Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.
Support the IDS in College Media Madness! Donate here March 24 - April 8.
Friday, March 29
The Indiana Daily Student

opinion letters

LETTER: The clearest path forward requires us to look to the past

letter to the editor-03.png

We are the only country to have been founded on the radical idea that  “all men are created equal.” It is painfully clear that we as a nation have failed to actualize on this promise some two and a half centuries later. We are not perfect, and yet our creed is.

Often, the U.S. Constitution is forgotten in our digital era, but its power to guide our nation through turbulent times as it has throughout our long and storied history is one that cannot be lost. 

We must remind ourselves of this vision, for if we lose it, the results will be disastrous. The preamble lays out a foundation for us, “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare,...” In these times of chaos, it is our duty to look to this document to remind us of these five American obligations.

Central to its message is the check on presidential power — enumerated in Article 2, and limited throughout — while ensuring the rights of Americans to speak up against their government. Every American has an obligation to uphold the document so many have given the ultimate sacrifice to protect. The threatening of the insurrection act to squash those peacefully exercising their rights is not the answer. 

We must uphold the justice system within it. From the disturbing murder of George Floyd to the ransacking of American businesses, we owe the right of a fair trial to all. This will take time and cause pain. We are not a nation to shy away from our hardships but to embrace them head-on.

These same principles must apply to the government and its agents that have ended the lives of innocent people of color in our country. We have a duty to ensure the ideals of justice and tranquility are equally upheld, just as they were intended. The answer in these times is not blue or red, but to hold the most fundamental piece of writing in the free world to its greatest potential.

Cameron Gutterman

Get stories like this in your inbox
Subscribe