I have further revised my re-write of the Constitution of the United States. You can read the whole thing at "A New Constitution."
Another blogger once said of such efforts that
[a]ll the Constitution really needs is some well-placed "And we mean it!" clauses:
--The Ninth Amendment...and we mean it!
--Privileges or Immunities...and we mean it!
--Taking property only for public use...and we mean it!
And so on.
Maybe abolish the well-intentioned but subsequently corrupted Necessary & Proper Clause, clarify the meaning of "regulate" in the Commerce Clause to return it to its intended denotation (i.e., "to make regular," or "to standardize") and of "commerce" to "that which is not agriculture or manufacturing" (i.e., trade).
The rest is all bells and whistles.
Not quite. The devil, as they say, is in the details. The main problem with the Constitution is not what it means but what meanings can be imputed to it because of its vagueness and ambiguity. What the Constitution really needs is a lot of loophole-closing and more checks on Congress and the Supreme Court, both of which have subverted and twisted the Constitution's intended meanings.
My "new Constitution" is not only far more specific than the original -- and more restrictive of the powers of government -- but it also includes more checks on those powers. Specifically, there is this provision in Article V:
A judgment of any court of the United States of America may be revised or revoked by an act of Congress, provided that such any revision or revocation is approved by two-thirds of the members of each house and leads to a result that conforms to this Constitution.
Then there is Article VII, Conventions of the States, which opens with this:
Delegations of the States shall convene every four years for the purpose of considering revisions to and revocations of acts of Congress and/or holdings of the Supreme Court of the United States of America. Such conventions (hereinafter "convention of the States") may revise and/or revoke any act or acts and/or any holding or holdings, in the sole discretion of a majority of State delegations present and voting.
Read the whole thing.
