Let Us Be Grateful to God

The Preamble of the 1792 Constitution of the Commonwealth of Kentucky defines the purpose of the Constitution and reads “We, the people of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, grateful to Almighty God for the civil, political and religious liberties we enjoy, and invoking the continuance of these blessings, do ordain and establish this Constitution.” The Kentucky State legislature, in 2002, adopted "Deo gratiam habeamus" as Kentucky’s official Latin motto. The Latin motto in English, “Let us be grateful to God,” expresses “the sentiment” of our Constitution’s Preamble, according to Members of the 2002 General Assembly. People who are “grateful to God” generally believe in God and follow one of the great Bible covenants between the Lord our God and we the people - the Ten Commandments.

As most of my neighbors know and believe, “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor” is one of the Ten Commandments. The Commandment condemns lying and obligates people to honor the truth. Dictionary.com defines a lie as “a false statement made with deliberate intent to deceive.” How often do we see our elected State and Local government officials, judges and law enforcement officers make false statements with deliberate intention to deceive the public? All of the time, according to reports; and, “that’s not Kentucky,” as Attorney General Andrew Beshear likes to say.

There was a time when members of the press would actually hold elected government officials accountable for their actions. Today, news reports exposing corruption and holding public servants accountable for their actions are few and far between. A well written, fact-based and unbiased story used to send tremors throughout any fraudulent political or corporate operation. Now, we the people have to read fake news stories through bias interpretation lenses in order to identify the truth from the lies and deceit. Where are the news reporters of yesterday who truly exposed right from wrong, good from bad and truth from fraud?

The founding Statesmen of our great Commonwealth were a God-fearing people with a conviction for honesty, integrity and justice. These highly respected Statesmen of 1792 formed our great Commonwealth with a structure of government for the people and by a people truly grateful to Almighty God. Our elected public officials of today appear to have lost their moral compass and any conviction for the truth and justice.

Louisville’s failed Mayor Gregory Fischer, for example, appears to lie at every turn as convenience dictates, according to news reports. I sometimes wonder if Mayor Gregory Fischer can truly no longer distinguish the difference between a lie and the truth, whether he testifies under oath, or not. Unfortunately, no one seems to have the ability to hold Mayor Gregory Fischer accountable for his lies, deceit and/or criminal activities. How can we the people of Louisville hold our elected government officials accountable and align governance with the written principles of our Commonwealth? Let us be grateful to God.