Photo: Flag Day gathering in Pagosa Springs, June 2025.
The proclamation approved by the Archuleta Board of County Commissioners last week, on September 16, concluded this way:
NOW, THEREFORE, LET IT BE PROCLAIMED by the Archuleta County Board of County Commissioners that the week of September 17-23, 2026, is hereby designated as Constitution Week in Archuleta County. We urge all citizens to study the Constitution and reflect on the privilege of being an American with all the rights and responsibilities, which that privilege involves.
At the start of that September 16 meeting, the BOCC had opened the floor for public comment, as they do at all regular meetings. This opportunity to address the commissioners (and incidentally, whatever audience is attending the meeting, in person or online) relates to the idea that our governments — federal, state and local — are “of the people, by the people, and for the people…”
…the idea that our government officials consist, not of high-status noblemen, or aristocrats, or lords, but “of the people” who in turn comprise a single political class where all have equal rights…
…and the idea that “the people” choose their own leaders through a fair and open election process…
…and the idea that those elected leaders then strive to serve “the people” rather than special interests.
The first speaker during public comment on September 16 was local activist Candace Jones. Here’s part of her speech, regarding Constitution Week.
Today you will “urge all citizens to study the Constitution and reflect on the privilege of being an American with all the rights and responsibilities, which that privilege involves.” I wholeheartedly support your resolution calling the community’s attention to the values of the Constitution.
These are perilous times for the form of government the Constitution gives us. So, as we reflect on our rights and privileges, I would also ask you and everyone who respects the Constitution to speak loudly and clearly against behavior that undermines our elections.
Candidate yard signs are going up for the General Election – and they’ve already been stolen and defaced. It’s a juvenile tactic that disrespects Americans’ fundamental Constitutional right to participate in political speech.
Stealing and defacing yard signs and bumper stickers pales in comparison to buying votes, threatening election officials, intimidating voters, interfering with election procedures, spreading disinformation to confuse voters, and stoking controversy that so discourages voters they simply give up.
But if we tolerate stealing yard signs and bumper stickers, then we’ve cleared a path to the slippery slope of all the other tactics to take away our Constitutional rights as U.S. citizens to speak about the government and to vote. This is not a partisan issue. It is a threat to all of us who want to see the United States continue to be governed by the people, for the people.
I am confident in our local election officials, the procedures they follow, and the equipment they use to run elections and count votes. I thank them for their service, particularly given the circumstances they face this year.
In the first two parts of this editorial series, I suggested that the original U.S. Constitution as ratified in 1789 was an imperfect compromise between conflicting political and social interests, and reflected certain prejudices and beliefs that we no longer accept in the 21st century.
One of the leading revolutionaries of the time, Benjamin Franklin, had similar feelings, and expressed them to the assembled Constitutional Convention, while also stating that he would endorse the Constitution even with all its flaws:
Mr. President:
I confess that there are several parts of this constitution which I do not at present approve, but I am not sure I shall never approve them; for having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged by better information, or fuller consideration, to change opinions even on important subjects, which I once thought right, but found to be otherwise. It is therefore that the older I grow, the more apt I am to doubt my own judgment, and to pay more respect to the judgment of others…
…In these sentiments, Sir, I agree to this Constitution with all its faults, if they are such; because I think a general Government necessary for us, and there is no form of Government but what may be a blessing to the people if well administered, and believe farther that this is likely to be well administered for a course of years, and can only end in Despotism, as other forms have done before it, when the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic Government, being incapable of any other.
I doubt too whether any other Convention we can obtain, may be able to make a better Constitution. For when you assemble a number of men to have the advantage of their joint wisdom, you inevitably assemble with those men, all their prejudices, their passions, their errors of opinion, their local interests, and their selfish views. From such an assembly can a perfect production be expected?…
Thus, the design for a federal government was ratified and has served as an imperfect guide for almost 250 years, through times both festive and terrible.
One central aim of the document was to discourage Despotism — the rise of an authoritarian government that served itself and its friends, at the expense of “the people”. Mr. Franklin apparently believed that all forms of government ultimately end in Despotism, but that the U.S. Constitution — if well administered — could be a blessing to the people “for a course of years”.
Some may feel that we have finally arrived at the right time for a despotic, dictatorial government to take control of the federal government. Typically, such governments retain control partly by invalidating the election process.
Nevertheless, it’s still Constitution Week in Archuleta County — and across the entire country — for three more days.
Let us count our blessings.
Read Part Four… tomorrow…