Exploring ‘A More or Less Perfect Union’

Walter E. Williams / February 12, 2020

The three-part documentary TV series “A More or Less Perfect Union,” produced by Free to Choose Network, will air on various PBS stations across the nation this month.

The documentary is a personal exploration of the U.S. Constitution by Justice Douglas Ginsburg, who served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and is now a senior justice on that court.

Ginsburg explores the Constitution and features interviews with, and perspectives from, constitutional experts of all political views—liberal, conservative, and libertarian. He examines the key issues of liberty in the U.S. both from a historical and contemporary perspective.

Among those issues are freedom of the press and religion, slavery and civil rights, the Second Amendment, separation of powers, and the number of ways that the Constitution’s framers sought to limit the power of the federal government.

The first episode, titled “A Constitution in Writing,” examines the contentious atmosphere that arose among the delegates in that hot, humid Philadelphia summer of 1787. State delegates were sent to Philadelphia to work out the problems of the Articles of Confederation, which served as the first Constitution of the 13 original states.

This part of the documentary examines some of the efforts to deal with those problems while maintaining its guiding principle to preserve the independence and sovereignty of the states. It also examines the compromises and struggles that led to the document we know as the Constitution.

Some of the framers, particularly the Anti-Federalists, led by Patrick Henry, saw the Constitution as defective. They demanded amendments be added that contained specific guarantees of personal freedoms and rights and clear limitations on the federal government’s power. They swore that they would never ratify the Constitution unless it contained a Bill of Rights.

The second episode is titled “A Constitution for All.” One major emphasis is the examination of the Supreme Court decisions that undermined racial justice both for slaves and later ex-slaves for a century after the Civil War.

Several constitutional scholars discuss how the courts and states ignored and weakened the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments. Known collectively as “the Civil War amendments,” they were designed to ensure equality for recently emancipated slaves. The episode also discusses the Bill of Rights guarantees to those accused of a crime.

The second episode also further explores the Bill of Rights guarantees of free speech and religious freedom, and the notion that “due process of law” be part of any proceeding that denies a citizen “life, liberty or property.” This forced the government to compensate citizens when it takes private property for public use.

Episode three, “Our Constitution at Risk,” examines the many ways that the Constitution is under assault today. It points out that the framers would be shocked by how all three branches of government have grown as a result of what we the people demand from our elected representatives.

There’s a discussion about how some of our Bill of Rights guarantees mean absolutely nothing today, namely the 9th and 10th amendments, which reaffirm personal liberty by specifically limiting the federal government to its “enumerated powers.”

“A More or Less Perfect Union” is not just a bunch of academics and constitutional experts preaching. It features interviews with everyday Americans weighing in with their visions on the rule of law, the branches of government, and the debate over originalism.

A companion book, titled “Voices of Our Republic,” was edited by Ginsburg. It is a collection of thoughts about the Constitution from judges, journalists, and academics.

The book includes the thoughts of Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Neil Gorsuch, former Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger, Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, actor and former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, golf legend Jack Nicklaus, Kiss bassist Gene Simmons, historians Joseph Ellis and Ron Chernow, and many others.

The most important audience for “A More or Less Perfect Union” is high school and college students. It is they who stand a good chance of losing the liberties that made our nation the greatest and freest on earth.