"There is a "stuckness" to American political life right now, which has become a seemingly inexorable centrifuge of polarization, victimization and power grabbing. The constitution is brandished as sword and shield, and also as though it is the word of God. Americans, it seems, have lost the ability to think creatively and expansively about the constitution, and our ability to amend it."
"On this week's Amicus, Dahlia Lithwick is in conversation with Jill Lepore, whose new book "We The People: A History of The U.S. The Constitution is a thorough and bold excavation of a central, but utterly neglected part of America's constitutional scheme: the amendment process. In her book, and in this interview, Lepore challenges Americans to rekindle their constitutional imaginations and really think about what the act of mending, repairing, or amending has meant through the nation's history, and could mean for a country on the brink."
American political life exhibits a deep "stuckness" marked by polarization, victimization, and power grabbing. The Constitution is often wielded as both sword and shield and treated with quasi-religious reverence. Public capacity to imagine creative constitutional change, including use of the amendment process, has diminished. The amendment mechanism historically functioned to repair political fractures and reduce incentives for violence. Rekindling a constitutional imagination about mending, repairing, and amending can provide practical tools to address institutional breakdowns and to prevent escalation when the nation faces deep crises.
Read at Slate Magazine
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