS employee training developer, but I would guest lecture for the FSP and for the course we called “Democratic Sustainment.” One of my main topics was the US Constitution. I would harp on the structure of the enumerated articles and point out the first was Congress (the people), not the President (the executive) to emphasize the divisions of equal power as the students came from systems that had similar pieces of paper, but in reality they functioned under the cult of personality and the executive held dominate power. I would also review the Amendments one by one to demonstrate how the constitution has changed according to social need, ie., protect people from government 1-10, 11-12 powers of executive, 13-15 citizenry, 16-27 reacting to the modern world. I chucked at your characterization of Washingtonians running around waving their pocket versions of the constitution and spouting their interpretations (I like to say the gun nuts can’t count past 2…and I own many guns). Just like Gaddafi used to have his Green Book, Mao his Little Red Book, and Chavez his Constitution of the Bolivarian State of VZ!! Difference is, we don’t jail citizens that aren’t carrying their copy or can’t recite it by rote memory! The discussions in classes were always lively and sometimes heated as you might expect. I actually did have one VZ Colonel pull out his pocket constitution and wave it around like a mad man one time before they ceased engagement with the US. Fun times back then.
On the walls of the “old” US Army School of the Americas hung a copy of the US Constitution. All 4 pages of it. Along side was Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms speech. I was a lowly GS employee training developer, but I would guest lecture for the FSP and for the course we called “Democratic Sustainment.” One of my main topics was the US Constitution. I would harp on the structure of the enumerated articles and point out the first was Congress (the people), not the President (the executive) to emphasize the divisions of equal power as the students came from systems that had similar pieces of paper, but in reality they functioned under the cult of personality and the executive held dominate power. I would also review the Amendments one by one to demonstrate how the constitution has changed according to social need, ie., protect people from government 1-10, 11-12 powers of executive, 13-15 citizenry, 16-27 reacting to the modern world. I chucked at your characterization of Washingtonians running around waving their pocket versions of the constitution and spouting their interpretations (I like to say the gun nuts can’t count past 2…and I own many guns). Just like Gaddafi used to have his Green Book, Mao his Little Red Book, and Chavez his Constitution of the Bolivarian State of VZ!! Difference is, we don’t jail citizens that aren’t carrying their copy or can’t recite it by rote memory! The discussions in classes were always lively and sometimes heated as you might expect. I actually did have one VZ Colonel pull out his pocket constitution and wave it around like a mad man one time before they ceased engagement with the US. Fun times back then.