A Second Constitutional Convention: Constitutional Reformation in the 21st Century

The Framers of the U.S. Constitution

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is my feeling that we cannot do this job alone, or without a serious overhaul of what our country is.

Back before we had a Constitution, we had the Articles of Confederation. From Wiki (I know, I know):

served as the de facto system of government used by the Congress (“the United States in Congress assembled”) until it became de jure by final ratification on March 1, 1781; at which point Congress became the Congress of the Confederation. The Articles set the rules for operations of the “United States” confederation. The confederation was capable of making war, negotiating diplomatic agreements, and resolving issues regarding the western territories. An important element of the Articles was that Article XIII stipulated that “their provisions shall be inviolably observed by every state” and “the Union shall be perpetual“.

But all of us know, and have lived under Our Constitution for nearly 225 years. The change was due to the looseness of the Confederations, lacked Taxing authority, the “1-vote per state flaw”, and the assumption of Debt payments that were being delayed by the individual states. In short, it lack the feel and philosophies of the current Constitution.

Again from Wiki:

On January 21, 1786, the Virginia Legislature, following James Madison’s recommendation, invited all the states to send delegates to Annapolis, Maryland to discuss ways to reduce these interstate conflicts. At what came to be known as the Annapolis Convention, the few state delegates in attendance endorsed a motion that called for all states to meet in Philadelphia in May, 1787 to discuss ways to improve the Articles of Confederation in a “Grand Convention.” Although the states’ representatives to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia were only authorized to amend the Articles, the representatives held secret, closed-door sessions and wrote a new constitution.

Which is now what I duly propose.

Our Constitution is in need of a revamp to deal with the realities and technology and pitfalls we currently face.

 A Second Constitutional Convention is needed to address problems both internal and external which can not be done by anyone person or currently elected body.

Various Excerpts from this draft:

#1: It will soon be 225 years since this monumental task was engaged in –
“to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic
Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general
Welfare, and secure the Blessing of Liberty to ourselves and our
Posterity…” (Preamble to the United States Constitution.)
 
At many junctures in our nation’s history, we have corrected course via
internal and external threats to our nation’s Posterity.  Seven-five years
after New Hampshire was the ninth state to ratify the Law of the Land
(June 21, 1788), the Civil War waged.  The bloody battle at Gettysburg
set the stage for Abraham Lincoln to speak to the existence of our
Union: “ The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here,
but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to
be dedicated here to the unfinished work [for] which they fought…”
(Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863.)

#2:Now, as we move again toward the fourth act of our nation’s illustrious
history, we face threats across many fronts – internal and external – that
must be addressed.
 
In the past quarter century, much of what America has become is being
done without a rudder or leadership or a rule or spirit of a guiding hand.
Our President, Barack Obama, spoke to this dilemma in a recent White
House news conference, saying that America was similar to a gigantic
ship that is not, “easily course corrected,” and that it responds, “slowly
to the policies installed.”
   
The recent financial collapses have left Americans trillions of dollars
poorer. Two of the largest and most venerable companies, GM and
Chrysler, are in the process of bankruptcy. The health care system
continues to escalate in cost, while nearly 20% cannot pay for coverage,
and by 2017 nearly one in five dollars will be spent on the system’s
maintenance. Nearly $1.5 Trillion dollars have been pledged to buttress
an economic system in flux, and often, in frail circumstances.
 
Our National Debt has surpassed $10 Trillion dollars. If our Government
would save $1 Billion per day, every day, it would take 27 years and 145
days to eliminate the balance. However, if interest accrues at the same
rate on that $10 Trillion, the net effort would be a zero change to our
Debt. The Crisis is only acerbated by the prolonged Recession, which
requires more deficit spending to spur growth, yet a rationale is needed
to maintain Fiscal Responsibility in the decades to come, else, We will
see unimaginable debts, and harder economic choices, than has befallen
any generation of Americans before.
 
Current Households are getting by on less; with no way to accurately
predict the designs of their companies, or if they will exist in the future
global economy. Energy, Environment, Economics and Existence are
intertwined; with the ignoring of One, or more, to come with the brutal
Human price (at some point) in the response of (and to) the Others. Such
Human costs come today with daily personal aggravations and the brutal
destruction of the Middle Class and Middle America. Dependence has
become a way of life for many, many millions. 
 
The American competitive advantage of Education, Infrastructure and
Manufacturing has evaporated as developing and developed regimes are
exploiting weaknesses and offering American multinational corporations
access to cheap, unencumbered and pliant labor forces that can not or
will not stand up for better working conditions. The enormous profits are
kept; and America grows more complacent, and less able to catch up
when our dollars stay in the hands of never-friendly, duplicitous regimes,
who, reinvest by buying American assets with little regard for the
American people’s way of life. Thus, we are trapped in a cycle that has
to be reversed.
   
Our Rivals in this global Marketplace were once the bane of our
Existence, not for their economy, education, infrastructure, or political
ideas, but because they held Freedom in prison, and ignored their people
forthwith. They still do; but now supplant their peoples’ emerging
industriousness, and desires for a political voice, with the economic
strip mining of natural resources  – and the fact the resources are
indeed, limited, makes it more beneficial to ignore the struggling
population while amassing wealth for the selected few.
 
We are engage in a war. While we attempt to extricate ourselves from
one country, two close neighbors are in need of our Military. These costs
in lives and coin are greater than we seem able to justify or maintain.
And others regimes are revisiting the Cold War with nuclear ambitions
and threats. The Middle East is still as unstable as it has been for a
Millennia.
 
Our government has been severely taxed to function properly; as the
divide over social ills, economic philosophies, foreign policy and
domestic design have been a source of bitter feuding without significant
altering of the direction of the country.
 
 And no one man is able to reset the course alone.
 
The Problems are vast; multi-trillion in nature, and currently are
addressed with only piece-meal and hen-pecked legislation. Meager
victories are attainable – but never go to the root cause – and so, the
time is ripe for amending what it is to be under Constitutional Rule.
 
The Framers to Our Constitution and the Founding Fathers were not idle
people. No one accused Adams, Franklin, Jay, Jefferson, Madison,
Morris, Sherman or Washington of inaction or paralysis in an arena of
battle. They did not sit by and wait for things to happen. They made
things happen. They were builders; doers; dreamers; leaders; opinion
makers; philosophers; scholars and visionaries.

#3: Our Framers allowed for Amendments to make clearer, and
unambiguous, the language and rights ceded to the Individual, and the
Government. Each is dependent on the other; cooperation and
compromise is the hallmark result of our ebb and flow during bitter
conflicts and the paramount concerns over the other’s intrusions into
Rights the other has. The State remains Supreme; but only by the Graces
of those Ruled.
 
A 2011 – 2012 Constitutional Convention to address our Nation’s
problems would be a vast improvement on innovating the future of
America over the piece-meal, penny-wise, but pound-foolish approach
that much of our U.S. legislation attempts futilely. And its time for the
Common Man and the Elite Minds in various arenas to dutifully attempt
to pull together to create a more perfect Union to last another 225 years.

#4: Constitutional reformation is not a new idea.
 
In the mid-1980’s, James L. Sundquist from The Brookings Institution
wrote on the subject in Constitutional Reform and Effective Government
(1986). Then, no mention was ever made of the environment, climate
change (Global Warming), genetics, technology, the internet or
reproductive rights. Only in passing was the term energy policies or
abortion mentioned. 
 
Thus, the need for an updated discussion to determine what should be
the role of our Modern Government; and what are the Rights and
Responsibilities of each branch; and the operation as it is directed
toward the Individual; and is their a better way to solve our various
problems through better, leaner, and a more focused government.
 
If indeed, a quorum develops to execute a Convention – a supermajority
of 30 states, for example – then we can proceed to selection of leaders
to be sent, and the importance of equality of representation based on
expertise, and commonality, and flexibility of action.

#5: It is a hope that with a large contingent that a wide array of opinions can
be brought to bear on the problems. And that discussion in America’s
newspapers, online sites, blogs, podcasts, talk radio, and multimedia
platforms will engage Americans in a Civics discussion of unparallel
proportions in human history.
     
It is a desire to get the best each state has to offer in agriculture, art,
business, economics, education, engineering, legal, medical, political
science, natural science, and technology sectors, to name only a few.

#6: The biggest caveat to delegation representation is that the currently
sitting Congressional members of the United States cannot be apart of
this discussion. They have plenty to handle in the daily oversight and
operation of the Country. (They could testify or provide information on
drafting amendments.) They can resign their post to join the discussion,
but cannot be apart of these two bodies simultaneously.
 
The point of the delegation is not to just bring elite minds to the table
either. At least 10% of the representatives need to be lay community
leaders who represent urban, suburban and rural areas successfully, and
uniquely. Their intimate connection is as important as the ivory tower
scientist, or tempered-glass, high-rise, Wall Street-minded executive who
will be as much apart of the discussion as his State deems necessary.

#7: Without specific numbers, but using 538 representatives as a theoretical
base, approximately 12 committees (with further breakdown as they
deem necessary) to attempt to handle the intertwined policies and
desires of the People.  (A cross-functional committee would make 13
total.)
 
This is a process that should not be rushed; as it is a hope that in two
years the debate, analysis, counterarguments, ratification process and
establishment into law can be begin – assuming the discussion will last
to the 2012 Election cycle.   

#8: Possible Committees

  21st century Business & Economics

  Arts & Education Development

  Medicine, Science & Technology

  Engineering, Energy, Infrastructure & Climate Change

  Federal Budget Reform & Analysis

  Political Reform

  Efficiency & Effective Governmental Systems

  Legal Reform (Criminal & Civil)

  Agriculture, Conservation & Natural Resources

  Trade & Domestic Employment

  Security, Terrorism and Foreign Policy

  Disaster Management & Policy

  Unified Committee to Resolve Conflicting Amendments

#9: If, at the very least, this triggers an intelligent discussion, and the
search for information and analysis of the issues to put into play by the
hopeful Designers of the 21st Century Amendments to Our Hallowed
Constitution, then the work of a Convention should be called a success. 
 
Quality, not quantity, is the Experiment that is Good Governance. If we
should ignore this, then the problems will persist.
 
The impetus for a drastic alteration should be to suppress and eliminate
a much greater and fundamentally destructive dynamic: The internal and
external forces that are waging war against America. Some by accident;
some by design; but all are a linchpin to a catastrophic collapse in our
Freedoms and Choices as American Citizens.
 
Enduring change is done through the process of Law and Order. This
proposed convention for adapting the U.S. Constitution for the 21st
century is not about any singular argument, or advancement. It is about
trusting that We, The People, can respectfully and uniformly agree on the
Necessities of our Modern Life. It is about setting examples for a World
that is often amiss. That change and adaptation can happen quickly and
with great human benefits.
 
With Duty, Honor, Courage and Commitment, This Shall Be the Case.

Note: Minutes from the Original Constitutional Convention in 1787.

Winning now and in the future: Celebrate, Consider, Communicate and Connect

As I write this post, with the 1st step now complete, the road to the White House built, it is a brief moment to celebrate the improbable run and overwhelming support and sacrifices of a grass roots organization. President-elect Obama’s team of advisers proved a technologically advanced election strategy and utilizing the net to the best level, can change an election.

Brief though can be the celebration as we all now need to do the next step: Consider what are not only the mantras of the campaign, but the priorities of these United States of America. As it stands, no one can ignore the economic news spinning out of Wall Street. Auto makers, steel companies, retail stores and construction outfits are all in a harsh environment. We all have a connection to those places everyday, and we must stem the tide of the downturn in order to put Americans first again. It will take months & years, but it can be done.

Determining an economic plan immediately in concert with the financing of and fine details needed to fix a nation that is hurting severely is a top consideration.

The wars we are waging must be handled effectively. With recent Syrian actions, Pakistani incursions and an Afghan war forgotten, the Middle East theatre is wrought for new judgments and immediate concerns. Russia is now taking offensive steps to rebuild an old wall.

Communication and Connection will be the key to solving those areas. We have to re-engage the world. Specifically, our allies of many many years going back to WWII must be included in policy crafting.

These are among my hopes for the next few months for President Obama. As he’ll have to wait to take office, he should look to communicate and connect to those willing and able on the opposing side to ensure bipartisan cooperation on many issues. Sell the vision to his opponents and reinforce it with his friends.

Maybe someday, will only disagree on the details of plans and not the overriding objectives in our American policies.

The 4th of July: A day of reflection on America’s past, present and future

As we go into the 232^nd year of our nation’s birth, we are faced with an inordinate amount of negative news that takes away from the pleasures and prosperity of being American.

Fuel and food prices are rising daily. Wage deterioration and job losses are consistently highlighted on the tube. Energy conservation and constrictions, environmental issues and policies and safety and security strategies are, in essence, all tied together by the fact that we, as human beings, have only this one world, and it is not unlimited in resources, but it is boundless in the harm it can do to us, if we allow it.

We are also reminded of these matters by the presidential election of 2008. A race highlighted by the 1^st woman and 1^st African-American to realistically run for the highest office in the land.  A political race with a man known first as a 5 ½ year veteran of a Vietnam prison camp, then as the oldest man to contend for the 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue address.

 

As this takes place, in the distant backdrop comes the idea of sports. The way many escape their problems and woes of 8-6 workday, complaining spouses and children, overbearing bosses and unhelpful nosey neighbors, and the fact, this world is perceived as worse than the world of our childhood, or our father’s childhood. In verity, it is only the changing faces of leadership and altered ways to communicating that may be at the crux of this worsening outlook we perceive.

But even these sports have gone astray in our minds.

The athletes seem ever more jaded – with the moronic media and money made fueling their contempt for us, the fans – and their gloss and glimmer is faded before we ever get to know them. The scandals, gassed up by online sites, radio blowhards (Rush Limbaugh as a well-paid version of this group) and the Extremely Stupid Pundits of News (ESPN) who drive recklessly, all over the ‘free’ airways, bastardizing the concept of ‘a scandal’ while in search of some mythical creature called: The Truth.

Amoral ownerships require new branding of their stadiums, new revenue streams (from that branding) and shameless promotion of those well-paid jaded athletes that are endemically tied to those scandals aforementioned. These owners will threaten to ‘take their team and go elsewhere’ if they do not receive new stadium deals on the taxpayers’ dole. Hundreds of millions (or more) spent on luxury palaces where, if a typical fan making under $50,000 a year comes, they will be lucky to visit once in a decade. But that’s American Capitalism buttressed by socialistic bailouts for the wealthy. And the battle of the billionaires and millionaires wages on the breaking backs of cup-of-Joe America, who clocks in and out for dollars these men wouldn’t bend over to pick up.

There is no joy in Mudville.

A place where a mighty Casey would strike out, bearing the weight of all failures on his broad shoulders.

America once had broad shoulders – now wrecked by the frivolity of politics, backroom dealing and undermining the American Dream for a quick sawbuck – but she is now in the midst of a maelstrom of her own unfortunate making. The debt outweighs the equity built. The infrastructure of morality, decency, kindness and common sense has all but been eroded to the point of inoperable and unjustified existence. The ill designs of men have turned markedly adrift and astray from the altruisms and protestations of our forefathers.

Yet, we have seen this all before in various incarnations throughout history (going back most logically to the Roman Empire.) That a society reaches a point where to go forward it must throw off the shackles of injustice and inequality.

We should remember most vividly our Declaration of Independence.

In 1775, as colonial America would begin their fight for independence at Lexington and Concord, we felt these truths are self-evident: that all men were created equal; that all men deserved life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; that governments derive their powers from the consent of the governed; that when a long train of abuses and usurpations evinces a design that reduces us to absolute Despotism, it is our right, our duty, to throw off such government and provide new guards for our security.

Poetic our forefathers were.

Evincing a design of a new America is one that will require many, many millions to participate. To accomplish this feat of revamping our lives and securing our futures requires such sacrifice that has not been seen in several generations. This bold concept, using the innovative spirit of America, has to take hold sooner, not later. Time is not on our side.

We have to be the Americans of ideals and dreams, of sweat and blood, of clear vision and utter determination. We the people must take back the reins of destiny of this country. We must mold our future in the widening prospects seen in 1776, but leave behind constraints in ideas, justice and circumstances foisted in that time. We are a different world, for sure; but we are much the same, in operation.

But from the best ideas and hard work, we can be all that our forefathers hoped for in their writings.

We can be independent, secure, stable and fair-minded. We can lead a world that needs leadership in these dangerous and volatile times. We can provide the direction that is so often missing. And be the steadfast steward to the living concept that was founded on July 4, 1776 in the Declaration of Independence and enforced in the United States Constitution.

From those measures and methods, our enduring play and love of sport can continue to be a happy by-product of equal prosperity and unwavering social justice.

Happy 4^th!