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| Alex Seitz-Wald |
“America, we've got some bad news: Our Constitution isn't
going to make it.” That is the lead sentence in The Atlantic article: “The U.S. Needs a New Constitution—Here's How to Write It,” by Alex Seitz-Wald, Salon's political reporter. Seitz-Wald
quotes none other than Thomas Jefferson to justify his claim that “it's time to
think about moving on.” Jefferson had famously written that Constitutions
should be rewritten every nineteen years. Jefferson certainly qualifies as a
founding father, but he had nothing to do with the Constitution. He was in
Paris in the summer of 1787 and returned miffed that he had been left out. None
of the actual delegates wanted to repeat the convention experience, and all
believed they had written a constitution for what George Mason called “millions
yet unborn.”
Seitz-Wald writes, “If
men (and, finally, women) as wise as Jefferson and Madison set about the task
of writing a constitution in 2013, it would look little like the one we have
now.” I suspect those wise men and women would all be required to think in
lockstep with Mr. Seitz-Wald. Again, not
true of the 1787 delegates who possessed myriad ideas and perspectives.
Seitz-Wald further claims that the Constitution, “guarantees
gridlock; and it's virtually impossible to change.” The framers called it check
and balance. They insisted on balancing power with potent checks to constrain a
runaway government. Mr. Seitz-Wald wants to tear through these restraints so he
and his friends can do whatever they want. As a side note, the Constitution has been amended twenty-seven times. The framers made it virtually impossible only when the people object.
The rest of the article touts the benefits of a parliamentarian
system. By definition, a party in power has complete control in a parliamentary
system. This is the real objective and the source of all the objections to our
Constitution. In parliamentary countries, unrepressed power has built an elite class that increasingly rule over a growing dependent class. We used to
call this feudalism.
Seitz-Wald’s final
sentence reads, “After all, the status quo isn't working. We badly need a more
perfect union.” Although weakened considerably, the Constitution is hindering
runaway government, which means that it is working as designed.
Besides, I fear Mr. Seitz-Wald's more perfect union.
Jim, well stated and quite correct!
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