The Constitution is a living document & they are trying to kill it. Don't scrap it--save it

[Hekate]

There was a time when pledging "our lives, our fortunes, & our sacred honor" meant something.

There was a time when taking an oath “before God” put a man (sic) in an awesome and even terrifying space. It was more than mere words, even to rational Deists like Thomas Jefferson.

Nowadays, when a big chunk of the US populace is competing for who can be the mostest bestest Christian of all in the public sphere, our modern Christians in the GOP never blanch or tremble at the lies they say immediately after taking an oath to tell the truth, nor do they fear the loss of their “sacred honor” when actually betraying our Constitution and country. They have no sense that honor is something to value highly, and they have no sense of shame to hold them back.

The fault lies not in the Constitution, which (like RBG) I take to be a living document, but in the living Americans of the 21st century. The Constitution calls on each generation to interpret it anew and breathe new life into it. In the last 40 years, however, there has been a slow strangulation by American citizens themselves and the politicians they elect, and now the Senate is poised to plunge a knife into the heart of the Constitution.

In these past several days at DU I have heard the pitter-patter of a little drumbeat (among the general outcry) that the Constitution doesn’t work any more, that it relies on outmoded and antique ways of thought and behavior, and that it probably wasn’t written all that well to begin with.

In other words, what? Start over? Consign it to a museum devoted to failed experiments? Our Founders knew, and all wise men (sic) acknowledged, that the only thing that could destroy us is ourselves.

Let’s not co-operate in that destruction.

[Moostache]

1. Save it how?

You think this currently broken, gerrymandered and illegitimate government is CAPABLE of getting Constitutional Amendments passed?

I am more likely to become the Queen of England.

[Quemado]

2. The Constitution was written over 230 years ago.

It’s well past time to change it. And I don’t mean to scrap it. But it’s a document that has many loopholes and can be twisted to benefit things and people in ways that I think the original writers didn’t imagine that could be done.

[Hekate]

3. That's why there is an Amendment process. The first 10 straight off. Along the way slaves were freed

Women got the vote. Booze was outlawed. When that was a resounding failure, booze was legalized again.

We are up for some new Amendments. And we are also up for tightening a bunch of existing laws so that white-collar criminals actually see the inside of prison walls.

Beware of calls for a new Constitutional Convention, though. It’s an idea cooked up on the far right, and you can just imagine what they’d like to put in.

[Quemado]

5. The amendment process is long and arduous, and in some cases, almost, if not impossible.

It takes 38 states to amend the Constitution. Any kind of amendment during these times of extreme political partisanship would encounter stiff opposition from one side or the other.

Take the Electoral College. If we were to eliminate the EC, the legislatures in 38 states would have to ratify the amendment. IMO, there are too many states opposed to eliminating the EC simply because the lowest populated areas in the U.S. would lose political power in Presidential elections. With the EC eliminated, and presidents elected by direct popular vote, candidates would focus on the largest populated areas for votes. While I am not opposed to a direct popular vote to elect presidents, I'm sure there are at least enough states to block an amendment to eliminate the EC.

[Hekate]

4. Self-kick, just because