The White House’s posture toward Russia is getting more bizarre all the time.
asserted
posture → get → Russia
On the one hand, Trump has promised to sign a sweeping package which—as Andrew wrote yesterday—would hit Russia’s elite with new sanctions and give Trump the ability to hit Russia’s energy customers with tariffs.
asserted
Andrew → promise → tariffs
And Russia is getting more reckless with attacks and plots that threaten to pull America and other Western countries deeper into the war.
asserted
that → get → war
And yet the New York Times reports today that Trump and his advisers are also discussing new “business deals” with Russia that could come even before the end of the war—the exact opposite philosophy of the one driving the sanctions package.
uncertain
that → report → package
On that day in 1787, thirty-nine delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia signed a new constitution for the United States of America.
asserted
delegates → sign → America
It was ratified less than a year later, on June 21, 1788, when New Hampshire became the ninth state to approve it, meeting the requirement set by Article VII of the Constitution itself.
asserted
Hampshire → ratify → Constitution
The first elections under the new Constitution were held in the fall of 1788.
asserted
elections → hold → 1788
The first Congress to convene under it was sworn in on March 4, 1789.
asserted
Congress → convene → March
The first president to be inaugurated under it was sworn in on April 30, 1789.
asserted
president → inaugurate → April
And so the new government came into effect less than two years after the Constitutional Convention convened on May 25, 1787.
uncertain
Convention → come → May
A consequential couple of years! And they’ve been followed by a consequential couple of centuries for this constitutional republic.
asserted
they → follow → republic
Today we still live under that Constitution—improved by twenty-seven amendments,1 each ratified according to the procedures laid out in Article V of the original text.
uncertain
we → live → text
When he’s inaugurated, our president swears that he “will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
asserted
he → inaugurate → States
When they’re sworn in, our members of Congress take an oath to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic,” and that they “will bear true faith and allegiance to the same.”
asserted
they → swear → same
It’s our Constitution.
asserted
It → ’ → ?
We’re proud of it.
asserted
We → ’re → it
We admire it.
asserted
We → admire → it
We honor it.
asserted
We → honor → it
We know it’s a great achievement.
asserted
it → know → ?
We understand that it’s served us well.
asserted
it → understand → us
And yet we don’t much notice nor celebrate its anniversary.
asserted
we → celebrate → anniversary
Constitution Day has never made it to the top tier of American holidays.
asserted
Day → make → holidays
July 4th is the national holiday, celebrating the Declaration of Independence.
asserted
4th → celebrate → Independence
The Declaration came first in time and comes first in importance.
asserted
Declaration → come → importance
In a note that he wrote shortly after his election as president in 1860, Abraham Lincoln sought to elucidate the relationship of the Declaration to the Constitution.
asserted
Lincoln → write → Constitution
Adapting the famous image from Proverbs 25:11—“A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver”—Lincoln wrote that the Declaration is an “apple of gold” for us.
asserted
Declaration → adapt → us
The principle expressed in the Declaration, the principle of “Liberty to all,” Lincoln explained, “clears the path for all—gives hope to all—and, by consequence, enterprise, and industry to all.”
asserted
Lincoln → express → all
Without that principle, Lincoln wrote, “we could not, I think, have secured our free government, and consequent prosperity.
uncertain
I → write → government
It needs a workable government to protect and effectuate it.
asserted
It → need → it
So, Lincoln continued,
The Union, and the Constitution, are the picture of silver, subsequently framed around it.
asserted
Union → continue → it
The picture was made, not to conceal, or destroy the apple; but to adorn, and preserve it.
asserted
picture → make → it
The picture was made for the apple—not the apple for the picture.
asserted
picture → make → picture
Lincoln concluded his note: “So let us act, that neither picture, or apple shall ever be blurred, or bruised or broken.”
asserted
picture → conclude → note
It’s not only Americans who have admired our Constitution.
asserted
who → ’ → Constitution
The great British Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone wrote on the occasion of the centennial of its ratification that “the American Constitution is, so far as I can see, the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man.”
asserted
I → write → man
Today, when the Constitution has been under an assault unprecedented in breadth or depth since the time of Lincoln, there is no cause more important than a renewal of liberal constitutionalism.
asserted
Constitution → be → constitutionalism
There’s no undertaking more critical than reconstructing the institutions, laws, and norms that make the Constitution effectual and effective.
asserted
Constitution → ’ → institutions
Our path forward requires a sober and imaginative liberal constitutionalism.
asserted
path → require → constitutionalism
The Founders did it in 1787.
asserted
Founders → do → 1787
We have their spirit to inspire us and their example to instruct us.
asserted
We → have → us
…and 43 more, not listed.
The Aporia
