The late Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia, who served for many years in the U.S. Senate, always carried a copy of the Constitution in his jacket pocket. Fellow senators knew he would find the appropriate section to remind (sometimes rebuke) anyone who proposed legislation in violation of the country’s most sacred legal document.

Recently, I offered an extra copy of the Constitution to a younger friend, who accepted it with the words, “I’ll keep it, even though it’s no longer worth the paper it’s written on.”

This country was founded as a “great experiement” in democracy and made tremendous strides in improving not just our lives but the lives of the world.

But as the Roman Empire was destroyed from within, due to the lust for more money, power and control, will this too be our future?

Is any elected or appointed official bold enough to hold the Constitution high to remind all of us what helped make us a home for all who were willing to work hard, to make us a nation of diversity, of acceptance, and a model for the world?

Marty Brewster

Elkins