The Constitution...

So, ignorant me finds out that it's constitution day upon waking up.

I read a few facebook posts on the matter, and I sat down and started thinking. The end of that metaphorical train track is a series of thoughts that may be somewhat controversial. I don't fully have a handle on them myself, so bear with me for a bit.

*ahem*

To hell with the constitution.

Now now, before you raise your pitchforks and your child assassins, let me explain.
This may be the document that solidified and gave us our basic rights as citizens, but I have a few super huge issues with it that cannot be solved without a total rewrite.

1. It wasn't even remotely perfect from the get-go. They had to more than double what was on the original bill of rights based on issues they didn't address from the start. These include, but are not limited to: voting rights, slavery, citizenship, prohibition, the repeal of prohibition, presidential rules/terms, income tax, etc.

2. Many of the amendments are scattered and relate to the same issues, so there's much room for consolidation. Central examples would be presidential amendments, limitations of congress, and prohibition of alcohol.

3. The language in which many of the rights was written is completely outdated since the advancement of time and culture had warped their original purpose. A fine example here is the right to bear arms, which was intended for the protection of militia forces. Militias are, however, trained like private soldiers- something we simply do not have in this country in any decent size anymore. This is because militias are not necessary, and the closest we have are ragtag batches of over-zealous racists on the Mexican border who are willing to shoot first and ask questions later. (Generalization included, not all border patrol are racists)
Another good example? Quartering troops. We haven't had domestic movement of military in ages. Even if we did have a domestic war of some kind, military bases have been established for holding troops. The language is archaic and needs updated to fit the 21st century.

4. Due to the problems caused by #3, congressional figureheads can (and have) misused the "founding fathers' intent" in enacting new legislation or the attempt to repeal old legislation. Because our constitution relies so heavily on the original intent of some guys who were no smarter than humans are now, we cannot possibly be certain when we take a bold new step towards progress since tradition is so heavily valued. Not only is enacting new legislation painful and time-consuming because of this, but repealing old useless legislation is next to impossible!
(Theoretically, however, humans seek a scapegoat and an excuse to hate each other, so updated language wouldn't truly solve these problems, but at least it may hinder them).

5. For the purposes of argumentation, congressional figureheads have taken to treating certain amendments as less valid than others (just like old testament verses!). Some (notably libertarians) insist that income tax is not constitutional, despite there being an amendment for just that. However, these same people don't (usually) question the right to vote for women or the abolishment of slavery (okay, Ron Paul's come pretty close...).

6. There is no language in our constitution about contextually important technology that's risen in the last few decades. There is nothing about medicine, nothing about the internet, nothing about globalization. And why should there be? It didn't exist when the document was written.

What we come to is the hard truth that the constitution just isn't contextually appropriate anymore. Thomas Jefferson even suggested at the time that the constitution be rewritten once every two decades or so (17 years if memory serves) to avoid being mired in the language and thoughts of the past. I couldn't put it more aptly, because that's exactly the problem that we face.
We must rewrite the constitution. Unfortunately, the burden of writing it could not fall upon anyone in this day and age. Political vitriol is at its height, and there is no group that could write such an important document right now. The Democrats are centrist, and the Republicans are to the far right.

Either the "left" needs to actually move to the left, or the right needs to reel it in some before a true agreement could be made towards a new constitution.


#constitutionproblems

-
Waddles