It is common nowadays, if one expresses an opinion about governmental matters on any public chat community, that a complete stranger will command you to “Go read the Constitution.” I’ve noticed that those people seldom cite any specific relevant passage of the constitution, nor, if I have cited a relevant passage, do they acknowledge it as having any bearing on the issue. No, it’s the act of going and reading the constitution that earns credibility.

So I am going to comply, publicly. I’ve read the whole constitution and much commentary on it, many times already, in graduate school and for pleasure on my own time. But I’ve never done it openly. So, over the coming weeks, I am going to read the constitution and its amendments. There’s little to be gained by it. But . . . why not?

The constitution can be read in 20 minutes or so, but I’ll take it slowly, and piece by piece. I will allow myself to comment after wards. It happens that I am living in a remote part of the world, far from my personal library of books and with sporadic access to the internet. So I’ll not be able to cross reference nor refer to commentaries. Mostly I’ll rely on the original document, Madison’s Notes, and The Federalist essays.

Let’s begin.