"One of the Constitution's founding purposes was to prevent change. But another was to allow for change without violence. Amendment is a constitution's mechanism for the prevention of insurrection-the only way to change the fundamentals of government without recourse to rebellion. Amendment is so essential to the American constitutional tradition-so methodical and so entirely a conception of endurance through adaptation-­that it can best be described as a philosophy. It is, at this point, a philosophy all but forgotten."
"The U.S. Constitution has one of the lowest amendment rates in the world. Some 12,000 amendments have been formally introduced on the floor of Congress; only 27 have ever been ratified, and there has been no significant amendment in more than 50 years. That is not because Americans are opposed to amending constitutions. Since 1789, Americans have submitted at least 10,000 petitions and countless letters, postcards, and phone and email messages to Congress regarding constitutional amendments, and they have introduced"
The Constitution was crafted both to prevent abrupt change and to enable orderly change through amendment, providing a nonviolent alternative to rebellion. Amendment functions as the mechanism to alter government fundamentals while averting insurrection and ensuring political endurance through adaptation. The amendment process became a governing philosophy emphasizing methodical change over time. The United States has ratified very few amendments compared with the number proposed, with only 27 ratified and no significant amendment in over fifty years. Popular petitions and proposals for amendment have been numerous, indicating public appetite for constitutional adaptation despite low ratification rates. Failure to amend when needed creates missed opportunities and risks covert constitutional change via originalism.
Read at The Atlantic
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]