A More Perfect Union: What We the People Can Do to Reclaim Our Constitutional Liberties by Ben Carson MD, Candy Carson Read Free Book Online Page A

PROCEDURE
    Justice can be perverted, even in the best of systems. However, it’s always best to address that injustice through the proper channels. It is true that slavery ended only through the bloodshed of the Civil War, but that tragic event became necessary only because Americans had not been diligent in addressing the evil of slavery properly. Since then, through the use of the system created by the Constitution, skillful jurists like Thurgood Marshall, who worked with the NAACP, were able toovercome the evils of Jim Crow and its segregation. If there is injustice in our country today, we should follow Marshall’s example of persistent and legal pursuit of justice. If we try to take matters into our own hands, we run the risk of deluding ourselves and becoming the tyrants once we get our way.
    The signers of the Constitution wanted a nation where people were treated equally regardless of their social status or ethnic origin. This could be achieved only if the leaders of the nation were willing to apply the laws equally to everyone and not pick and choose which laws they wanted to enforce. In recent decades we have seen significant deviation regarding the equal application of the laws, but again, it is not too late to rectify the situation if we the people of the United States take enough interest in our political situation to exercise our right as voters and put people in office who will uphold our Constitution.

TRUSTWORTHY LAW ENFORCEMENT
    Since the beginning of human history, men have been involved in wars and tremendous strife. It appears to be a part of the human condition. The founders understood that war would never be eliminated entirely, but they felt that we could maintain peace within our own borders. If they could form a nation where the people trusted the government to uphold justice, they believed, people would be much more likely to remain peaceful.
    A key ingredient for upholding justice and keeping the peace is a well-trained police force under the control of a local government elected by the people. People tend to be much more comfortable with the forces of law and order when thelawmakers are from their own area and the enforcers are people who understand local culture. This is the reason why we have local law-enforcement agencies rather than a national military presence to maintain domestic order.
    Ensuring justice is a vital element of ensuring domestic tranquillity, because people who feel that they are being treated fairly are much more likely to be tranquil. A combination of fair laws and friendly and understanding agents of enforcement has a much higher chance of achieving peace and harmony than does dictatorial imposition of power.
    As an elementary school pupil in Detroit, I saw the benefits of kindness and reason in authority figures. Like most of the other students, I rode the bus home from school at the end of the day. Some of the bus drivers were mean and seemed to take no interest in the children. Our bus driver, Pat, was kind and knew all the children by their names. He could frequently be seen comforting children who were distressed for one reason or another. He also knew that the children were thrilled whenever he pulled past one of the other buses, giving them a chance to cheer and make faces at the kids on the other bus. Although Pat didn’t speed, he was very good at anticipating the traffic signals, which made for many exciting rides home. Because Pat developed camaraderie with the students, he was regarded very differently from the other bus drivers, who seemed much more interested in exercising authority. Some of them felt that Pat was wrong to become friendly with the kids, but what they didn’t know was that the kids had the utmost respect for Pat: He never had any trouble on his bus. The kids saw him not only as an authority figure but also as a friend.
    Local police forces could learn a lot from this story. If thepeople in a neighborhood regularly have friendly encounters