Eleanor R. Description of the Constitution Is Sempiternal

Sempiternal means everlasting, indestructible, timeless, abiding, in other words there is no need to completely change it but to modify laws as each age progresses. *Don't ask me 6 months from now what that words means I might forget.  I like it because the Marines motto is {'Semper Fi' short for Semper fidelis meaning "always faithful"} and I have a Marine Vet son. 😜

Eleanor Roosevelt words were written in one of her daily columns "My Day" which she wrote (She received "her own money" for writing) for more than 20 years. She wrote it 6 days a week and it appeared every other day in over 90 papers nationwide.

I like her description of the Constitution more than any other I have ever read, she wrote:

"Here they are terrified lest the Constitution be interpreted as it was meant to be interpreted in each age according to that period's own ideas, instead of past generation.  It seems to me it would be more intelligent to be afraid of strangling democracy by letting a fossilizing process harden the Constitution into a cocoon which must be violently broken because it could not grow up with the life within. Life implies growth and the Constitution was never meant to be used as the Bible was by our most puritanical Puritans.

"'The letter killeth.' Do these people really want to be ruled by a frozen document?  If so, they are the ones who are going back upon the American spirit, not we.

I do hope there are enough men and women of vision in Congress who are not ridden by these fears, which seem most inappropriate ones in the mouths of self-governing people. It seems to me it would be better to have less in the Constitution than more, because it has got to stand interpretation and reinterpretation through the ages."

                                                     Quote from book My Day, page 16,17 (David Emblidge)

The "Forgotten Man" was a phrase ER used throughout her addresses to her husband and to strive for the needed change in the laws and country to help that man.  Her efforts in Arthurdale, W.V. which she personally funded when Congress financially pulled out because of the financial losses was an effort to revive a forgotten community in the Appalachian Mountains.

This community supplied the families with work to make their own food through farming land “given to them” and build houses with materials “given to them.” (Them was unemployed coal miners)  The government abandoned the community project when the town became more and more dependent on the government for money. ER had to abandon financing it as well or she would have gone personally broke too.

Sometimes I think well intentioned rich people who feel guilty for having wealth either through inheritance or original invention think they can FIX the "Poverty Mentality" of the rest of us by giving their money to us.  This does not work.  Arthurdale should have proved that to ER. Her attempt at establishing Arthurdale may have made “her” wealth consciousness guilt feel better in response to the cry of the poor “not fair!” but it did not work for the poor.  I do hope she felt some release from that guilty thought by this experiment she spearheaded.

Today Arthurdale, West Virginia remains can be visited because it is maintained by a non-profit organization, formed in 1985, Arthurdale Heritage, Inc.  

Financially it was deemed a failure as it did not make residents financially independent but more dependent on the government.  ER thought it was a success because she saw improvements in the people's lives.  But I say to ER if it is unsustainable for the individual to thrive a lifetime, what was the outcome she wanted?  To teach a man to fish or to give him a fish for a day?  Did she think a financial gift of land and housing to give poor people a leg up, would be enough for them to dive into their ingenuity and own sustainable income? Clearly it was not.

After a half million dollars loss in Arthurdale, the land was sold at a loss to homesteaders and private citizens.  No major company that ER persuaded to come in to provide work for its residents could sustain the operating costs to be there, therefore the companies had to close. She even allowed her signature on furniture made to be sold at a premium price because HER SIGNATURE was on each piece.  This again would not bring long term financial sustainability to the individual.

This would be an insightful study to see exactly why Arthurdale failed economically.

This is why I write, to restore the "thought" that independent ideas with the confidence to carry these ideas out are available to any individual in this country.  We must have the understanding that to make money, one has to do something that is of value to other people and then make it, advertise it, and deliver it.  A good work ethic with the confidence to succeed in our talent is equally essential.

Bottom line for me is the Constitution is a cocoon with life within.  It grows each day to emerge as a better and more beautiful state of governing laws to prosper and benefit all... the rich as well as the "Forgotten Man."

What an adventure to discover our talents and a way to get paid for it!  This makes life more interesting and challenging.  Imagine this, WE CAN use our brains to discover OUR talent to provide income for ourself!  This is my journey to overcome this fear "to make it on our own" is my challenge.  The animals seem to make it on their own, why do we humans fear we can't?  I have some ideas how to root this "Poverty Mentality" out and so I write. It will take thoughtful repetition on our part, daily work, but it can be done!

It is necessary to merge the business side of government money, our money, with the responsibility of protection and peace for this cocoon (Constitution).  This will continue to guide and make freedom for individuals who live here legally in the USA to prosper and thrive.

Therefore I believe our US presidents that rose to that office bring their knowledge and heart to the balance of ‘Lady Justice.’  Only through balancing these scales will we achieve the world peace and prosperity we all desire...in time.