The Declaration and The Constitution as Mission Statements

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

What's the purpose of a mission statement? Many of us work for organizations that have one, but it often seems like just a set of nice, rather meaningless words that the Board or CEO can have their secretaries type up nicely in Power Point presentations, and really has no impact on the employees in any substantive way. On the other hand, a real mission statement provides a guiding principle upon which everything the organization does. The mission statement is what separates that organization from the myriad others who deliver similar products or services, if it is truly embraced by those who represent the organization. When choices need to be made, especially the big choices, once considers the mission of the organization, and if it's a good mission, one which truly represents what the organization does and which is not just a vague collection of meaningless words, it will provide guidance and help employees make the right choice.

The mission statement for the United States is written - clearly - in the Declaration of Independence and in our Constitution. They're not all that long - if you haven't read them recently, do so. It really is part of your job as a citizen of this country. And when you read them, don't skim. Read them like you've got a test coming up on the material, because you do.

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. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

Think about what the words contained in these two documents mean - really mean.

• We're not free because our government makes us so - we're free because it's the natural state of being.
  
  
  
• Our rights are not granted to us by any living person, but by nature.
  
  
  
• Our rights are unalienable - that means they cannot be taken away from us by someone else, or given away by us to someone else.
  
  
  
• We recognize that to protect our rights against infringement by others, we create a government, which we know will constrain some rights, but on balance, makes us more free, not less.
  
  
  
• Our Constitution does not spell out for us what rights we have - remember, the government cannot grant us rights.
  
  
  
• The Constitution explicitly states what the government cannot do, in addition to a small list of what powers we've granted it.
  
  
  
• The Constitution states, in Amendments IX and X, that anything it doesn't mention is assumed to be a right we posess.
  

That's the mission statement of the United States of America. Our country is entirely about process - it matters very much how our government, as an agent of the people acts. Its powers are defined by these documents - the Declaration, where we defined our intention to be a nation and the rationale we used to justify that decision, and the Constitution, where we state how we intend to govern our nation. That's it.

Whenever we get scared, or confused, or in times of crisis, or need to make a decision about the direction we, as a nation, should head, this must be where we turn. If we do, we won't compromise our values for a short-term sense of security. We won't lose our moral compass. We won't wander down paths we have to retread in the future with our heads hung in shame.

We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.