RETHINKING THE CONSTITUTION

    
   No less a personage than Thomas Jefferson himself advocated rewriting the United States Constitution every nineteen years as a means of avoiding being enslaved by a previous generation. 
    With that thought in mind, let's take a look at the grand old document to consider what parts, if any, might benefit from a little updating. Hey, that happy day of enforced patriotism, July 4th, is fast approaching. (And please do not write to tell me that July 4th is more apropos to the Declaration of Independence. I know that already, just as I know that Jefferson was born on the fourth of July, thank you very much). I suspect this will seem sacrilegious to some, but that's why we're here.


    Here is the preamble:
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

    The first three words are fantastic. People who do not know any other words of the Constitution have no trouble remembering those first three words. They fill us with a sense of awe at how vast we as members of a society are. And that is with good cause. Those words reflect the original meaning of the overwhelming majority of the tribal names of the Native Americans displaced by the Europeans who would later write the document in question. You may check out the source here.

    "A more perfect union" is curious, yet poetic. I do not know how perfection is to be improved upon, but there is a certain Whitman-like majesty to the aspiration to the idea, so I hope we can leave that part alone. 

    "To establish justice," comes at the beginning of a list, suggesting that its importance was paramount, even over the ideas of liberty and posterity.

     All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.

    Here we run into a potential problem, at least if democracy is to be the means through which justice is established. A parliamentary form of legislative government tends to be far more democratic than the one imagined by the founders, largely because in parliamentary elections, the people vote for the party rather than the specific person, something which tends to bind the candidate to issues of substance rather than to personalities and their possible defects. But perhaps we can let that slide, at least for the moment.

    Let's look at section 3 of the first article.

    The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof, forsix Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote.

    The obvious problem with this has already been rectified by the 17th Amendment, which required the popular election of Senators, rather than their appointment, certainly a more fair and justice-oriented approach. However, the rub is that after all these years, each state still receives two Senatorial votes regardless of that state's population, which puts a state with low population, such as Wyoming (population 568,000), on an equal par with a big state such as California (population 37,000,000). Now in one way, that is nice, especially if you favor states rights over federal rights, which I hope you do not. States rights tend to be more repressive and oppressive, as any former slave or African-American defendant in a southern court, or any woman seeking a legal abortion will assure you. So, the whole concept of a Senator feels inherently wrong somehow. I think we should think about reworking this.

    Items six and seven of that same section are interesting. They read as follows: 

6. The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present.
7: Judgment in Cases of impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States: but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law.

    What I find interesting is that the language here virtually takes for granted that the President stands a good chance of being put to the matter of being impeached. No other position or office is referenced, the implication being that the legislative body--perhaps due to their numbers--is in a better position to mete out justice than is the executive or judiciary branch. That is pretty interesting because as assumptions go, recent evidence would tend to work to the contrary, especially if one recalls the impeachment of William Clinton, based as it was upon party lines and weirdness rather than upon matters of substance. Indeed, the impeachment against Andrew Johnson was likewise weird in its lack of concern for fairness and its adherence to party politics. We may have some opportunities for adjusting this a bit.

    Section 6 of Article I has its frightening moments. The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States. They shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place.

    For my money, this is the major mind blower of Article I. You cannot arrest a member of Congress for suspicion of committing a misdemeanor offense while he or she is going to, coming from, or attending his or her job. Could this be an inducement to break a lot of minor laws? But it's the last line that truly fascinates. The Congress member shall not be questioned in any other place on account of anything said on the job. That means that open threats against the people cannot be punished, whereas I can assure you that the people do not have that same right when it comes to threatening members of Congress, a possible absence of fairness, I would think.

    Section 8 may be the most interesting part of Article I because it gives a nice list of the Congressperson's job responsibilities.

1: The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

This should perhaps be brought to the attention of certain representatives who blame the executive branch for what they characterize as high or low tax rates.
2: To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;
Same observation as above.
3: To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;
It's been a while since anyone consulted the Indian Tribes.
4: To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;
Wait! So this is not really a state matter? Someone should tell Jan Brewer right away.
5: To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;
6: To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;
7: To establish Post Offices and post Roads;
Wait! Someone should wake up Bush and let him know he had no legal right to bankrupt the Post Office. Dang!
8: To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;
The copyright and patent issue aside, the founders were right to emphasize the essential nature of promoting science and the arts. When was the last time you heard a Congress person talking about actually doing this?
9: To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;
Finding any court inferior to the Supreme Court would take a lot of effort.
10: To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations;
11: To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;
Wait! Someone should mention this to the dead bodies of Johnson, Nixon, and Reagan, and also mention it to both Bushes, to Clinton, and mention it to Congress itself so they can take back the power they routinely abdicate with the War Powers Act and its descendants.
12: To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;
A matter currently avoided by simply reallocating money every two years, whether or not it is needed, as former Secretary Gates can attest.
13: To provide and maintain a Navy;
14: To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;
15: To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;
16: To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;
17: To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings;--And
And I have no idea what 17 means.
18: To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.

    That'll be enough for today. Let's sleep on this a bit before we get into the excitement of Article II. Just bear in mind that, sacred as this document is to many people, it is your document. It should not be abandoned with the cavalier attitude that my writing probably implies. However, it is a document which by its very preamble exists to serve justice for the people rather than people existing to serve it. There may be value in allowing anarchic thoughts to creep into the mind because that is where freedom originates: in the mind. The eloquence and frequent brilliance of the language employed in the drafting of this Constitution should not result in the document being used as a club. Rather, the document may be experienced as exquisite poetry whose ultimate purpose is truth, beauty and justice for all.