in whom can anyone trust?

Prolixity: marked by or using an excess of words.

To begin: on one hand, to convey a written message, verbosity, otherwise known as wordiness, can at times be needed, especially when discussing politics. On the other hand, in those discussions, my wife Barbara claims whether I write or talk, it’s always in round-abouts, that while speaking, I’m loquacious: very talkative. And yes, once I get started on the Constitution, either way, written or speaking, it turns into prolixity. Then, once I start using my hands to communicate with emphasis, it gets downright busy. Anyway, my last piece, the head is an oxymoron ties into this piece: amendments continued. So, let’s also throw in redundant, as we’re going there as well.    

First though, I’m a firm believer in equal rights, no one being above another. As such, I will open doors for a woman out of respect, not weakness, age irrelevant. Conversely, I will do the same for an older gentleman even though my son refers to me as “old man.” Hell, I’ll hold the door for anyone regardless. And just to set a cadence here, to this day, I open the car door for my wife, along with allowing her to enter a building before I do as I hold the door for her. I believe the word is chivalry. It was the way I was raised, and it used to be an American lifeway. Or better: Love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:31).

Anyway, history is marked by evolution, being the progress of mankind (both sexes) to achieve a more advanced frame of living. Although, from the earliest of recordings, woman was not always on equal footing. Nope, in most cases some considered her second class, but not always. Yet man and woman, two separate genders scientifically, or biologically proven, of opposite sex, thereby able to procreate. In the simplest of terms, he plants the seed; she grows the plant. And trust me, even though I did poorly in school, I understood that part of the making baby equation. And for centuries it worked this way, until. Then evolution took a spin on the merry-go-round and landed us where we are today as a nation. Only some of where we currently stand is devolution: retrograde evolution. And make no mistake, there are those in power cognizant of, hoping WE THE PEOPLE remain oblivious to, or too caught up in the infighting to see the deception taking place.

Which almost brings us to the now proposed twenty-eighth amendment to the Constitution and absolute distrust. Only, for starters, we must go back to the past to get to the present to understand the veil of complicity in all three branches of our government. From the inception of the nation’s framing in 1788, it took until 1920 for women to obtain the right to vote, approximately 132 years: The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. (19^th Amendment)

Although, if we now go farther back to 1776, didn’t the nation undergo a major revolutionary upheaval to bring the present to the past? The last time I checked, the nation held three documents sacrosanct. They are even enshrined in the National Archives Museum in Washington D.C., allowing every citizen the opportunity to view what framed the foundation of the country we call the United States of America. And if words have true meaning and are important: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness (Declaration of Independence/DOI). A not wholly upheld but fully self-explanatory sentence.

Except, there’s the degrading part of evolution in the slowness of turning wheels to bring to fruition the fruit of everyone’s Rights, or the equality of everyone being equal. But over time, things change. Perfection being the angst of labor to work out the faults not considered. Although, included was a moral compass that delineated what was and was not acceptable. At least that was part of the plan, right? Except, the problem in the concept of morality, who sets the standard? It’s not written in the Constitution, but I’m digressing. Or am I? After the abolishment of slavery, those who had been held in such gained the right to vote long before women, 1870 to be exact: The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. (15^th Amendment)

And make no mistake, wording is everything, only rationalizing that those then had no idea what today would become. But they knew what they were proposing, being no different than legislators today. And it does not matter the topic. But on equal rights, voting is one thing, being on par with another is another thing. So, by 1923, a women’s equal rights amendment was proposed. Only in 2023, it finally failed, but not for reasons one might think. And definitely not what it started as to be. Yet, in 1964, wasn’t the civil rights act enshrined and set in motion the same components as an over-all equal rights amendment? It ended segregation in public schools; banned employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. It equalized voting rights (umm, weren’t the 15th and 19th for just that purpose) and started an American home-front war that once settled will most likely be the country’s undoing. Except, didn’t the aforementioned sentence from the DOI cover every aspect of the issues being raged about and fought over today, knowing full-well government can never successfully legislate hates extinction. Much less, make everyone equal in the true meaning of the definition. But au contraire, legislators would like each to believe they care, only they don’t.

Now, back to absolute distrust and the proposed twenty-eighth amendment: equality of rights shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

Sex defined: either of the two major forms of individuals that occur in many species and that are distinguished respectively as female or male especially on the basis of their reproductive organs and structures. (Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary/Eleventh Edition)

During confirmation hearings for Ketanji Jackson Brown to become the newest Supreme Court Justice (SCJ), a question was presented: Can you provide a definition for the word woman? (Senator Marsha Blackburn/R-Tenn.) Brown’s response: No, I can’t. Blackburn’s retort: You can’t? Brown culminating: Not in this context. I’m not a biologist. A perplexive answer, but make no mistake, America stands on the precipice of destruction, as I wonder what context anyone can define anything anymore. Moreso, when the first case presents to decide anything regarding gender, will SCJ Brown recuse herself based on already stating she’s not a biologist and thus unable to define a woman? I bet not!

Sadly, based on current events, history will be the continuum of repeat while America devolves deeper into political chaos, three branches and the moral compass gone completely awry. Our government now, the antithesis of constitutional intent, the Constitution outrightly dismissed. Today, party power pushes extreme ideologies. Why? Possibly the apparent desire is societal collapse, while citizens blindly follow, ignorant of actual intent for a promised perceived safety. But the net result will be surrendering to the government absolute rule or power – autarchy achieved.

In closing, the Framer’s understood man’s complexities, even through their failures, but they never expected WE THE PEOPLE to fail completely. So, as amendments continue to stack, by design, the Constitution will be weakened as power will be pulled from and centered in the legislative/executive branches. Oddly, when the twenty-eighth ultimately passes, equal rights and the lid on Pandora’s Box will be ripped off, but the laws of biology will not have changed with it. Although, the boundary of allowable limits will be pushed to the point of breaking. And everyone has a breaking point to what they are willing to accept. Then God, by government intent, no longer a part of or thought in making law, will bring history full circle (round-about) to a time biblical, only now – Sodom-sized.