The spectrum of the Constitutional Eagle
You know one cannot really tell what a Democrat or a Republican stands for these days. For decades many people have been losing faith in the two major political parties. We hear the terms "liberal" and "conservative" as unscrupulous individuals, and they become the subjects of condemnation with whichever party is in control.
When I was trying to understand everything about everything during my younger years, I choose to be a Democrat when I was getting politically active. My father and mother were staunch Democrats, and I viewed that anything more or less than that for me would be a sin. President Kennedy was in office and it deeply affected me when he was assassinated; however, what smacked me even more was when I heard his inaugural speech. I was especially taken when he said, "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." I actually stood up and cheered.
And then I saw by hindsight how, during his brief tenure, his administration had been responsible for congressional bills that did exactly the opposite. On the onset I once again cheered when I witnessed Head Start and general assistance come into our community. "At last," I said, "this country is coming to its own." Then Kennedy was assassinated; Lyndon Johnson succeeded him. His Great Society brought more welfare-like programs. I saw what it was doing to the people in small villages and impoverished communities. I witnessed competent people becoming more dependent upon the dole - like young people forsaking the opportunity to work, fish harder, or try to remain self sufficient because of the attitude that the "government will take care of me." I began to rethink seriously about this kind of philosophy.
So I became a Republican. So what? That was my right, wasn't it? I hoped that my mother, who was still living, didn't hold that against me. I liked what the GOP's basic philosophy stood for - like advocating for retaining our traditions (I now understood why it meant the Grand Ole Party) and keeping the government out of our lives (I began to understand where President Reagan was coming from). These concepts appealed to my inner compass and I began to hang onto them for dear life.
Well, I finished college late in life. Although I didn't major in political science or government, I did take a cavernous interest in American history. I was an English major and when I was accepted into this discipline one of my professors commented that English is the "conscience of the college campuses." I'm not sure whether he was trying to make me feel privileged at the time; all I was interested in was learning how to write effectively. Now I understand that what he meant was an English major is able to discover things from any discipline. If there was any one thing that I learned as a college student is that one can, if he or she is serious, learn how to learn.
Over the years, because I did indeed learn how to learn, I became interested in many things. Politics being one of them, I learned that there is this concept the founders called the Constitutional Eagle. On this spectrum the right half of the wing represents the conservative philosophy and the other the liberal. Conservatives believe in a strict interpretation of the Constitution, stressing that less government is the best, while liberals have a loose interpretation advocating that government has the answers to all our dilemmas. The vision the early leaders of this nation had was that the American voters would be able to bring these two philosophies toward the middle. You see, it is really up to us, the voters. Sometimes the liberals would have the upper hand; other times the conservatives would prevail. The electorates, indeed, should speak by the condition of the times.
And so when you listen to a Democrat or a Republican talk, try to decipher how they view the Constitution. I'm sure you'll be disappointed with many on both sides. You'll probably find, as I have, that many of our candidates, or people in offices, are more party orientated rather than constitutionally aligned.
• Kadashan is the Tlingit name of Bertrand J. Adams Sr., who lives in Yakutat.