Duke Honors Constitution Day on Friday
As the country faces significant political discord, the U.S. Constitution remains the foundation by which we attempt to resolve those conflicts. On Friday, Duke University remembers the importance of the Constitution as it celebrates the 235th anniversary of the signing of the document on Sept. 17, 1787.
To mark the occasion, the Duke Chapel carillon will perform patriotic songs during the daily 5 p.m. concert. The playlist includes “America the Beautiful” and “Color Me America” by Dolly Parton. The carillon bells can be heard on West Campus and also online on the Duke Chapel Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/DukeChapel.
In recent years, the flaws of the Constitution have been attacked by activists from all sides, but professor Michael Munger, chair of Duke’s Department of Political Science, noted that for more than two centuries, the Constitution has also been the means by which political conflicts have been resolved and consensus achieved.
“It is common now to hear people, especially on the Right, say that, ‘The U.S. is not a democracy, it's a republic!’ And, of course, that's right, because the U.S. Constitution specifies a set of rules, some of which (the Supreme Court, the Senate, the Electoral College, etc.) are different from strictly majoritarian governance,” Munger said.
“This can be frustrating, if like some people, especially on the Left, you think that your side could win except for the stupid Constitution. But it is easy to forget that the Constitution protects the minority side from having the majority just make up the rules to suit them, on the fly, which gives governance predictability and coherence.
“And it's also easy to forget that the Constitution protects individual rights, even when a majority would like to take that right away. It's rarely popular to defend the Constitution against people who are upset that the ‘will of the people’ is being thwarted.
“But as we have seen repeatedly in the last 30 years, today's majority is tomorrow's minority, and the Constitution has helped us navigate those stormy passages. Today we find ourselves in the biggest storm in decades, and it's no time to throw the Constitution over the side now.”
Constitution Day also arrives just prior to the important midterm election season. Voting registration efforts are already underway on campus and Early Voting in North Carolina begins Thursday, Oct. 20.