Not meant to be a source of individual rights, but to protect the natural rights of the people, the US Constitution still stands today. It contains 4,543 words signed by 38 delegates in 1787.

On Sept. 17, our country celebrated Constitution day. Multiple agencies, political figures and companies tweeted about the event. These included the FBI, President Trump and the Smithsonian.

David Rogers, a central valley politician, strongly believes that the constitution benefits the citizens of the United States even today. Rogers campaigns in the central valley, running to become the Madera county supervisor.  

“The constitution was developed, not to protect the government from the people, but to protect the people from the government,” Rogers said. “It is the foundation of freedom in the oldest surviving democracy. Without it, we would be vulnerable to the tyranny of unscrupulous people who fool the masses into electing them to rule.”

Brynnor Poplin, ‘21, believes that this country’s freedoms allow people like him to pursue opportunity. Poplin wants to pursue an engineering degree at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. He knows that the rights of the Constitution allow him to do this.     

“The constitution is our rights in America that our founding fathers wrote to guide us,” Poplin said. “We should celebrate it today because it is our rights that we should be proud of especially in a free country.”

The Annenberg Public Policy Center took multiple surveys on US citizens’ knowledge about the Constitution and their rights. This policy center is based out of the University of Pennsylvania, and their main goal consists of giving scholars, media and the public access to research that they accumulated since 1993. 

According to the surveys they took, 37% of people surveyed can not name any of the basic rights guaranteed by the First Amendment. In addition to that, only 26% named all three branches of government correctly, while 33% were unable to name one.

Being a teacher for 30 years, Hallie Rojeski teaches history to both 7th and 8th graders. Each year, Rojeski gives her students an exam on the Constitution. She believes that people better their understanding of the government by studying it.

“I think people want others to know the structure of government we have,” Rojeski said. “It’s important to understand why we have what we have. I think the key ingredient is that the leaders don’t determine for themselves what their laws are, instead, people are the final authority. When people don’t know that, they let the leaders to dictate what they do.”

Many famous Americans supported the Constitution. These people include George Washington, Andrew Jackson, Billy Graham, and Chuck Norris. Another supporter, Abraham Lincoln offered this summary of the Constitution.

Rojeski explains why she thinks the Constitution matters today.

“Because the constitution does not forbid us, and the general welfare does require the prevention,” Lincoln said. “We must prevent these things being done, by either congresses or courts. We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.”

Lincoln believed that the Constitution should not be perverted. He believed this due to the issue of slavery he saw at the time. Just as Rojeski offers the Constitution test, people should expand their knowledge of the document. The more they know about American freedoms, the more they can defend them.

For more articles, read The Power of Worship and Superintendent Jeremy Brown Strives to Advance FC Campus.

Brayden Iest can be reached via Twitter and email.