I don' think any politician has explained "We the People" more concisely.

It seems as if libertarians and Tea Party folks want to go back to a society of very limited human relationship where small tribes constantly bickered with each other ... or where you have to labor all day just to keep a roof over your head and your family fed ... or where you are susceptible to every disease know to the human race ... or where natural dangers and human-created threats lurk around every corner.

If these “movements” succeed in getting their way, then humanity is doomed.

"We the People" is about our relationship with each other. Independence is a fallacy. We became an independent society because a group of enlightened wise men had a vision of a country where our relationship was not one of oppressive top-down rule nor one of each-for-himself anarchy. They codified that vision into a framework — our constitution — within which a positive, constructive relationship with each other is absolutely necessary.

We are a society of people who have become too superficial in our relationship with each other. Unless we wish to destroy the hope of our forebearers' vision of over 200 years ago, we need to reconstitute a more perfect union — a union that cares for one another while respecting individual initiative and contributions to the whole.

Concerning the individual, Ayn Rand has been used to justify libertarianism and rampant "individualism." My take on her philosophy is that the creative power of the individual is to be respected, encouraged, and welcomed — a good thing. For sure, the individual needs to receive just recompense for their contribution to the whole (didn't another wise teacher named Jesus say the same thing?). But this does not preclude constructing social institutions that take a portion of that recompense beyond what is just to benefit the whole of society. Ayn Rand's argument was, in part, one of what "just" means, whether for the individual or in a social “contract”.

Unfortunately, some in society insist on twisting Rand's philosophy as I see it, and in a very superficial way use it to stress individual "freedom" over all else. Unfortunately, their "philosophy" is resulting in greater inequality of opportunity and as a result less freedom for all U.S. citizens — even the very rich. Unfortunately, this demagoguery screams with all it's might, "It's just to keep it all for myself; ain't no one gonna take it away from me!" (Apologies to the late blues singer, Ruth Brown.)

Our relationship with each other as fellow citizens of a society crafted in wisdom is severely damaged. Stop yelling. Listen to each other. Debate with respect. Strive for the perfect.

And don't forget that we are created in One's image; we are a part of that whole, too. That is the “under God" part. Our relationship with The Eternal — however you define it — informs our relationship with each other.

"We the People": not guided — top-down — by a ruler, but strengthened by our striving for the Best Within Us, in relationship — in Love.