If you can Read This, You can Understand the Constitution

In fact, if you can read this page, you can understand the Constitution better than many lawyers, most politicians and the smartest people on TV.

Too many of us have been taught that the subject of government is too complicated for our weary heads. 

They never gave you a study guide. 

Even lawyers get it wrong.  I remember one lawyer, smart guy, you’d recognize his name if I said it.  Nationally-known, written lots of books.

He proposed a particular Amendment to the Constitution.  Sounded pretty good.  A lot of people got all atwitter about it. Still are.

But that "amendment" is already in the Constitution.  Article III, section 2.  Duh!  This smart-guy’s Amendment is a total waste of time. Let’s do something effective, OK?

Our representatives have voided the Constitution.  Maybe they have other masters  … maybe they are ignorant … or maybe …

… Maybe we do not demand they follow it. 

The reason – ONLY reason – we have Constitutional dummies running the government is because not enough of us demand they follow it.  And the reason we don’t demand it?  Because not enough of us know it ourselves. 

You can Study the Constitution

Many folks I talk to want to do exactly that -- just read it and get it.  That would work, if our education system had taught you the basics of government. 

But they didn't.  

Folks start to read the Constitution and bounce off.  It is so much easier to get outraged at an injustice and spout off steam.  I know people like that too. 

They say they don't have the time to read it, but I suspect they are not READY.  

They have not been given a BASIC understanding of government.  They may remember high school civics.  They may have heard a lot of odd things that may or may not be true. 

But ask someone to define "government."  Uh ... well ...

And why should we want a government? What good is it?  Looking at the current mess, some will answer “No good at all.”  They become anarchists. 

For the rest of us, determined to learn, we might start reading: "Our government has a legislative ... "  

We’re trying to define “government” and we hit “legislative” ...  What the *$&# is that?  Makes laws, right?  But why would anyone want to make Laws? 

It is not explained.  You were never taught that. 

Some would say it was deliberately withheld from you.  Maybe it was.  

But even if it was, the best revenge is to learn it anyway.

Study Guide … Basic Education they Withheld from You

I started teaching this stuff in 1991.  Private school.  The first “study guide” I put together was rough.  But class after class, year after year, the little book was revised. 

I know the words that need to be defined (government, legislative, etc.)  I know the right gradient, the step-by-step, one step building on the next, to get the job done.

You don't have time to devote 87 hours to it.  That’s why my study guide is broken into 10 minute, maybe 20 minute, lessons, starting with the very basics.  The stuff they should have taught you in High School.

My Study Guide is just what you need.

Short, Simple, Fun Lessons

The first few “lessons” – they are really too short to call them “chapters”, one or two pages.  Each "lesson" can be done in 10 to 20 minutes.  Short.  With "exercises" so you can see how the concepts work.

• First Lesson: Is Government Necessary?  The definition of “government” ... the whole lesson is less than a page with two exercises to bring the lesson home.
• Lesson Two: How Government Does its Job. Less than a page and THREE exercises.(By this point, you have a very full definition of "government," why we have them and how to tell if you DO have one.)
• Next Lesson, the third, right?  This is a big one.  Different Forms of Government, a hefty four pages and six exercises.  But it is easily done one-page at a time.  You don't want to skimp on this one.  Very important, the difference between Democracy and Republic.  And because you know "government" from the previous lessons, you see how each different form does the job. And you come away with a clear understanding of “republic.” (Something else they never taught you.)
• Next Lesson: How Thugs can take over a Democracy (2 pages, 6 exercises)
• Next: A brief History of Republican Government (3 and 3).  (At this point, you have seen various experiments in government.  You appreciate some of the problems of putting a government together.)
• And the Final Lesson that makes you ready to Study the Constitution: The form of the American Constitution (4 and 4).  You learn that the U S Constitution follows the natural organization of getting anything done, from planning to execution to qualifying the result – was it a success?  (One of the exercises is worth the price of admission.)

After that set-up, you are ready to study the Constitution itself, word-by-word, section-by-section.

Read the Constitution Word-By-Word, Section-by-Section

Most study courses talk ABOUT the Constitution and leave you on your own to read it yourself.

This study guide goes through each section of the Constitution, section-by-section.  One or two pages for each section.

• Key words are defined.
• Read the Text itself with occasional historical side notes
• Often a page or two illustrating how this section has been used over the years.

You really GET each section.  And because you had the grounding of the first lessons, you see how the sections fit together, how they form a single whole.

Who We Are

Up to now, we just talked about the Constitution of the Government.  As important, or even MORE important is the Constitution of the People. 

The Constitution of the People . . . Who We Are

If could be called the "Fourth Branch" ... We, The People.  We created the other three branches.

In 1776, we declared who we are.  The "fourth branch" part of the study guide goes through the Declaration of Independence, section-by-section. 

I've been told I do not charge enough for this study guide.  I priced it for home-schooling moms.  And I priced it 25 years ago.

Maybe one day, I'll get "smart" and raise the price.

Yes, it is a commitment ... but if you are reading this, you have already decided to buy the Study Guide.

Maybe you want to know if you really can understand it.  

Remember how this page began?  "If you can read this page, you can understand the Constitution."

It's true.  You can.  The Study Guide makes sure of it.

Twenty bucks.  A steal.  Your Grandchildren will thank you for it.  

If you want a fun movie to introduce the kids to the Constitution ...

click here

Having studied the Constitution, both on my own and in law enforcement, I believed I was grounded in the subject; this would be a simple ‘tune up’ review.  To my surprise, I soon realized how much I only thought I knew, and just how much I had taken for granted.

- Bill Babbitt,Journalist

I ran into John Chambers and his education on the Constitution five years ago.

     He goes through the Constitution, as he says “word-by-word” and applies the KISS principle – “Keep it Simple, stupid”. 
     I’ve been through these documents with his study group four, maybe five times. Each time, I learn more, layer upon layer. But each time through, it becomes simpler. 
     In my military career, I swore to support and defend the Constitution. I thought I knew what I was defending. I wasn’t wrong, but my understanding of it was much less than it should have been.

     It’s been said before, but bears repeating. It is not enough for elected officials, it is not enough for judges and lawyers, it is not enough for military men, to know the Constitution. It will only have value when regular people, plumbers and bus drivers, home makers and grocery clerks, know what the Government is and how it is supposed to work.
     That’s what self-government is about.
    Everyone would do well to look at John Chambers’ study guide on the Constitution.

 -- Roy Lindsay, City Council, Grants Pass, Oregon