The opening words of our constitution — the Preamble — is really a job description by the American people that lays out the goals and responsibilities of the newly formed government. 现呈的序言部分说明如下:
“我们美国人民, 以建立一个更完美的联邦, 建立公正, 确保国内安宁, 提供共同防御, 促进公众福利, 为我们自己和我们的子孙后代确保自由的祝福, 是谁为美利坚合众国制定和确立了这部宪法.”
正如美国人民在序言中所说, the government and those charged with running the government advanced an ambitious and demanding job description for the new nation, 但对于如何最好地实现这一未来愿景，它并没有非常具体. 不过, the American people and the Founding Fathers who wrote the 宪法 clearly wanted this new nation to remain unified, 以正义为基础的, 保证和平, 安全与好运, 大多数都是围绕自由原则发展起来的.
然而,, 尽管序言对我国未来的方向很重要, there have been too many examples where the job description set by the American people failed to be implemented or at least only partially achieved. 例如, our “perfect Union” was severely threatened by the bloody Civil War between North and South from 1861-1865, 在很大程度上是因为奴隶制和各州的权利. 战争结束后, there remained animosity between North and South along with widespread discrimination against the freed slaves. 今天，在公共政策和国家价值观方面存在严重的政治分歧. We now live in a time when our nation is split between so-called Blue States (liberal and Democratic) and Red States (conservative and Republican) on issues such as abortion, 枪支管制, 同性恋群体的权利, 种族权益, 以及政府的角色. There are now real concerns that the goal of a “perfect Union” will not be easily attainable as this political polarization is so intense and deep that there appears to be little chance of bringing the nation together any time soon.
其次是“伸张正义，保国内安宁”.” Justice and Tranquility are those governing goals that are not easily defined and too often elusive. Many in the minority communities of our country point to disturbing instances in which justice and tranquility have been denied or delayed. 现在有了常规的斗争, 尤其是在非裔美国人社区, 处理诸如警察暴行之类的问题, 司法程序不公、效率低下, 帮派暴力, and systemic racism — societal and institutional obstacles to create equitable guarantees that justice will be served and tranquility achieved. The recognized symbol of justice in our system of government is the blindfolded women balancing the scales of justice, 这表明每个美国人都将享有平等对待的权利, 有机会在法庭上不受偏见地听取他或她的申诉, 如果罪名成立，将在法律规定的范围内受到惩罚. As is often stated about our governing values — no one is above the law and everyone is subject to a system of judicial 公平. 如果这些确实是支配我们司法体系的价值观, 那么国内的安宁就会随之而来. 但是，如果我们的司法系统被破坏或带有偏见，那么真正的安宁就无法实现.
“Providing for the common defence and promoting the general Welfare” are usually discussed in terms of how the government collects and distributes our tax money. This country has a national budget in the trillions of dollars with the bulk of the expenditures directed to the military and to a range of social programs. Governing in our country has become a fierce battle over how best to cut the public policy pie with the key question of who deserves the biggest cut of the fiscal pie and where to best distribute the cut of the pie. 从历史上看, the military has often received the largest share of the tax distribution pie as the Congress and 总统s have determined that the various branches of the armed forces need to have the latest in equipment and support — airplanes, 军舰, 坦克, 卫星, cybersecurity and personnel training — in order to maintain our status as the world’s most powerful country. It is in the budget area of “general Welfare” that the policy debate is the most contested as the national debate centers around how much money should be spent on taking care of the needs of Americans, 尤其是那些穷人, 禁用, 需要医疗服务的老年人. 当有关于削减预算或减少我们庞大的国家债务的辩论时, 通常是在“一般福利”的标题下寻求节省. There is no doubt that both “providing for the common defence and promoting the general Welfare” are critical ingredients for our country’s future, but there will always be a political disagreement over what goal is most important and how best to distribute what are often scarce fiscal resources.
最后，“祝福我们自己和子孙后代的自由。.” There is no more important value enshrined in the political and governmental culture of the United States than liberty. From the days of independence to be free of British rule to the modern era when in the “Star-Spangled Banner” we sing about “the land of the free,” Americans have been raised on the premise that we are a free country and that we cherish the rights that make us free. 当然，还有其他的价值观定义了我们的生活方式，比如平等, 机会, 民主, 公平, 以及个人尊严, 但正是自由使我们成为美国人. 就像序言中职位描述的其他成分一样, there have been debates over the limits or expansions of liberty in our society — how free should we be as a people? At some points in our history liberties have been upheld such as the freedom to burn the flag as a right under the First Amendment, while at other times freedom has been limited as when the right to access to an abortion procedure has been curtailed in some states. 保护美国人的自由权利一直是一种平衡行为, yet Americans have never wavered in their demands to be free and not be limited by government decree or action. No matter if the balancing of freedom and government-imposed order has been a difficult exercise, 最终，自由仍然是不可避免的目标.
The Preamble to the 宪法 is one of those little snippets of our history that many of us had to memorize in high school civics classes. 尽管宪法本身很大程度上是对结构和程序的列出和描述, the goals and responsibilities stated in the Preamble are worth remembering as our job description for governing. 从许多方面来说，《ladbrokes立博中文版》的开头几句话把我们定义为一个民主国家, 正在进行的工作, 但始终以使美国人成为我们国家的推动力为中心.