A More Perfect Union

Thirteen colonies became thirteen states, each separate but united. They realized they needed to join together for purposes of economic stability and the common defense, but each was fiercely protective of remaining a separate entity within the union. Even today each of the fifty United States has its own unique “flavor.”

The decision to unite was an uneasy truce. Each colony/state brought its own set of strengths and weaknesses to the union. And there was widespread distrust of a strong centralized government. With good reason.

Power dispersed between a federal government and individual state governments, along with built in checks and balances, was meant to prevent power-hungry individuals from usurping the inalienable rights of the people. In our current climate of ever-increasing federal power and bureaucracy, states reasserting their individual sovereignty may be the best way of preventing a full-fledged autocratic centralized government, i.e. a dictatorship.

Thirteen individual states, as well as their individual people, decided to form a more perfect union using the principles of a most perfect Creator. What will we do to ensure that their vision endures?

"That government is best which governs the least, because its people discipline themselves." –Thomas Jefferson