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SHOWCASE
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Hawaii Businesses Benefit from Handing Out the Constitution
- columnist Mikie Kerr on the Big Island
A small volunteer group I am a member of has the goal of creating a Constitutional culture in our Big Island community. We meet weekly and discuss current events in the context of the Constitution. We became aware of the fact that the curriculum taught in our schools today no longer, or only minimally teaches our country's founding and the principles inherent to our unique American story.
To make the Constitution come alive again, we distribute FREE pocket Constitutions by partnering with local small businesses on the Island. Our participating business partners carry our provided plastic brochure boxes with the pocket Constitutions we also provide and refill, free of cost to them. The feedback from their clients and customers has been overwhelmingly positive - even from those who were initially skeptical.
In addition to the distribution of the FREE pocket Constitutions, I write a monthly column for our local newspaper, West Hawaii Today on some aspect of the Constitution with the idea that, as people get more informed about the Constitution, they will be more likely to pick-up and read our pocket Constitutions freely provided in many of the places they shop or do business. The articles can be found by searching "Mikie Kerr + Constitution Corner".
We are self-funded and survive on small donations, proceeds from garage sales and recycling of cans and bottles. To date we have 66 active business partners and since we began the project in May of 2013 have distributed over 35,000 FREE pocket Constitutions to Big Island residents and visitors. We are also ready and have in the past provided Constitution copies for local school teachers upon request.
We buy the Constitution copies in bulk from the National Center for Constitutional Studies and are able to buy 1,000 copies for $300.00.
- columnist Mikie Kerr on the Big Island
A small volunteer group I am a member of has the goal of creating a Constitutional culture in our Big Island community. We meet weekly and discuss current events in the context of the Constitution. We became aware of the fact that the curriculum taught in our schools today no longer, or only minimally teaches our country's founding and the principles inherent to our unique American story.
To make the Constitution come alive again, we distribute FREE pocket Constitutions by partnering with local small businesses on the Island. Our participating business partners carry our provided plastic brochure boxes with the pocket Constitutions we also provide and refill, free of cost to them. The feedback from their clients and customers has been overwhelmingly positive - even from those who were initially skeptical.
In addition to the distribution of the FREE pocket Constitutions, I write a monthly column for our local newspaper, West Hawaii Today on some aspect of the Constitution with the idea that, as people get more informed about the Constitution, they will be more likely to pick-up and read our pocket Constitutions freely provided in many of the places they shop or do business. The articles can be found by searching "Mikie Kerr + Constitution Corner".
We are self-funded and survive on small donations, proceeds from garage sales and recycling of cans and bottles. To date we have 66 active business partners and since we began the project in May of 2013 have distributed over 35,000 FREE pocket Constitutions to Big Island residents and visitors. We are also ready and have in the past provided Constitution copies for local school teachers upon request.
We buy the Constitution copies in bulk from the National Center for Constitutional Studies and are able to buy 1,000 copies for $300.00.
Understand the Constitution Or Lose Your Freedom (Constitution Classes for the Public)
- Attorney Don Powers (Powers at Law, LLC) in Edmond, OK
Don Powers is an award-winning presenter on the Constitution who has re-worked his course information for college students into classes on the Constitution for the public. He found that his college students didn’t understand the Constitution before taking his course, and neither do most adults. “We’re losing our freedom,” Powers says, “because too many people can’t see that the Constitution protects our freedom. Unfortunately for America, our elected politicians, un-elected judges, and bureaucrats are moving us back to the rule of man.”
Powers received the George Washington Medal from Freedom’s Foundation at Valley Forge for his class “Understanding the Constitution.” He is the President of the Oklahoma City chapter of the Foundation. Powers most recently taught his class this spring under the umbrella of Oklahoma State University’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. During the last 10 years, he has taught the class to approximately 3,000 people from book clubs, veterans groups, churches, and patriotic organizations.
His classes draw from The 5000 Year Leap by W. Cleon Skousen which Powers calls one of the best books on the Constitution ever written. Its 28 principles of freedom begin with natural law, the only reliable footing for sound government. The Founders of this nation were familiar with these principles and used them to structure the Constitution. “If you don’t understand where the Founders were coming from, it’s hard to understand the document and how it was written,” Powers says. He also teaches key elements of the Declaration of Independence and seminal historical events from the Revolutionary Era.
“The Constitution is not hard to understand once properly taught,” Powers says. “It was written for the average person living in the colonies at the time. Any reasonably intelligent person today can understand it with a little background.”
Despite its simplicity, “the Constitution is not being used properly today,” he says, “especially not by Congress, which grants too much discretion to the federal agencies and takes too much power away from the states and the people.” This adversely affects the Rule of Law and constitutes a regression to the rule of man, Powers rightly says.
Continuing, Powers says, “When people try to identify anything they can do today, without government involvement, they usually conclude that government touches every conceivable thing they might do. We have allowed the government to escape the bounds of the Constitution.”
“The Constitution means what it says (The Stated Powers, the restrictions on the Government) and it means what it doesn’t say (The Reserve Powers held by States and ‘We the People’),” Powers says. “If the Constitution does not give a power to the federal government, then the federal government is prohibited from exercising that power.”
This last point puts Powers on the side of William Howard Taft against Teddy Roosevelt, who believed that a President can do anything the Constitution doesn’t forbid. Even if unmoored from justice and natural law? The View of the Constitution by our American Founders, President Taft, Powers and other Constitutionalists is the more humane and sustainable vision – limited government, which Powers says is, “the original intent of the Founders from their writings and from analysis and research into the four-corners of the documents that constitute the United States of America’s organic law.”
Powers wrote a pamphlet on how states can take back power from Washington using the Constitution. “The Toolbox of States’ Rights – A Model Plan for States to use in Pushing Back Against Federal Government Over-reach” is available from:
Don M. Powers
c/o Powers At Law, LLC
1420 Bond Street
Edmond, OK 73034
Attorney Powers will help and consult with people interested in teaching Constitution classes in their area. He is currently developing a book on the Constitution from his newspaper columns and his own research conducted into the Founders and America’s organic law.
More patriots like Powers, please!
- Attorney Don Powers (Powers at Law, LLC) in Edmond, OK
Don Powers is an award-winning presenter on the Constitution who has re-worked his course information for college students into classes on the Constitution for the public. He found that his college students didn’t understand the Constitution before taking his course, and neither do most adults. “We’re losing our freedom,” Powers says, “because too many people can’t see that the Constitution protects our freedom. Unfortunately for America, our elected politicians, un-elected judges, and bureaucrats are moving us back to the rule of man.”
Powers received the George Washington Medal from Freedom’s Foundation at Valley Forge for his class “Understanding the Constitution.” He is the President of the Oklahoma City chapter of the Foundation. Powers most recently taught his class this spring under the umbrella of Oklahoma State University’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. During the last 10 years, he has taught the class to approximately 3,000 people from book clubs, veterans groups, churches, and patriotic organizations.
His classes draw from The 5000 Year Leap by W. Cleon Skousen which Powers calls one of the best books on the Constitution ever written. Its 28 principles of freedom begin with natural law, the only reliable footing for sound government. The Founders of this nation were familiar with these principles and used them to structure the Constitution. “If you don’t understand where the Founders were coming from, it’s hard to understand the document and how it was written,” Powers says. He also teaches key elements of the Declaration of Independence and seminal historical events from the Revolutionary Era.
“The Constitution is not hard to understand once properly taught,” Powers says. “It was written for the average person living in the colonies at the time. Any reasonably intelligent person today can understand it with a little background.”
Despite its simplicity, “the Constitution is not being used properly today,” he says, “especially not by Congress, which grants too much discretion to the federal agencies and takes too much power away from the states and the people.” This adversely affects the Rule of Law and constitutes a regression to the rule of man, Powers rightly says.
Continuing, Powers says, “When people try to identify anything they can do today, without government involvement, they usually conclude that government touches every conceivable thing they might do. We have allowed the government to escape the bounds of the Constitution.”
“The Constitution means what it says (The Stated Powers, the restrictions on the Government) and it means what it doesn’t say (The Reserve Powers held by States and ‘We the People’),” Powers says. “If the Constitution does not give a power to the federal government, then the federal government is prohibited from exercising that power.”
This last point puts Powers on the side of William Howard Taft against Teddy Roosevelt, who believed that a President can do anything the Constitution doesn’t forbid. Even if unmoored from justice and natural law? The View of the Constitution by our American Founders, President Taft, Powers and other Constitutionalists is the more humane and sustainable vision – limited government, which Powers says is, “the original intent of the Founders from their writings and from analysis and research into the four-corners of the documents that constitute the United States of America’s organic law.”
Powers wrote a pamphlet on how states can take back power from Washington using the Constitution. “The Toolbox of States’ Rights – A Model Plan for States to use in Pushing Back Against Federal Government Over-reach” is available from:
Don M. Powers
c/o Powers At Law, LLC
1420 Bond Street
Edmond, OK 73034
Attorney Powers will help and consult with people interested in teaching Constitution classes in their area. He is currently developing a book on the Constitution from his newspaper columns and his own research conducted into the Founders and America’s organic law.
More patriots like Powers, please!
Alexandria Tea Party - 4th of July Video
If you think a 'living, breathing Constitution' would be a good thing, you need to see this video.
If you think a 'living, breathing Constitution' would be a good thing, you need to see this video.
"Mr. Madison" (classroom presentation)
- Constitution Leadership Initiative
Read the script:
- Constitution Leadership Initiative
- The Constitution Leadership Initiative believes today's school kids should hear about James Madison's role in the formation of the Constitution and Bill of Rights "straight from the horse's mouth." That's why we have begun working with public and private school teachers to have "Mr.Madison", fourth President of the United States, visit their classroom to explain, "first hand", his life as one of America's Founding Fathers and his connection to these foundational documents. To schedule a visit to your classroom, contact gary@constitutionleadership.org
- CLI is willing to consult for free with people who want to start a similar program in their own area
Read the script:
| cli_james_madison_project.docx |
U.S. Constitution – Most Important Document of the United States (classroom presentation)
- a 9/12 group in Charleston, SC
- a 9/12 group in Charleston, SC
- Concerned that history is not being taught in government schools, this 9/12 group set about to find presentations on the U.S. Constitution for all grades. Not liking what they found, the group crafted its own presentations. To get into schools, the group worked through an ally on the local school board and the head of the history department who was receptive. Then bookings for classroom presentations, school assemblies, and Constitution Day programs flowed in from interested teachers and principals. The group concentrated on the lower grades in the first year of the project, relying heavily on picture slides for the younger audience. Also, the younger kids love presenters in colonial costume; it’s like having a real person from history walk through the door. The presentation for high schoolers is more detailed and focuses on the Bill of Rights. In all grades, the presenters add interest by capitalizing on the facts that South Carolina had four signers of the Constitution and a tea party 13 days before the one in Boston, making the Constitution local history for the students. The group gives away pocket Constitutions during presentations - 1,500 in the first three years and 3,000 in the next two years – being fortunate enough to find funding for this purpose.
- Aligning with strongly held values in Charleston, the group builds inclusiveness into its presentation, to show the kids the Constitution is not just for ‘rich white men’. Black allies join presentations in costume. Also, the stories of Samuel Adams (who was not well off) and Alexander Hamilton (an orphan born in a foreign land) are highlighted.
- Other highpoints include:
- why we have a Constitution and why ours is so exceptional
- why the Articles of Confederation didn’t work
- an introduction to The 5,000 Year Leap and the idea that progress stems from freedom and thus our founding documents
- how the Book of Deuteronomy inspired parts of the Constitution
- how Captain John Smith set up the rule that "he who does not work, does not eat" in the Jamestown colony to keep the people from starving. (Jamestown began with a ‘common store’, i.e., communism, which led to both sloth and famine.)
- How Ben Franklin called for prayer during a particularly contentious part of the Constitutional Convention
- the different forms of government (e.g., democracy versus dictatorship)
- the difference between our Republic and pure democracy (mob rule)
- The presenters usually play the School House Rock's The Preamble as the students are walking into the auditorium, library, or settling down.
- The group sends scanned pages from a Constitution coloring book, if teachers request them.
- The group has 4-6 volunteers at any given time. Presentations are usually made in teams of two, sometimes at charter schools. The group invites school board members to its presentations and has been written up in the local paper multiple times.
- The group is willing to send its presentations to interested parties and consult on how to get such a project going. Contact Debbie Jones: debbiejones80@yahoo.com