A government dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal must also be dedicated to the prepositions that equalize all men.

On Nov. 19, 1863, when Abraham Lincoln cited the prepositions of, for, and by at Gettysburg he was well aware that they were the grammatical basis of that preposition, and he was doubly aware that he was quoting the most eloquent of the Founding Fathers, Thomas Jefferson, who deliberately imbedded those three essential words into the Declaration of Independence in 1776. In 2013, however, the importance of those three prepositions seems to be lost on Congress.

Any teacher who has attempted to impart to students the uses of the parts of speech knows that prepositions are the most difficult. That's because they are not actions or people or places or things. They don't describe size or color. They do not fit well into the lyrics of a childish song that rhymes "conjunction" with "function." Instead, they are subtle relationship words, and most students (and apparently all modern politicians) are not adept at subtleties.

If a teacher wants students to grasp the purpose of prepositions, it is useful to examine the structure of the word itself. At its root is the word position, and when students are shown explicitly that their pencils can be positioned on a desk or over it or under it, they usually grasp the fact that prepositions are relationship words. But our supposedly representative government in Washington, D.C., seems unable to understand the intricate and important grammar that Lincoln and Jefferson intended to act as a clear indicator of how a government should relate to its people. In their blind ideology our current "leaders" can't see that the preposition of indicates that the government must be composed of the same people it governs, that by indicates that a government should be created by the people it governs, and that for indicates that the government exists for the people who created it. The intention is clear; people are the most integral part of the relationships that constitute the U.S. Constitution.

Congress has obviously lost sight of its position in these interrelationships or it would not be behaving as it has been by placing personal and party politics above the needs of the people. When lobbyists and special interest groups have a louder voice than the public in a republic, that republic is in danger. But when the elected officials place themselves in a position above the electorate, the system has lost its vision - a vision that can only be regained by refocusing on the prepositions Lincoln and Jefferson knew were necessary for any proposition to be meaningful.

If our government - and that includes all three branches - got such a grammar lesson there would be a lot more of "us" in the U.S. and a lot less of "us vs. them." There would be far fewer shenanigans like the recent "sequestration" because lawmakers would also feel the pinch every time one political party or the other tried to out-position the opposition. In fact, there would not even be a true opposition if our nation's needs came before party politics, because both sides would be for America instead of being strictly for their candidates and party platforms. Intransigent positions taken by a minority of people in the America outside of Washington are not allowed to stymie the majority, but in Congress a few who won't budge on even one corporate tax loophole can bring the whole process to a standstill. It's as if they believe being elected has given them a license to never give an inch even if it means losing a mile.

Because of the costs and complications of the electoral process, America may never again have a president rise from among the common people like Lincoln did. The election and re-election of our current president, who has been forced by the more rabid of his rivals to maneuver his way out of political corners, was an attempt by Americans to refocus on the proposition that all men are created equal. But is any man equal to the task that a poisonous and polarized political landscape presents?

History shows us what happened in Lincoln's time to a country so divided that it lost sight of the first proposition of our foundational documents, and it shows us also how that great president used the proper prepositions to make his split nation see what he saw: that equality applies to those who are elected as well as to those who cast the votes. Today, do those who are isolated by ideology and insulated by incumbency still see it that way? Will they ignore the lessons of history and polarize the nation to the point that another president will need to give another Gettysburg Address?

The rules of grammar dictate that of, for, and by don't even deserve capital letters in a headline or a title, but in our dysfunctional capital where our elected representatives have elevated themselves to a position where they have lost touch with America, those three prepositions should be elevated and exalted as the most important words in our language.

Mike Ruskovich is a resident of Blanchard.