The 1619 Project’s chapter and verse numbers have not yet been assigned, and its books are not so pithily named as “Psalms” or “Proverbs”. But it’s fairly clear from the titles of its first twelve selections that a new body of scripture is taking form right before our eyes.
Was slavery horrible? Yes. Was it immoral? Yes. But the one thing it was not is *unlawful*, and to put today’s American taxpayers under the onus of a crime for what was *legal behavior at the time* goes against not only an important principle clearly embedded in our Constitution but also our understanding of what living in a truly free society means.
Games are intended to communicate information, values, and behaviors. Board games are especially good at this. There was probably a reason someone made the thimble a “Monopoly” game piece. Perhaps that reason is something worth digging up so we can learn from it.
Some people complain about the Electoral College, “My state has been overwhelmingly [political party] for YEARZ, so my vote doesn’t count!” But how true is that assertion? I did some research and, playing the averages, it takes about 25 years for a state to cycle from one political party to the other.
That there’s no mention of secession in the Constitution doesn’t rule out the power to secede. But the Articles of Confederation, which the Constitution replaced, enjoyed little more than treaty status — any one signatory could shatter the treaty. That a new pact with the explicit intent “to form a more perfect union” would have created an equally feeble bond seems counterintuitive. The Constitution was intended to be something binding and lasting.