Is the U.S. Constitution, signed on Sept. 17, in the year of our Lord 1787, worth preserving? Of course it is. Is it worth defending, even at the cost of life and limb? Of course it is. Is it worth distributing to young and old, including in our schools? Of course it is.
Well, actually, not everybody agrees with that last part. Here is a 2-year-old story that somehow most of us never heard about.
The essence of the story is this: In Texas two Septembers ago, attempts to distribute pocket copies of the U.S. Constitution to public school students were almost thwarted by the liberal school board and district officials because the document was allegedly “propaganda.” Only because of the intervention of a conservative legal group were the copies allowed to be passed out after all.
To me, this is jaw-dropping. It’s as if some of these leftists were saying, “Hey, you can’t distribute the Constitution to school children, that’s unconstitutional!” It reminds me of the scene in the classic film “Dr. Strangelove”: “Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here. This is the War Room!”
I learned of this story from a national group called Citizens Defending Freedom, an organization dedicated to helping modern Americans appreciate what we have in the U.S. Constitution. Former U.S. Rep. Lt. Col. Allen West says of this constitutionally minded group: “Citizens Defending Freedom has put together the organization and strategy to extend liberty to the next generation. Their strategy is spot on, their tactics are solid, their success is astounding.”
Theoretically, in America, as one nation under God, “we the people” are in charge of our own government. But we all know that there are many elites in our culture who are at war with America as founded.
They are at war with the notion of “self-rule under God,” which is the essence of the experiment – from the Pilgrims who wrote up an agreement for self-government, “In the name of God. Amen,” in the Mayflower Compact (1620) to the Declaration of Independence (1787), which declares our rights from the Creator and our government is supposed be by “the consent of the governed” to the U.S. Constitution signed “in the year of our Lord” 1787, which explains how our government is supposed to work.
Here’s a timeline of the 2023 event where pocket editions of the Constitution – with no commentary, no additional quotes – were flagged and almost forbidden. I’m grateful to Robert Goodman, the Florida faith director of Citizens Defending Freedom, for providing the core outline of this story.
In early September 2023, the 917 Society, a group based in Tennessee, with the double goals of “the preservation of our Constitution and fostering a love for our country among our youth,” donated 17,000 pocket Constitutions to Williamson County, Texas, schools. This is an area just north of Austin. Goodman notes, “Citizens Defending Freedom (CDF) and Moms for Liberty helped distribute them.”
But they hit a snag on Sept. 10, when trying to hand out Constitutions to 8th graders at Leander Independent School District (LISD). The website of that educational institution says: “Located in Central Texas, Leander Independent School District serves parts of Austin, Cedar Park, Georgetown, Leander, Jonestown, and surrounding communities.”
I knew Austin was liberal – but that liberal?
On Sept. 14, LISD rejected more than 4,000 copies of the pocket Constitutions, because, allegedly, that would “prevent the District from maintaining a position of neutrality on political or religious issues or would create an appearance of favoritism on political or religious issues.”
We’re talking about the U.S. Constitution, not some evangelistic tract on how to receive the gift of salvation.
On Sept. 15, CDF attorney and the founder of Remnant Law, Jonathan Hullihan, sent a letter to the superintendent, “citing First Amendment and Texas law violations.”
I interviewed Hullihan about this crazy story for a radio segment. He said: “Some of the lower- level folks in the school district called it [the Constitution] ‘propaganda,’ and rejected it outright. That’s when we got involved.”
Thankfully, Hullihan’s letter caused the school board to relent and allow distribution of the constitutions after all. But not after someone called our founding document “propaganda.”
Jonathan Hullihan called this resolution of this case “a huge victory for free speech and civic education.”
As of this writing, America is 277 days away from our nation’s 250th birthday. What is that birthday? July 4, 2026, will be the 250th anniversary of when the Declaration of Independence was adopted by voice vote.
Of course, the Constitution is predicated on the Declaration, which says that our rights come from the Creator.
To see some leftist school officials try and block children in even a conservative state from reading the Constitution is mind-numbing. In anticipation of America’s 250th anniversary, we have our work cut out for us.