As I'm sure everyone knows, Saturday,September 17th is Constitution Day, although this year it's being observed on Friday September 16th, so go ahead and leave the office early in celebration! Personally, I'm all for making it a federal holiday, but I'm not getting a great deal of traction for this idea.
Maybe that's because some of the provisions of the Constitution seem a little, ummm, questionable. Seriously, what on earth were the founding fathers thinking when they said things like "the Congress shall have the power to borrow money on the credit of the United States?" Seems like perhaps we got a little carried away on that one.
That said, we certainly can't agree on whether changing the Constitution, for example with a balanced budget amendment, is a good or bad idea.We all have our own opinions. But in a way that's the whole point, right? We can argue publicly about what the Constitution means and what the founding fathers thought and what we -- as in "we the people" -- should do in terms of changing it. That's a LOT to celebrate.
And perhaps most important, September 17th is ALSO International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Coincidence? I think not. In honor of the confluence of these events, I'm offering for you a tranlation of the preamble to the Constitution into piratize -- and here it is:
The pirate speaks,"We t' People o' t' United States, in Order t' form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, inaye domestic Tranquility,provide for t' common defence, promote t' general Welfare, and secure t' Blessin's o' Liberty t' ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for t' United States o' America."
If you want to translate more things (like the First Amendment, which protects our right to Piratize), go to http://www.talklikeapirate.com/translator.html. Oh, yeah, and the Constitution -- check it out at:
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_transcript.htm
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