Moving the glacier
Our Constitution no longer functions. It must be amended. The public will to amend it is rising. But the difficulty of the amendment process has driven Americans to despair. The solution is to amend the amendment process.
Every serious citizen grasps the importance of the questions that face the United States today. They are not so different from the questions that faced the British Colonies. Will the people be free? Will they be the authors of their own lives? Powers are arrayed against the people. A royal empire weighed on the founders. An autocratic oligarchy weighs on us.
The people were then, as now, divided. Then, at least, there was an argument for civility and mutual respect, though the argument suggests the difficulty. Today, people are hectored and beguiled by demanding distractions that rob them of their mental balance. Some have fallen under the spell of manufactured illusions.
Rewriting Article 5, the amendment power, just could be the one amendment that could make it through the legacy process. The country is grievously divided, but all agree that the system is not working. Everyone would like to amend it.
The original process gives all power to the minority. One third[1] of either House can prevent Congress from proposing amendments. One third[2] of the legislatures can prevent conventions in the states from proposing amendments. And if any amendment proposal makes it through that gauntlet, one fourth[3] of the states can prevent ratification. It makes the Constitution a very inflexible and nonresponsive document.
The process should be redesigned to resolve stalemates, which means a majoritarian process. Some might wish the process could be guided by elites. But elites couldn’t make the system work. Maybe they weren’t very motivated, since the system was working for them.
It should be an open process, one that is initiated by either Congress, state conventions, or petition by the people. Congress would pass amendment resolutions. The people could propose amendments by a Statistical Majority, that is the number of voters sufficient to represent a majority of citizens. State amendment conventions elected by a Statistical Majority would propose or support amendments. Citizens comprising a Statistical Majority would sign petitions to propose or support amendments. Any of these proposals would be put on the next federal ballot.
The people will vote. An amendment approved by a majority of voters is adopted. The House printing office will print copies of the amended Constitution sufficient to fill all requests.
Once this process is in place, a large pent-up glacier of amendments will begin to move. Who can play the long game? Start preparing.
[1] (plus one)
[2] (plus one)
[3] (plus one)
RobinCravey 