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We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

— https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution-transcript

We have lost sight of this.  This is the first paragraph of the United States Constitution.  

We spend a lot of time arguing about the first two amendments to this document (and occasionally the other parts), while ignoring the core document.

This is the thesis statement, if you will, of our entire government and way of life.  It says, “OK, everything after this?  This is what it is all about.  This is the WHAT and WHY of this thing we are doing.  Everything else is just the HOW.”

We the People—we are a democracy, in essence if not always in form.  The power rests with the people.

of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, — they were coming off of the Articles of Confederation years, which was a decidedly IMperfect Union.  

establish Justice, — and we come to the first “meat” of the document.  The first purpose of this document after the decision to make one Entity out of Many is to establish JUSTICE.  Everything this Constitution and its products do must serve JUSTICE.

insure domestic Tranquility,  — After Justice, we have PEACE among ourselves.

provide for the common defence, — And peace from without, as well.

promote the general Welfare, — and we are supposed to try to make things, in general, good for everyone.

and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity,  — we can do none of these things if we are not free, and we want this freedom to extend to those who come after us.

do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. —And this is how we are going to do all that.

Free Speech—so long as it does not include Injustice.  You cannot slander, you cannot terrorize, you cannot threaten, you cannot yell Fire in a crowded theater.  

Right to Bear Arms—but that does not give you the right to oppose Justice.  It does not give the right to disturb the Domestic Tranquility.  How can anyone believe that the intent was to do anything other than preserve these things?  

Those Amendments are just that: amendments.  They exist precisely because the framers of the Constitution knew that change was inevitable, and that conversation was not done.  They knew that we will never have a Perfect Union, but they hoped for a More Perfect Union.    So they included an option to change.  

Things have changed.  The people who wrote those words lived in a time when people of African descent were still property, and they were not yet ready to confront that question—it had to wait on further Amendments, and war, and injustice, and tragedy to be sure.  The people who wrote those words had no concept of “assault rifle”, and the idea that someone would take a gun into a school and kill or wound many of the children there was simply inconceivable to them. It was inconceivable when I was a child. Things have changed.

The conversation about how to form that more perfect union will not end unless and until we give up on it.  It cannot end unless we retreat so far to extremes that conversation becomes impossible.  It continues until we completely forget those words written at the beginning of that document.  

I beg of you: when discussing our Rights as Americans, do so with those words in mind.  Do not read or speak the words of those Amendments without considering the context in which they were written, the purpose they were meant to serve.

Together, we the people must work to form a more perfect union, to establish justice,  insure domestic tranquility, provide for our common defense, promote our general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and those who will follow us.

Shawn McBurnie’s Snow Snakes is a chilling tune with a beautiful Swedish bit at the end. It tells the warnings of snow snakes, ready to drag one into the snow unexpectedly.  

I made a little drawing of a Pokemon-y Sand Squink, a creature from a body of American folklore called Fearsome Critters; Fearsome Critters’re basically America’s equivalent of Youkai and deserve more love.

Here’s a bit from a page from a guide to Fearsome Critters explaining this little critter, to show what they’re about:

Of limited distribution, but possessing most unusual characteristics. Reported to date only by prospectors, hunters and sheep-herders in the remote mountains of Washington. Built somewhat on the lines of a coyote, somewhat on the pattern of a bobcat, but with ears like a jack-rabbit. The tail is long and bushy, and is carried recurved along the back the same as a squirrel’s.

A nightly prowler. Emerges after dark and sinks down to the river to fish. The Squink isn’t particularly fussy about its diet, but has a great fondness for electric eels. Probably on account of their higher pH content. When hungry it is a timid animal. But its courage returns after feeding, and it will then stalk boldly along the mountain trails until it sights a prospector returning from town.

Thereupon the Squink will precede its victim by two or three rods, slowly waving its long tail and touching one ear and then the other. The previous few miles of travel on a heavy feed of electric eels generates a substantial charge of static, and these alternating contacts produce a series of brilliant discharges which invariably please and attract the traveler, who follows and is never seen again.

Several nests of this animal have been located and carefully examined. They were all lined with portions of old inner tubes, while the eggs (for the Squink is oviparous1) were shelled with bakelite2.

Squonk Waltz highlights one of the Fearsome Critters that brings out the most sympathy from us all. Shawn McBurnie really hits the nail on the head when talking about these shy little critters.

Now Squonks are all homely and scruffy and shy They don’t like to see their reflection And if they should happen to catch someone’s eye They dissolve into tears and dejection

685: Tailypo

Reason to lock your bedroom door at night.

Requested by Anonymous

This is Music Monday, Shawn McBurnie Part 5/6!  

Fearsome Critters is the debut album for Shawn McBurnie & the Slight Exaggerations.  The whole album is devoted to songs about cryptids, those weird creatures that everybody knows about, but hardly anybody ever sees.

Until it’s too late. And then there is nobody to tell about it.

Shawn McBurnie takes the tale of Hoop Snakes for a spin with this bubbly tune. This Fearsome Critter is not only said to be in North America, but also in Australia. 

Now a hoop snake is the darnedest sight you’ll ever hope to see Though you’re better off to hope you never do It twists to make a circle two foot wide or maybe three With a stinger on its tail to pierce you through

The Tote-Road Shagamaw

Region of origin: New Brunswick, Canada

A satyr-like trickster who lived near the lumber camps around the border of Maine and Canada, the Shagamaw was a figure with forepaws of a bear and hind legs of a moose. He would alternate walking on the two different sets of legs to leave changing tracks to confuse hunters or loggers in nearby camps. The tracks usually continued “for twenty chains,” equal to 440 paces or a quarter mile, before the Shagamaw switched off to the other feet. It was believed he maintained this regular distance because the creature tended to mimic things; similar to how he took on aspects of bears and moose he was copying surveyors he had observed working in quarter-mile increments on the logging camps’ tote-roads that now ran through his territory. Conversely, some said it was because four hundred and forty was as high as he could count.

This folk song by Shawn McBurnie & The Slight Exaggerations tells the tale of an old man and his 3 dogs. When their food runs low, he goes out with his dogs to hunt a rabbit but he shoots at a Tailypo instead. The Tailypo looses its tail and the old man brings it home to cook in a stew after he finds no other food. However, the Tailypo wants it back and won’t give up without it. 

Now the story goes around On the farms and in the town Of a long tailed beast along the riverside It’s cunning and it’s slick It’ll draw your hounds off quick Its eyes are mad and it has shadow colored hide

Hidebehind is just one of many beautiful and fun folk songs about Fearsome Critters by Shawn McBurnie & The Slight Exaggerations. Each song gives fun stories and information about the lumberjack legends. 

If you glimpse a Hidebehind, I’ll tell you what to do, Shout out loud and strong,  so he won’t come after you.