At the top of the United States Constitution, it is clearly stated that the purpose of the American democratic republic is to “establish justice”, work toward a “more perfect union” and deliver for future generations. The goal is to create better and better conditions for liberated human thriving, by resolving historic injustices and ending tyrannical and corrupt rule. America cannot achieve greatness by going backwards.

The Preamble reads: 

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

The phrasing is purposeful and constructive, meaning: each word is chosen for its specific meaning and broad reach, and for its ability to contribute to a shared mission that will honor the rights and liberties of all, while reducing the opportunity for tyranny and abuse, wherever it might arise—even if, and maybe especially if, from the office of the Presidency. 

A “more perfect Union” denotes the recognized differences among the states, where some viewed enslavement as legitimate and others viewed it as a sign against God and all of humankind. There were concerns those differences would lead to civil war, which they eventually did; the aim, however, was to acknowledge that a democratic republic needed to have common values that benefit and respect the humanity of all of the people who reside there. 

The word Justice does immense work here. Justice cannot be established if injustice is tolerated, and injustice points to core priorities: fairness, natural rights, and the rule that power must never be cruel, arbitrary, or inhumane. The Bill of Rights arises out of and echoes this core value. Justice also builds on the “more perfect Union” sentiment, pointing to a future in which the country enhances its legitimacy and longevity by resolving historic evils and uplifting humanity. 

To “insure domestic Tranquility” is another reference to the priority of reducing incidence of violence, conflict, and injustice. It stems from the framers’ understanding that authoritarian violence wielded by British imperial forces had made safety unacceptably rare and elusive. Tranquility suggests people must be free from both violence and the fear of violence, especially violence or cruelty from the state. 

Providing for “the common Defence” is simple and clear language; there was an overriding need to ensure the young nation was not invaded by one or another imperial power. The word ‘common’ refers to both the shared interest of the States and the common interest of the people in remaining free from tyranny. 

The “general Welfare” signals the importance of the government’s role in shaping an everyday society and economy in which people can solve problems, engage in commerce, innovate, and improve the overall opportunity for human security, education, opportunity, and prosperity. All of these were part of the debate behind this phrasing, and the Constitution goes on to clarify responsibilities for supporting these goals.

Article I, Section 8, confers on Congress many of these responsibilities, including the authority “To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts”. Trademark, patent, and copyright law, is founded on Article I, Section 8, as are the federal agencies, research programs, and grants, that support science, discovery, and innovation. Such federal support for human progress based on science and evidence is a Constitutionally required area of American governance. The nation cannot achieve greatness if it abandons this founding purpose. 

And then, there is this powerful and resonant declaration of purpose, to “secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity”. This phrase further builds on the purposeful and constructive choice of language in the Preamble. Liberty is a natural and universal right, but it must be secured. Each of the foregoing aims and duties is part of that process of securing human liberty against tyranny.

Liberty is not just an idea or a preference, or even a right. It brings practical benefits, or “Blessings”. Those Blessings are not enumerated in this mission statement for the republic, but they are considered to be self-evident: freedom from state violence and arbitrary detention; freedom from the fear of domestic political violence; the ability to organize businesses, pursue science, structure and manage towns and counties and states, through cooperative self-government; discovery and innovation, resolution of injustice through process of law, the freedom to think, speak, worship, associate, and move around the landscape, as one wishes. 

The Blessings of Liberty are many, diverse, and cannot be uniformly determined by the state. They are at risk at the time of the founding, and if taken for granted, will always remain at risk. Benjamin Franklin famously said, after the Constitution was agreed, that the framers had created “a republic… if you can keep it”. 

Securing the Blessings of Liberty to Posterity brings to the work of self-government a note of transcendence, a higher calling. One must not wield the powers of public office to benefit one’s own party, faction, cause, or self-interest, but rather to serve well and honorably, and to ensure that future generations will have the benefits of a free society in which human rights are paramount to all considerations of power.

All of these are clearly stated as elements of the work of building toward greatness in republican democratic terms. In case there was any doubt—and there was at the time of the founding—10 amendments were added to the Constitution, as a Bill of Rights. This was to ensure that no one governing with the authorities conferred by the founding charter would treat power as paramount. The Bill of Rights clearly delineates the boundary between universal human rights and the limited scope of political power, which must, at all times, work in service of the rights of all.

The Constitution recognizes—both implicitly in its structure and phrasing and explicitly in the Ninth Amendment, as well as in the First Amendment’s redress clause, the 14th Amendment‘s equal protection clause, and several others throughout—the right of all people to see progress made toward solving complex nonlinear threats. These include threats like foreign agression, erosion of civil liberties, food insecurity, and worsening climate disruption.

The idea that undoing decades of progress toward greater justice, equity, and inclusion—or defunding scientific research that can help to treat or eliminate disease or save lives from intensifying natural disasters—could do anything to enhance American greatness is directly denounced by the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and subsequent amendments.

Only by recognizing, uplifting, honoring, and serving the humanity of all, can an American government be part of the story of American greatness.