It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us – that we here highly resolve that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom – and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. Abraham Lincoln

New birth of freedom

I’ve been working on a rewrite of the Constitution.  Several writers have plowed the ground, outlining the issues and some paths forward.  I had to think the problem through.

We are at the point with our Constitution that the Founders were at as the Articles of Confederation were breaking down.  Our Constitution is breaking down.  Those brilliant men in convention in Philadelphia put together a solution that held for over 200 years (with the assist of the savior of the union).  Where are we going to find brilliant men- and women- like that?

I’ve been reading the Federalist Papers.  Three of the conventioneers– Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay– wrote a series of articles explaining the defects of the confederation and urging the benefits of a federal republic.  Their arguments still ring true.  And now we have almost two and a half centuries of experience to inform our understanding of the situation we are in.

We know the defects of our Constitution on a very practical level.  But we also know the sound foundation on which the defects have wreaked their havoc.   We don’t have to start over completely.  It’s an interesting challenge.

I can’t resist.  I want to give it a try.  I want to design a structure to function without the defects.  That’s what I’m trying to do- write a first draft of the new constitution.  I’m already on draft five, but when I let it out, that will be the first draft.  Ideas welcome.

Robin Cravey

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robincravey

Robin Cravey is a Texas poet, publisher, citizen, and lawyer. As editor and publisher if Tilted Planet Press, he has published several books of poems, including Diverging, I am a Comet, and Benchmarks. His book Watermarks has been serialized on the Austin Sierran website. A sixth-generation Texan, Robin grew up in Houston, loving tall trees, big clouds, girls, Omar Khayyam, Carl Sandberg, and Walt Whitman. He came to Austin to attend UT, loving clear water, peyote, taxicabs, women, newspapers, hitchhiking, Marcus Aurelius, and William O. Douglas. He married and had kids, loving Dr. Suess, Star Trek, Baghavad Gita, Mohandas Gandhi, and Macintosh. Eventually he volunteered way too much, published books, ran a business, fought city hall, went to law school, worked at city hall, ran a small law office, ran for public office. In recent years he has divided his time between Austin and Providence, Rhode Island, loving Wayland Square, bicycling, and long train rides.

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