The Constitution of the United States isn't Optional.

It’s been awhile since I have posted a “footnote” to my website. With so much information and even more opinion bombarding all of us, I don’t know if my small footnote contributions matter. I am not a legal scholar, nor am I a “talking head” on cable news channels. But I am very troubled by the Executive Branch and those institutions established as a “check and balance” to executive power—-the federal courts and the U.S. Congress.

The Watergate hearings began in May 1973, during the Spring of my junior year of high school. A political junkie with supportive parents, I “ditched” some classes and watched reruns of the hearings at night. An unexpected star of the hearings was its chair, U.S. Senator Sam Ervin of North Carolina. He was a Southern, conservative Democrat. Had he been alive at the time, Spencer Tracy would have played him in a movie. With his white hair, conspicuous drawl and ample frame, he would have been a “meme”—— again, assuming “memes” were a “thing” at the time. Folksy. Down-to-earth. No nonsense.

One of the Senator Ervin’s most endearing and iconic characteristics was his ever-present and well-thumbed pocket-size copy of the U.S. Constitution in his breast pocket. The senior legislator would frequently pull out this small, leather-bound volume when he questioned witnesses or conferred with his Committee colleagues. His constant reference to this founding charter focused all of us on the fundamental basis for legislative inquiry and oversight, highlighting the limitations of executive power in our constitutional scheme. Years later, I purchased a similar copy of the U.S. Constitution. I will never achieve the facility or dramatic flair that Senator Ervin demonstrated with his wee Constitution; however, I can at least honor the essential primacy of the document.

Our leaders must be reminded that the Constitution is America’s contract. Actual knowledge and familiarity of the Constitution should be a prerequisite to even contemplating running for office, much less serving. As citizens, we cannot ignore the responsibilities of our system of defined powers among the three branches, including the framework of checks and balances, separation of power, the role of legislative and judicial oversight and the limitations on the executive.

We sure could use a bit of Senator Ervin right now.