Why is the Constitution important today?

Question

Isn’t the Constitution around 200 years old? Why is it still so important even today? I’m told that the Constitution ensures our freedom as the people, but that doesn’t really explain anything. How does it ensure our freedom? Is it just a law that lasted for a long time?

Answer 1

The Constitution is relevant even today since it forms the basis on how the government is going to lead the people. To understand why the Constitution is important, we need to understand what a government is. A government is defined as a group of people who have the power to make and enforce law for a country or an area. Government exists because it forces people with rules to do what it wants. Governments are still people and naturally, people with that much power would be tempted to abuse it, doing things for their own interest when making decisions. Often getting in office means doing whatever they can just to get re-elected, which means the continuation of their power and stream of income. Basically, the government is made up of human beings and human beings are far from perfect. So the Constitution is created to watch over the government, so you see how important Constitution is, even today.

Comments

I agree with this answer to why is the Constitution important today.

Answer 2

The main function of the Constitution is to limit the power of the federal government. The founding fathers of the USA came up with the Constitution. They knew that as the leader of the people, they were flawed in many ways, so as a measure of that they knew they should limit their power. The branches of the government, the president and his administration, the congress and the supreme court, are all under the rulings of the Constitution articles; if it’s not in there, they can’t do it. Each branch of the government has power over each other so none of the branches becomes too powerful. It is also established that the federal law and treaties that are Constitutional are the supreme law of the land. While the content of the Constitution could be changed, it also addresses that the Constitution is to be ratified.

However, the Constitution gets complex when the Bill of Rights is introduced which are the 10 Amendments to the Constitution. Whereas the original Constitution stated what the government can and should do, the Bill of Rights protects the rights of the American, as well as the rights of the States. For example, the freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom to assemble and rally, freedom to petition against a government ruling, the right to keep and bear arms (the American only defense against having a gun control, with argument that the Amendments could not be changed, ironic), the rights to be judged by a jury, the right to not be locked up forever, the right to have some privacy and many others. The Amendments states that it is not a complete list, just because a right isn’t listed doesn’t mean you can’t have it. It is called an amendment for a reason. It also states that the rights not given by the federal government are to be reserved by the people, something like ending the marijuana prohibition. The bill continued to be expanded since its introduction. There is a lot of power the people of America have, while there is very little that the federal government can do.

Until very recently, if the government doesn’t agree with some of the decisions made by the people, they need to get through the States to change it. Nowadays, people just interpret the Constitution in any way that suits them. The Constitution is outdated, but it is created that way to be continually updated. That’s what amendments are for.

So do you get it why is the Constitution important today now? It’s because the majority of the Constitution today is as relevant as it is 200 years ago because the idea that the government should have limited power is one of the most progressive and revolutionary ideas in the history! The main function of the Constitution is to limit government power while at the same time protecting individual rights.