Leo Marcinak

My name is Leo Marcinak. I am a ninth grader at the Heights School in Potomac, Maryland. I live in Herndon, Virginia, just under thirty miles from Washington, D.C. While I was born in Arlington, Virginia, my family moved to Illinois when I was still very young, and in 2021 we moved back to Virginia. I hope to attend Hillsdale College after I graduate.

I consider myself to be a man who knows a little about everything, but not a lot about most things (although I can talk somebody’s ear off about the Constitution). In my free time I like to read, write, make music, debate, and go on fifty-mile bike rides that take me along the Potomac River with an amazing view of D.C. I am a member of Young America’s Foundation and the National Rifle Association. Many of my classmates consider me to be the most politically-minded person in the class, and I cannot really deny that.

I believe that the United States Constitution is the greatest political document ever conceived in the history of mankind, and the fact that it has survived almost two-hundred and fifty years without failing is a testament to the greatness of a Republic such as this. Americans have an obligation to defend the Constitution at all costs, and I will stand by it no matter what anybody throws at it.

Constituting America has allowed me to put my beliefs and writings to good use, so that I may contribute to other Americans and help teach the basic facts they need to know to understand the heritage of the United States.

Thomas Jefferson once said, “I prefer a dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery.” I think all Americans should have a deep understanding of what this means: a free nation will always have dangers as a result of the liberty bestowed by God, but without these liberties, a nation is nothing more than one with its rights guaranteed by a sheet of paper, and those same rights are at risk of being taken away at the whim of a government official. If we can remember this, I think we will find it very easy to uphold this nation to the end of time.

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