Is it time for a Constitutional Convention?

Clearly, our democracy is broken and in need of repair. To be sure the constitution as it is written provides the framework through which to fix what ails us. One such way is through the Amendment Process and the other is through Constitutional Conventions. Unfortunately, it will never happen through the Amendment Process because the Congress, Presidency, and the Judicial systems are the very means by which you would expect things to get fixed. The sad reality is that you can’t repair a broken tool with another broken tool. Without question the root of the problem is our two party system. So it follows that the existing two parties will never preside over a process by which they are forced to share power.

Strange as it may sound, the framers of the Constitution envisioned that there would be periodic Constitutional Conventions. They understood that the document they created was far from perfect and would have to be kept current. There’s much that could be placed on the agenda for a Constitutional Convention but there is none more important than those items, which would bring an end to the tyranny under which we suffer because of being held hostage by the Democrat and Republican parties. Creating an environment in which more than two parties could flourish would require a total overhaul of the electoral processes. In the end the best of all systems would be one in which we were able to select our representatives based neither on what party they are affiliated with nor how much money they had, or how good of spin-doctors there were.

The second most important item on the Agenda would bring about a complete renovation of the structure of Congress and the way it operates. We absolutely do not have – may never of had – a government of the people. What we have is a government by “committees” which are so far from your and my influence that they might as well be on the moon. Are you not sick of hearing about this or that “powerful committee”? When this new Constitutional Convention was over the Congress would be mandated to hold up or down votes on every bill, and no longer could attachments be tacked on to any bill, and there would be a total end to the process of “earmarking”.

Thomas Jefferson, one of the more prominent framers of the Constitution, wrote extensively to his friend James Madison about his belief that the earth belonged to the living and not the dead. In one of his letters to Madison he writes, “No society can make a perpetual constitution, or even a perpetual law. The earth belongs always to the living generation.” Life expectancy in those days was significantly less than now and so Jefferson establish a time base of 19 years in his letter to Madison. You can read his letter in its entirety here: From Revolution to Reconstruction: Presidents: Thomas Jefferson: Letters: THE EARTH BELONGS TO THE LIVING.

Jefferson and Madison held a common belief that one generation should not impose burdens on the next. Their writings are fascinating as pertains to limiting the amount of acquired debt, to that amount which can be paid in one generation. Jefferson saw it not only in terms of the constitution being a living document he was also keenly interested in control of the government’s ability to wage wars that could not be paid for in one generation. Now think about the trillions of dollars in debt that our children’s children will be paying for because of the Iraq war.

So, weigh in on this topic and voice your opinion. Let’s compile a list of goals (end results) that you believe would be achieved by a successful Constitutional Convention. We don’t necessarily need to think about the “how’s” right now – let’s just assume that will all be worked out – right now let’s just think from the perspective that the Convention has been completed and we as a nation now enjoy (blank), or we no longer endure (blank). I will compile the list into a survey, along with my own thoughts and then place the survey on to this blog so that anyone who is interested can take it and see the results. Perhaps we can get someone’s attention – although that’s probably not realistic considering the fact even the airline industry can’t get Washington to respond and has to resort to letter writing campaigns.

I’ve included video links on this blog to Larry Sabato who does a really good job of articulating the need for a National Constitutional Convention.

“A true patriot never hunkers down and makes the best of things – rather they stand and fight for change.” - Larry