I mean it should be updated that’s for damn sure. But the average person seems to think that it is sacrosanct despite the people who wrote it saying otherwise.
The Congress, whenever two thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on the application of the legislatures of two thirds of the several states, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of three fourths of the several states, or by conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress; provided that no amendment which may be made prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any manner affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first article; and that no state, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate.
If two thirds of the state legislatures call for it, there will be a new convention to propose amendments to the constitution. Currently, there are four groups pushing states for a new constitutional convention; the Balanced Budget Amendment campaign, the Convention of States campaign, the Wolf-PAC campaign, and the term limits campaign. These groups have it total convinced 28 states to call for it. They need just six more states. It could happen during Trump’s term because the right has been pushing for one for a long time. Here’s why it would be a mess.
But here’s the catch: there are absolutely no rules for an Article V Convention outlined in the Constitution.
That means the group of people convening to rewrite our Constitution could be totally unelected and unaccountable. There is nothing that could limit the convention to a single issue, so the delegates could write amendments that revoke any of our most cherished rights – like our right to peaceful protest, our freedom of religion, or our right to privacy. There are also no rules preventing corporations from pouring money into the convention to ensure they get their way.
In short, an Article V Convention would be a disaster. It would lead to long and costly legal battles, uncertainty about how our democracy functions, and likely economic instability.
And then what? A vacuum gets filled by something else. We do need to reexamine some of the archaic ideas just like its writers thought we should and would. It’s short-sighted because we’ve hung onto old words for so long we can’t even agree on what they mean. Jefferson has some good quotes on how expecting laws then to apply to a future society is ridiculous. And yet here we are…
And then we re-write the thing to include pretty sensible constraints, such as 20-year terms for SC justices, proportional representation in the Senate, no fucking assault weapons outside of the military and perhaps law enforcement, etc.
The US constitution should go away. It’s short-sighted and completely anachronistic.
I mean it should be updated that’s for damn sure. But the average person seems to think that it is sacrosanct despite the people who wrote it saying otherwise.
It should be rewritten completely. But we Americans are too simple a people to take on the task.
Given who’s in charge of most states at the moment, a rewrite probably isn’t going to turn out very well.
You’re right and we’re not that far from the absolute chaos that will come with a new Constitutional Convention.
If two thirds of the state legislatures call for it, there will be a new convention to propose amendments to the constitution. Currently, there are four groups pushing states for a new constitutional convention; the Balanced Budget Amendment campaign, the Convention of States campaign, the Wolf-PAC campaign, and the term limits campaign. These groups have it total convinced 28 states to call for it. They need just six more states. It could happen during Trump’s term because the right has been pushing for one for a long time. Here’s why it would be a mess.
And then what? A vacuum gets filled by something else. We do need to reexamine some of the archaic ideas just like its writers thought we should and would. It’s short-sighted because we’ve hung onto old words for so long we can’t even agree on what they mean. Jefferson has some good quotes on how expecting laws then to apply to a future society is ridiculous. And yet here we are…
And then we re-write the thing to include pretty sensible constraints, such as 20-year terms for SC justices, proportional representation in the Senate, no fucking assault weapons outside of the military and perhaps law enforcement, etc.
Grant all 50 states independence. Let them reemerge into whatever new nation or nations the individual states want to form.
Dissolve the states.