Enlighten Your Americanism: Take A "Little Journey to the Constitution"

Democracy Has Always Had Its Enemies Who Needed to Be Resisted

In 1947, the United States of America—after assisting the other democracies of the world to defeat the fascist leaders of Germany, Italy and Japan—faced a new threat: A Mao Tse-tung-lead Communist China and a Stalin-lead Russian Dictatorship. ​This article was written by a Senator from Wisconsin when being “American” was under attack by these dictators’ propaganda machines.

​The Honorable Alexander Wiley wrote:

​“A term that is frequently heard these days is: ‘Un-American.’ How can you and I be sure that it should not at times be applied to us—that we ourselves are really thinking in the American way, living in the American way, actually being American in our personal lives?
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​“The answer to that question is not as simple as it would appear to be. … I submit that one way by which we can be sure that we are thinking American is from time to time to take ‘Little Journeys to the Constitution,’ there to familiarize ourselves anew with the basic doctrine and the basic landmarks of the American heritage.”

The answer the Senator gave more than sixty years ago is as relevant today as then. The United States faces two new but eerily similar threats: a Xi Jinping-lead Communist China and a Putin-lead Russian Dictatorship. These two leaders have the same long-term goal as their predecessors: they would bring an end to any country that strives to provide its citizens with freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.

​​​I would reinforce as Woodrow Wilson did during World War I that this is not a struggle between our peoples—the people of the United States or the peoples of China or Russia—but against oppressive governments who enslave their own.

Select image to take a ​"Little Constitutional Journey"
or select the link below to read the full article by the Honorable Alexander Wiley.

Select this to read the full article by the Honorable Alexander Wiley.