We the People
The First 3 Words of the US Constitution Contain a Powerful Message for Timeless Leaders
TLDR - The US Constitution inspires the Timeless Leader model, and Timeless Leaders can advance the cause of self-determination and agency by supporting it.
Read time: 6 minutes
Hi Timeless Leaders,
Welcome new subscribers! For the slew of new folks who signed up recently - and for long-time readers who need a refresher - Timeless Leadership is a newsletter about leadership for everyday people. We’re seeking to understand how to leave a positive, lasting legacy when we can barely keep up with the daily demands of life.
(Timeless Leaders = people who make a long-term difference despite limited time.)
I usually write weekly (typically Tuesday). I share stories and reflections from my own quest to achieve Timeless Leadership for myself. Sometimes I talk about the business I’m building to support other leaders on a similar journey. I’m striving to write more analysis of leadership research, including discussion of case studies from history and the current day…. but posts like that do take a lot of time. 😉
I’m always open to feedback, so when you’re done reading - please leave a ❤️ if you enjoyed the post, and a comment to share your thoughts.
Onward.
We the People
Last Saturday, I busted out an old favorite - my “We the People” teacher tie.
The US Constitution is something that we can easily take for granted. A set of laws mostly written in 1787, with 27 Amendments added over the centuries, our Constitution underpins the core functions of our nation.
However, we mostly only bring it up in the classroom and the courtroom.
When we depart from the formality of these settings and think more broadly about our relationship to law and justice, the meaning of our Constitution can take on greater significance than a legal code.
The word “Constitution” even has multiple definitions that reinforce this idea.
A “constitution,” broadly speaking, is what we are made of. It’s who we are.
At least as much as we are defined by our land, we are defined by our laws - the mutual understandings and agreements we form with one another about what we allow and how we settle disagreements and transgressions. At the Constitutional level we define the very structure of our government and our relationship with it.
Moreover, because the nation that formed by way of the Constitution emphasized freedoms and rights (e.g. religion, speech, due process), as opposed to specific markers of identity or allegiance, it has acted as a vehicle of expansion of liberty over forces that would retract it. Even in the most egregious example of exclusion and exception (e.g. the 3/5 Compromise, which required a civil war to ultimately hash out), the Constitution provided a means for revision based on the most essential principle - we govern ourselves.
It Belongs to Us
If we boiled down the Constitution to just three words, we wouldn’t need to go any farther than the first three. As free people forming and perpetuating a Constitution as the mechanism for continued self-determination, We the People define the USA by our commitment to upholding democracy and claiming our agency to shape the future. As the opening words of the Constitution’s Preamble, it not only sets the tone for a citizen reader, but it also has carried significance in court.1
This promise is best understood as an opportunity - or, as Ben Franklin was noted to say at the signing of the Constitution - we have “a republic, if you can keep it.”
In this way, Timeless Leadership is deeply American.
As Timeless Leaders, we believe what we do matters - that we can make a difference.
We might not command armies, media empires, or billions of dollars. We almost certainly won’t be individually remembered in the history books, or have our likeness commemorated on a national currency or carved into the peak of a mountain.
Instead, we have our families and our communities. Our heads, our hands, and our hearts. We have our personal histories, our hopes for the future, and in each and every moment, a choice to make.
In leaning into this power, we can avoid fracturing and we can unite together in common cause.
This is all that’s needed to shape the world, even if our unique imprint may disappear over time.
Collectively, We the People chart the course of our nation and the fate of the principles.
But let us remember this - if we ever abandon our Constitution - if we allow those in power to ignore it, if we fail to exercise our rights, or if we allow it to re-written by special interests - we will lose the most durable and inspiring source of democracy, freedom, and self-determination that the world has ever known.
The Article V Convention
Speaking of “common cause,” how does the Constitution sound as something that we can rally around?
I ask because I recently learned that 28 state legislatures have called for a Constitutional Convention. Per the Constitution2, if six more join this group, then the Constitution can be re-written - and as this little known fact helps illuminate (because who exactly funded these bills?), the likely outcome of a Convention brought about in these circumstances will NOT be driven by We The People.
Common Cause is leading the fight to block and pull back these calls for a Convention. Until a time that We the People are better organized to direct a process like this, a powerful way to protect our current Constitution from meddling will be to support the effort to back away from a Convention driven by special interests.
My recommendation this week is to support Common Cause with a donation. They are doing good work - on the Constitution and other issues fundamental to a free and fair democracy - and they deserve our support.
In Closing
I hope you appreciate today’s reflection - please let me know in a comment or DM below. Aside from that, I’ll leave you with two things until next time:
Our next Basecamp call is next week (Thursday May 1)! If you’d like to attend, upgrade your subscription and you’ll be added to the monthly call series. The Basecamp is a chance to meet other Timeless Leaders and explore leadership practices and decisions together. You can learn more about it here.
If you missed last week’s post, it’s a good way to catch up with what I’ve been working on, and get a little more familiar with what the Timeless Leader method might look like in practice.
Constitutionally yours,
-Joe