Tomorrow, Sept. 17, is U.S. Constitution Day. It’s a day set aside to honor the document that outlines the basic freedoms that are fundament to the United States, the tenets of our democracy that we have held dear and defended with our lives for more than 200 years.

Now, as our nation faces some of its most difficult financial and governmental challenges in those 200-pluse years of its existence, the Constitution should be a forefront of all our minds.

The basic ideals outlined in the preamble – to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity – are as valid and important today as they were when they were written in 1776, perhaps even more so. Yet, so many of our politicians and men and women in the public debate seem to be more caught up in the politics and the spin, the give and take of Washington and partisanship than in the simple ideals of forming a more perfect union, establishing true justice, securing the blessings of liberty.

As Constitution Day approaches, we encourage each of you to take a few minutes, read the preamble and the Constitution and reflect on the document and the words at the center of our deomcracy. Then, thin about what each of us can d and should do to help ensure our democracy continues to grow and flourish for another 200 years, carrying on the same vision set forth by our founding fathers.