When was the last time you actually read the Constiution?

On this day in 1787 The United States Constitution was signed in Philadelphia.

When was the last time you read it?

No, seriously.

Have you been on social media screaming, or even politely discussing, what is and isn’t in the Constitution?

Do you know that for certain?

Click here to read it. I’ll wait.

I’m not judging. I can do with a re-read myself.

And, this reminds me that I’ve got a fairly unused version of The Federalist Papers sitting on my desk.

But, do you really know what is in the Constitution? I’m certainly not an expert.

Not to open Pandora’s box, but did you actually know that the phrase “separation of church and state” is NOT in the Constitution? Intent or not, and I have no intent on starting that debate, the words aren’t there.

How many “sources” do we quote in error just because that’s what we’ve always heard?

How often to we say or hear the phrase “well, the Bible says” when it does nothing of the sort?

I realize that I may be creating an extra burden or simply raising the bar too high for my fellow citizens of the Interwebz.

All I’m saying is think before you share.

Google and Snopes can be your friend.

For the record, Bob Denver died in 2005. And, as of the writing of this post, Betty White is still alive.

Trust me. I speak from experience. I’ve been burned too many times.

And because of that I never share an obituary without verifying it first.

If you see notice of my death, shoot me an email or a text, just to make sure.

Sure The Bill of Rights (ratified in December 1791) guarantees the right to free speech.

But, just because you can say (or share) something, doesn’t mean that you should.

I’m not sure why I’m talking so much about history and accuracy this week.

Maybe it’s because I get frustrated with seeing the same errant posts over and over.

Maybe it’s because I’m an elitist snob.

But, I can’t fix the Interwebz all by myself. I could use a little help.

Reading and knowing the Constitution is not about politics. Certainly if you’re involved in politics you darn well better be familiar with it (Congress, are you listening?).

No, reading and knowing the Constitution is what we can and must to do recognize the source of our freedoms. We need to do that to be informed voters and members of society.

We may see things differently. We may disagree on what it says, or what it means.

But at least let the starting point be actually reading it and not cutting and pasting misinformation because it hits our hot buttons.

Look the politicians aren’t going to do this for us. Regardless of your political persuasion, surely we can all agree that almost none of them are working on our behalf.

We the People.

That’s us.

Not Congress. Not the White House. Not the Supremes.

With or without Diana.

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When was the last time you actually read the Constiution?

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