[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 113 (Monday, September 20, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9371-S9373]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      CELEBRATING THE CONSTITUTION

  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, every event memorable enough to be recorded 
becomes a part of history. But some events define and shape history 
with the force of plate tectonics, moving the world onto a new path. On 
September 17, 1787, just such an event occurred when the Constitution 
of the United States was signed.
  I hold this Constitution in my hand.
  With the adoption of this document, a new and powerful nation was 
created. That Nation, our Nation, still guided by the powerful hand of 
God in many ways and certainly still guided by the governmental 
structure laid out in this Constitution, is the heavyweight champion of 
world politics and the global economy. Actions of our Government 
influence world events with a speed and force of a category 5 
hurricane.
  The Declaration of Independence was historic. And I have it, too, 
here in my little book which I carry in my shirt pocket--the 
Declaration of Independence. The signers of that Declaration of 
Independence committed treason against the king. And those brave men--
and they were men--who signed the Declaration of Independence, any one 
of them, each of them, could have been arrested, thrown into prison, 
sent to England in chains, and executed.
  So we ought to ponder those men, their lives and those documents that 
they signed. We don't often enough think about the sacrifices they 
made, the risks they were willing to take as they pledged their lives 
and their fortunes and their sacred honor.
  The Declaration of Independence was historic, for without it and the 
events that it set in motion there would be no fledgling United States 
of America.
  The surrender at Yorktown on October 19, 1781, was also historic, 
marking the successful conclusion of the War for Independence. Without 
that surrender, there would be no United

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States. But the early days of our new Republic were difficult ones, 
burdened with war debts and hampered by the weak and ineffective 
structure that was the Confederation Government. The Nation was 
independent but not truly united. The central Government was weak, 
relative to the State governments, dependent on whatever contribution 
the States chose to make. The national Government could not speak 
convincingly as the official voice of the whole Nation. It was not 
until the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia completed its work 
and constructed in less than 100 days a strong yet flexible 
governmental structure that our young Nation was ready to make a name 
for itself on the world stage.
  Our Constitution is a remarkable document--truly remarkable, this 
Constitution which I hold in my hand. It is remarkable for its 
simplicity, and it is remarkable for its astute understanding of human 
nature. The governmental structure that was devised in Philadelphia did 
not depend on extraordinary men in order to work but, rather, the 
system relied upon the ambitions of many ordinary men to check and 
balance each other, keeping any one man or any one branch of Government 
from becoming another tyrant like King George.
  The Framers of the Constitution put the greatest power where? In the 
people and in their elected representatives--like you and you and you 
and me--and made those representatives responsible and responsive to 
the people. That is why, every 2 years, the entire membership of the 
House of Representatives and one-third of the membership of the Senate 
face the people--face the people--in an election. The President, as 
will happen later this year, faces the people every 4 years. Only 
judges, who must remain independent and free from such public 
pressures, are appointed for life.
  The Framers also put a premium on civilian control of the military. 
Now, we ought to remember that. We hear all these sayings about the 
Commander in Chief--the Commander in Chief. And some speak with awe of 
the Commander in Chief. But the Commander in Chief is only the 
Commander in Chief of the Army, the Navy, and the militia, when it is 
called into service. But who creates an army? The Commander in Chief 
would not have any army over which to be commander if the Congress--
this House and the other body--did not create an army and provide for a 
navy and provide for the calling up of the militia. It is the Congress, 
you see.
  So the Framers put a premium on civilian control of the military. 
Again, this reflected their desire to prevent a military dictatorship 
from arising. They did not want a President to act as a king, ordering 
armies to war in remote lands on his say-so alone. Nor did they want a 
powerful general to seize political power. In their day, and for the 
first century of our history, the United States did not have a large 
standing army, only a small navy and marine corps. In the event of an 
invasion, citizens were expected to grab their guns and form a militia, 
as was done in the Revolution.
  The Congress would call up the militia, which only then would be led 
by the President in his role as Commander in Chief. The President is 
not the Commander in Chief of industry. He is not the Commander in 
Chief of the Senate. He is not the Commander in Chief of Congress. The 
Congress, under the Constitution, provides for the military. Congress 
is the paymaster, just as the Roman Senate was the paymaster in the 
days of ancient Rome. No consul could pay his legions of Roman soldiers 
unless the Roman Senate provided therefore.
  So Congress is the paymaster, the armorer, and the rulemaking body 
for the military--not the President, not the Commander in Chief, nor 
his generals. The President commands the militia only when the militia 
is called into action by Congress or when necessary to repel an 
invasion. The Framers ensured that the people--the first three words in 
the preamble of this Constitution, which I hold in my hand, are: ``We 
The People.'' That is you; that is you; that is you; that is you; that 
is you, that is you. ``We The People.'' That is you, the people out 
there over the broad hills and valleys and mountains of this great 
Nation who are watching through these electronic eyes and hearing the 
words that are being spoken on the floor of the Senate--the people. The 
Framers ensured that the people, through their elected Representatives 
in Congress would control the military so that it could not become a 
tool of Government repression against their own people or a way for 
Presidents to lead the Nation into foreign misadventures.

  The Framers created a barebones governmental structure--a barebones 
governmental structure. All rights not expressly given to the Federal 
Government were to be left to the States and to the people. In the 
course of ratifying the Constitution, however, it became clear that 
many people wanted to have these rights codified. And so from this 
sentiment came the first 10 amendments to the Constitution. How many 
words are there in the preamble and the original Constitution? How many 
words? There are 4,379 words in the preamble and the Constitution, as 
it was signed by the Framers. And then later came the first 10 
amendments, and they are known to us as the Bill of Rights. How many 
words, then, are there in the preamble and the Constitution and the 
Bill of Rights? There are 4,861 words. How few are those words, how 
few.
  And so the first 10 amendments, commonly known as the Bill of Rights, 
include the familiar freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of 
worship, the right to a speedy trial, the right to bear arms, and 
others. These rights and freedoms, too, had their immediate roots in 
the prerevolutionary treatment of the colonists by the tyrant king. If 
the Constitution is the bones of our national body, then the Bill of 
Rights must be its heart and soul. These rights are what the colonists 
fought for, the things for which they were willing to risk losing their 
lives and their property and their fortunes.
  These rights are what set the United States above other nations, what 
make the United States such a shining beacon--such a shining beacon--
for the peoples of other nations to aspire to and to establish for 
themselves. Our ideals of freedom, set forth and realized in our 
Constitution, are our greatest export to the world. How about that. 
Those of you who are sharpest on foreign trade, those of you who pride 
yourselves on being trade experts, what is the greatest export? What is 
the greatest export of the United States? Well, our ideals of freedom, 
realized in the Constitution, are our greatest export to the world.
  For more than 200 years, our Constitution has demonstrated its unique 
adaptability. The Nation has grown and changed in ways that the Framers 
would not have imagined, whatever their greatest hopes and ambitions 
for the Nation might have been. Our national interests and 
responsibilities engage us in activities and places that span the 
globe. We possess a military that is unmatched in size and capability. 
Our military spending outstrips most of the rest of the world combined. 
Why? We wonder why. That is food for thought on another day.
  Our technology, our culture, our humanitarian goodwill reach out into 
the most remote areas of the world. But our Constitution, despite all 
these societal changes, continues to provide a government structure 
that allows us to manage these great enterprises while protecting the 
individual rights that each of us is guaranteed in the Constitution and 
its Bill of Rights. Only we--not somebody out there from Mars, some 
distant planet, only we can erode those rights or change that 
structure. Our greatest enemy is not armed with guns, you see; our 
greatest enemy is our own ignorance and our own inattention to the 
Constitution, this great legacy.
  Last Friday marked the 217th anniversary of the Constitution's 
signing. I doubt that many Americans celebrated or even took heed to 
that occasion, and that is a mistake. For September 17 is more 
important to our everyday lives than Columbus Day, more important to 
our everyday lives than Thanksgiving, more important to our everyday 
lives than the Fourth of July. Our flag is precious to us. There it 
stands, majestic. How inspiring, that flag. Our flag is precious to 
us--and never more so than in the days after September 11, 2001. Our 
flag is celebrated every June 14, but our Constitution is more 
important than that flag by far.

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  The flag is a potent symbol of our Nation, but this Constitution 
which I hold in my hand is the soul of the Nation. The Constitution is 
the foundation upon which each stone of our governmental structure is 
laid. It is our bedrock. It touches every day of your lives, I say to 
the pages on both sides of the Chair. This Constitution touches every 
day, every hour, every minute of your lives. Practically everything you 
do is made possible by or is guaranteed or is protected by this 
Constitution. It is the prism through which each act of our Government 
should be examined and judged. If such an understanding were in place, 
we would not have to question aspects of the PATRIOT Act that might 
threaten privacy and due process rights of Americans because those 
elements would not have been included. But in our fear of terrorism and 
due to our inattention to the Constitution, we were stampeded into 
legislation that erodes some of your rights, some of every citizen's 
rights. Every time the executive assumes powers that are not challenged 
by the Congress, and every time Congress gives up its powers to the 
executive, our Constitution is eroded, and we come one step closer to 
tyranny when that happens, one step closer to the dictatorship of the 
executive.

  I believe the Constitution deserves greater prominence in our 
national life. A survey conducted by Portrait of America in 2000 
found--now think of this; I just couldn't believe it until I read it 
myself--that only half of Americans, just 51 percent, would vote for 
the passage of the U.S. Constitution if it were presented in ballot 
form today. That is incredible. Some 22 percent of respondents would 
vote against the Constitution. I will tell you, that is about enough to 
make your hair stand on end. And 27 percent were not sure if they would 
support it. Those are eye-opening findings. I say they are hair-
raising, hair-curling findings. That ought to curl your hair. If you 
don't have any, it ought to make your hair grow where there is none. 
Twenty-seven percent were not sure if they would support it. Those are 
eye-opening findings, to be sure.
  While some attribute this outcome to a general disaffection with 
Government, I believe that the survey findings are the result of 
ignorance. Too many citizens do not know what the Constitution does. 
Many citizens revere the Constitution, but they don't know what is in 
it. Many Members of this body really don't know what is in the 
Constitution. They have read some portion. If they are lawyers, they 
might be very familiar with this portion or that portion, this 
amendment or that one, but to know about the Constitution, what is in 
it, what it does, many of us are ignorant. Even fewer know why the 
Constitution was designed the way it was.
  Most people do not appreciate all of the safeguards created by the 
Framers to prevent our new government from becoming like a colonial 
government, subject to the whims of a tyrant. They do not understand 
what the checks and balances in our governmental structure are meant to 
do, nor the importance of maintaining those checks and balances.
  Frankly, there are too many Members of Congress who do not appear to 
understand or appreciate those checks and balances. When it comes to 
the Executive, too many Members of this body want to side with the 
Executive. They are monarchists, I would say. They almost look upon the 
President as a king. As a result, over the years, the power of the 
legislative branch has eroded, while the power of the executive branch 
has grown. Congress has ceded much of its power, and it does so 
willingly. It has ceded much of its power willingly to the Executive, 
to the point that we have few tools remaining with which to rein in an 
autocratic Executive.
  When the Constitution was circulated for ratification in 1787, there 
was active political debate. Pamphlets were written and essays were 
written. The Constitution was a topic of conversation around dinner 
tables and at public meeting places. The Federalist Papers were widely 
printed, widely read, widely discussed. They were the centerpiece of 
the debate over the form of this new government. I doubt that one could 
today find many people outside of collegiate American history and 
politics majors who have read the Federalist Papers. In these days of 
television, radio, and movies, we no longer have the quiet evenings of 
discussion that the Founders knew. We are too busy with pseudo 
``reality'' shows to spend time worrying about our own reality, our own 
government.
  Without such a national debate, the results of a similar survey in 
1787 might have been the same as in 2000. As a nation, we are fortunate 
such a debate took place. The 2000 survey shows unequivocally that 
greater knowledge about our Constitution is needed.
  I believe a necessary step in raising the profile of the Constitution 
involves giving it equal billing with Christopher Columbus, with Flag 
Day, and with the Fourth of July. September 17, the anniversary of the 
signing of the Constitution, should be declared a national holiday. And 
so, Mr. President, on Wednesday of last week I submitted to the desk 
legislation to do just that. That legislation would declare September 
17 ``Constitution Day'' and would encourage citizens to observe the day 
with appropriate ceremonies, including a reading of the Constitution. 
Currently, September 17 is designated ``Citizenship Day,'' recognizing 
all who, by birth or by naturalization, are citizens of the United 
States. Citizenship in our great Nation is certainly a worthy topic, 
and it merits recognition. But more importantly, I believe, this is the 
document that establishes the duties and rights of citizenship, the 
document that establishes this Nation as one in which all people may 
aspire to become citizens--the Constitution of the United States.
  My hope is that observances of Constitution Day would encourage all 
citizens to learn more about the Constitution and their government. An 
informed public is our best defense against tyranny.
  I know that it is late in the legislative session to introduce 
legislation, but I hope the calendar will not deter the Congress from 
taking up and adopting this legislation. It is not a partisan matter. 
The Constitution is there for all Americans, regardless of their 
political party, irrespective of whatever political events might be on 
the calendar. In fact, it might be more important because of the 
upcoming election.
  During election years, it becomes even more vital that all Americans 
look at the candidates and ask themselves which one will best support 
and defend the Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic. As 
Americans exercise the fundamental right to choose their 
representatives, they participate in the enduring system of government 
set forth in the Constitution. It is fitting and appropriate that we 
honor the document that established this government, and that we as a 
nation take steps to ensure that our Constitution and our system of 
government are known, understood, and cherished by the people they were 
established to serve.
  I yield the floor.

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