Nation has lasted this long; don’t turn back now

Published 1:30 am Thursday, August 4, 2022

With all this state’s rights talk of late, it might do us well to reflect back on our history, painful as that may be. Our first attempt after the Revolution was a weak central government under the Articles of Confederation which, for a variety of reasons, failed in under ten years and threatened from within to tear the new nation apart. There’s honest fear of that today.

One concern at the time was one state had no guarantee that any other state would come to their aid if attacked or faced insurrection. On a side note, this would later become the basis for the Second Amendment. Another issue was a failing economy as the central government lacked the power to enforce tax laws and regulate commerce. With no federal court system, each state was basically free do as it pleased and any changes to the Articles had to be unanimous between the thirteen states, a built-in filibuster so to speak. Enter chaos.

Point is, nothing’s perfect. Yet our current union under the Constitution has endured for 246 years and counting, surviving expansion, a major civil war, two world wars, economic disasters and recently so far, the worst threat to the peaceful transfer of power it’s ever faced. On the bright side, bringing the promises of our preamble to more people than the Founders could ever have imagined is pretty special, something we should all be proud of. Going backward isn’t.

Dennis Doolittle

Arlington