How Would You Change the Constitution?

By Al Carroll

How would you change the constitution if it were up to you? How should we as a nation change

the constitution? Even asking the question gets angry and outraged responses. This is so even though

parts of it are poorly thought out, anti democratic, and have done tremendous damage to the nation.

For America’s constitution is a sacred cow. Some cows should not be worshiped. Some should

be slaughtered. That is not true of all of the US Constitution, but America would be better off if some

parts of it became hamburger. For nothing should be so revered that one cannot question it, change it,

or discard it, and blind worship is always to be avoided.

There is, among those on both the political left and right, what can only be called widespread

constitution worship. Most on both sides hold up the constitution the way a vampire hunter in the

movies holds up a cross to ward off vampires. Everyone from the most stoned pot smokers to gun

toting militia groups calls on the constitution as support for causes, beliefs, and attitudes they hold dear.

This constitution worship is every bit as blindly enthusiastic as it is unknowing of the actual

history of the constitution, and how and why it was adopted. For this, most people are blameless.

People cannot be faulted for what they were not taught, or more often, falsely taught. I made the same

argument in Presidents' Body Counts, and others, notably James Loewen in Lies My Teacher Told Me,

argue likewise.

For the founders themselves did not think much of the constitution. Jefferson wanted a new

constitution every twenty years. Other founders disagreed, largely because they were not sure the

constitution would last twenty years. For the founders, it was a pragmatic and even temporary measure,

not holy or intended to be permanent. Constitution worship did not become a regular feature of

American society until near the start of the twentieth century, in part as a way to assimilate immigrants.

I often tell my students that America is great not because of the constitution, but in spite of it,

and especially in spite of the founders. The constitution itself is clearly at the root of many of our worst

problems in American society today. If it were up to the American public, the following solutions

would have become law many decades, even half a century or more, before today:

1. Abolishing the Electoral College.

2. Ending the buying of elections.

3. Limiting the time campaigning for office, as they do in Great Britain.

4. Ending wars quickly in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Each war continued over half a

decade after the American public wanted to get out.

5. Reforming the office of vice president, widely regarded with contempt by most, and

producing candidates that even most voters of the same party as the presidential candidate did not want.

6. Ending corporate welfare and other wasteful spending.

7. Ending most foreign military aid, and support for tyrants around the world.

8. Limiting the power of the Supreme Court.

9. Ending the political monopoly of wealthy elites.

10. Guaranteeing privacy from government intrusion.

Each of these proposals have widespread bipartisan support and are hugely popular across the

political spectrum by great majorities. But none of these proposals, not too surprisingly, have majority

support among elected political elites, economic elites, or the leadership of either party.

The constitution itself is the biggest barrier to solving these problems. Not one of these

problems have been, or ever could have been, quickly solved, precisely because the constitution makes

it difficult. Most of these problems require a constitutional amendment, something made deliberately

long and difficult by the founders. A few of these could be solved temporarily by ordinary laws, which

could then be easily overturned next election.

So why not go to the root of these problems? Why not a new constitution?

Constitution worship is the reason. Most Americans have been so heavily propagandized to

think of the US Constitution as undeniably great and downright sacred, something you just don’t

question without being seen as un-American.

What is pretty comical is to see the most idealistic of leftists, who are deeply cynical of

everything else that is elitist and coming from powerful and wealthy institutions, become like a

fundamentalist when the constitution is brought up. What is equally comical is to see populist

conservatives or libertarians become enamored of government power when it is enshrined in a

document written by, after all, Deists and Enlightenment-influenced thinkers who did not trust

organized religion or nobility. Both are smitten by constitution worship.

There are two obvious ways to deal with that. One is to challenge the holy stature of the

constitution. Write the true history, which most historians and political scientists already know is not a

noble one, but one of elitists hijacking a popular revolution.

The other solution is to keep what is best about the old constitution while adding to it. Propose a

new constitution and a new constitutional convention, but make one of the first proposals to keep the

best of the old document.

For the best of the constitution is not the original document at all. The best part is the

amendments. The original document is not about rights and all about power, who has it and how

they can wield it, and that it will always remain in the hands of elites. The amendments are what most

rightly revere. Keep the amendments, and amend the original document of power to spread power to

the mass of people, and add more amendments to limit the power of elites, for good. That is what

proposed new constitutions or new amendments try to do. They add to the best of the document,

keeping all the original constitutional amendments.

What of the first solution to ending constitution worship? Tell the true history of the

constitution, uncensored, without the heavy doses of patriotic propaganda that leave out its elitist

nature. That story has already been told many times in the fields of history and political science. But to

help the curious who may not know, let me summarize the history of the adoption of the constitution.

To do that, one has to go back to the American Revolution.

The American Revolution was not a real revolution. It was an independence movement. In

actual revolutions, elites are overturned, killed off, imprisoned, or forced to flee the country. America's

elites, plantation owners like Washington and Jefferson, were actually strengthened. They no longer

had to listen to British authorities. Many scholars, the best known being the eminent Charles Beard,

argued the real motive for the founders' rebellion was economic. The British Empire was run by

mercantilism, which required colonies to trade only with the mother country. The founders wanted

primarily more profit from trade much more than political freedom.

But there were many in the working classes who wanted a true class revolution. There had been

class warfare in the earlier English Revolution, Roundheads who were middle class and anti nobility,

and the Levelers, primitive versions of communists who wanted to level off the wealth anyone could

have. In the American Revolution, there were anti elite groups like the Sons of Liberty, and populist

rabble rousers like Samuel Adams, George Mason, and most of all Thomas Paine.

There was a populist wave of the American Revolution before it was hijacked by the largely

elitist founders. The Massachusetts Revolution of 1774 happened a year before the Battles of

Lexington and Concord. The public took control of Massachusetts courts, forcing judges and the

Governor and Lieutenant Governor to resign. They overthrew every county government in

Massachusetts. That is why the British were occupying Boston in the first place at the time of

Lexington and Concord.

This was just the start of a populist revolution. There were over 90 Declarations of

Independence before Jefferson's, from counties, cities, and states. Most were based on George

Mason's in Virginia. Jefferson's was an elite attempt to shape a popular uprising. There were also

popular uprisings within the elite-led independence movement. There were mutinies within the US

Army, in Connecticut, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Congress was forced to use a draft, bounties,

even the promise of slaves to gain recruits.

After the war, there were early experiments in anarchism, socialism, and other notions very

revolutionary for that time. For a year, Pennsylvania tried shutting down the government entirely.

Pennsylvania also tried outlawing the collection of debt, a form of wealth redistribution. Slavery ended

in seven northern states. One out of eight slaves in the US were freed. New Jersey even gave women

the right to vote. Though first done accidentally in 1776, it stayed on the books until 1807.

Aristocracy and feudalism were ended in the US. Noble titles, primogeniture, and entailment

(the wealthy being able to seize public property) all ended. There was enormous confiscation and

redistribution of wealth during and after the revolution. (Try telling that to a Tea Party member.)

Most British loyalists and many aristocrats, whether they sided with the colonists or with Britain, lost

their property. Established state churches in nine of the thirteen colonies were abolished. These were all

fairly radical changes, and many Americans wanted to go even further.

American elites’ fear of class warfare created the US Constitution. The most pivotal event

was Shay’s Rebellion. Farmers in western Massachusetts tried to stop foreclosures on their farms, so

they shut down state courts. Jefferson called this, “liberty run mad.” Washington called it, “anarchy and

confusion.” What horrified the founders was not the size of the rebellion. It was minor, with few

deaths. The fact that it took so long to break the rebellion worried them. And at the same time, the

French Revolution was going on. They feared this minor rebellion might grow into a similar class

revolution. All the radical experiments in wealth redistribution added to that fear. The founders called

the convention in direct response to Shay's Rebellion.

The constitutional delegates had a low opinion of the public. They believed most people were

just one hungry belly short of becoming a howling mob, that the average person was selfish, unreliable,

and easily misled. They wanted the nation to be run by “men of quality” and argued the wealthy must

be protected from the general public above all else. “Those who own the country ought to govern

it,” as John Jay argued.

The Constitutional Convention was secretive. There were no notes taken, except Madison's,

done at the end of the day in his room, against the wishes of the convention. The public was barred.

So was the press. The delegates, just like Colonial Congresses before them, took oaths of secrecy to

keep debates from the public. There was almost no debate on expanding the power of the

government. The elite delegates already agreed in advance on most questions.

The US Constitution was and is deliberately anti democratic, designed to look like a democracy

without actually being one. Great power was given to the president. The assumption was Washington

would be the first, and the clumsy Electoral College put in. Electing a president was deliberately made

cumbersome to stop anyone not as admired as Washington from being elected. The founders did not

want competitive elections, but presidents chosen almost by acclamation.

Ratifying deliberately excluded opponents of the constitution. Special state conventions,

not legislatures or the public, ratified the constitution. Even so, as word leaked out, the public

turned against this document that most were not allowed to vote on. Elites at the special state

conventions began to get nervous. Votes against the constitution were highest in Massachusetts, New

York, Virginia, North Carolina, and Rhode Island. The Massachusetts convention only ratified after

Governor John Hancock was promised (falsely) he would be the first president or vice president.

In Virginia, George Mason and Patrick Henry successfully pushed for the Bill of Rights as a

condition for ratifying. The first presidential election was planned without New York, North Carolina,

or Rhode Island. New York actually prepared to secede and become its own country. Federalists in New

York City then threatened to secede from New York. The New York convention backed down and

narrowly ratified.

North Carolina's convention defeated the constitution and held out a year before a new

convention ratified. Rhode Island was the only state to hold a “popular” vote. (Not only minorities and

women, except in New Jersey, were barred. There were property requirements to vote in every state.)

The constitution was defeated in the state by a 10-1 margin, a good indication of what most of the

public thought. Washington was actually elected without Rhode Island voting in the presidential

election.

Ratification took three years of enormous elite effort *against* the general public. Ben

Franklin owned most newspapers in the US. An economic boycott was used by wealthy elites to shut

down many of the other papers opposing the constitution.

The original US Constitution, minus the amendments, has a deliberate *anti* democratic

structure:

1. The Electoral College means there has never been a direct election of presidents. Originally it

was intended to be a veto by elites vs the general public. If they elected the “wrong” person, the

electors were there to overrule the public.

2. The US Senate is the most undemocratic part of the system. Wyoming has 75 times greater

representation than California. Until the 20th Century, senators were chosen by state legislatures, not

voters. (Some Tea Party leaders want to return to that.)

3. The Supreme Court almost always defends wealthy elites.

4. The winner take all/majority rule system is less democratic than parliament systems in most

other nations. It leaves small groups unrepresented, cripples newer or smaller parties.

5. There is no mention of rights in in the original constitution whatsoever, except a stricter

definition of treason.

And the US Constitution was illegally adopted. The Articles of Confederation's

Article 13 states “…Articles of this Confederation…shall be perpetual; nor shall any alteration at any

time be made in any of them; unless such alteration agreed to in Congress of the US & confirmed by

legislatures of every State.” On both counts, the constitution is illegal. Neither Congress nor state

legislatures ever confirmed it, only special state conventions.

Obviously I am not suggesting resistance to the current constitution, or ignoring it. That

argument leads to chaos, and only militias and sovereign citizens on the fringe embrace that. There is a

legal concept which says even if a law was adopted by faulty means, it remains the law if it has been in

force for a good length of time. My point was simply, when one hears that this is a nation of laws,

remember that the founders ignored the highest law in the land, the Articles of Confederation. Being

elites, and very elitist, they just went ahead and did it.

Imagine a modern parallel to what the founders did. Imagine the wealthiest elites writing a

document only they had any say in, and only allowing themselves to vote on it, and then declaring it

the highest law in the land. That is what the founders did, and this is precisely why the original

constitution deserves no reverence.

Instead, let us resolve to craft a new constitution that preserves the best of the old, the

amendments, and adds to it with a far better system of government and drastic limits on elite power.

Unlike the original convention, any new constitution deserves, needs, and requires as much

popular input as possible. While the proposals that follow were written by me, many of these proposals

have been made in other forms before. Larry Sabato, a political scientist at the University of Virginia,

proposed some parts of several of these articles, as have others. Calls for a new constitutional

convention are ongoing for decades.

These proposals, and any proposals, need to come from you, the general public. Send in

your suggestions, criticisms, counter proposals, and arguments. Spread the word anywhere and

everywhere you can. This cannot and should not be done without all of you.

The only real arguments for continuing the current constitution are stability, and a view of the

American system based more on romanticism than actual history.

A Proposed New Constitution – Fifteen Articles

Article 1- Continuing and Expanding the Original Constitution and its Amendments

1.All articles and amendments from the previous Constitution of 1787 remain the final law of the land,

except as changed by the following articles or later amendments. 2. This and all future constitutional

conventions must be representative of the US public, by gender, race and ethnicity, and religious faith

or lack of. Its members must be respected intellectuals drawn from education, religious institutions,

civil rights groups, non-governmental organizations, labor, business, military veteran groups, consumer

groups, and scientists. No current or former elected officials or appointed cabinet members or

presidential or congressional advisors or staff are allowed. All constitution conventions must be in full

view of the public, every word said by every delegate at the convention scrupulously recorded. 3.Each

of these following articles must be voted on and approved separately by two thirds or more of those

voting to become the law of the land.

Article 2- Insuring Greater Democracy

1.The Electoral College is abolished. The President shall be directly elected, with the winner being the

candidate receiving the most votes. 2.The Supreme Court shall never, by any decision including

indirectly, decide who shall be President. 3.The Vice President shall be nominated separately by each

party and elected separately from the President, and also serves as the Secretary of State. 4.The Senate

shall be 100 adult citizens chosen at random each year, representative of the adult American public by

age, gender, race and ethnicity, religion or lack of, and income or social class. 5.Redistricting shall only

be decided by nonpartisan committee, and gerrymandering to favor one party or dilute minority voting

power is forbidden. 6.Congressional representatives' terms are changed to four years, elected in the

same elections as the President.

Article 3-Guaranteeing the Right to Vote

1.The right to vote for all citizens of legal adult age is absolute and cannot be denied, limited, barred,

blocked, or suppressed, whether by deliberate attempts or unintended outcomes. All current such

attempts are ended. Any law with the outcome, even unintended. of making voting more difficult shall

be immediately void. 2.Any official who deliberately or unintentionally makes voting more difficult

shall be immediately removed and their decisions voided and actions reversed. Deliberately blocking

others from voting or blocking voting recounts shall always be prosecuted and punished as a felony.

3.Voting days shall be national holidays, with a paid day off for workers only with proof of voting.

4.The voting age is lowered to sixteen for any US citizen proving their maturity by holding a job or

living on their own.

Article 4-Ending the Buying of Elections

1.All elections shall be publicly funded only. Private contributions or donations to or on behalf of a

candidate or party, except for unpaid volunteer work, are outlawed. Corporate donations of any kind are

forbidden, and business and corporate owners and management are forbidden from intimidating,

pressuring, or influencing in any way their employees, punishable by long prison sentences.

2.Campaigning and advertising for all general elections are limited to the period of six weeks before

election day. Campaigning and advertising for all primary elections are limited to the six weeks before

the general election period. 3.No election, whether federal, state, county, city, special district, American

Indian tribe, or of unions, civic groups, lobbying groups, or private clubs, is valid unless more than half

of its citizens or members vote. If less than half of the citizens or members vote, there must be

immediate new elections within 30 days with different candidates.

Article 5-Voting Guarantees Benefits

1.All eligible voters must vote. Failure to vote results in inability to receive all government benefits

until the next election, including licenses, grants, subsidies, tax refunds, eligibility for public assistance,

student or business loans or credit. 2.Those with strong and longstanding religious, philosophical, or

political beliefs against voting are not required to vote if they declare said beliefs.

Article 6- Limiting Corporate Power

1.All rights in this and the previous constitution, as well as under all American laws, are limited to

human beings only. A person under US law is defined as a living human being only. Corporation rights

and powers may be severely limited by any and all governments, whether federal, state, city, country,

special district, or American Indian tribe. 2.A corporation must serve the public interest and its life span

shall be limited. Any corporation shall be permanently dissolved if they break the law more than five

times. No business, corporation, or individual can escape fines, punishments, or legal judgments by

declaring bankruptcy, or by the use of holding companies, shell companies, or any other diversion,

evasion, or tactic. 3.The right to collective bargaining by unions or other workers shall not be limited

more than other civic or lobbying groups, nor subject to government recognition.

Article 7-Ending Colonialism

1.The United States recognizes the great wrongs done by genocide against American Indians,

apologizes fully, and shall always strive to make amends. All federally recognized American Indian

tribes are forever sovereign, defined by their treaty or other legal relationship to the United States, with

rights to decide their own government and laws, and to enforce those laws on all residents and visitors

within their territory. 2.All American Indian tribes have permanent and absolute rights to their current

reservation lands, forever. All federal lands, or lands reacquired by American Indian tribes, that are

within these tribes’ historically recognized boundaries, or protected by treaty, will be part of their

reservations. All sacred sites of federally recognized American Indian tribes shall be returned

immediately, or protected by federal partnership if requested by tribes. 3.Native Hawaiians are

recognized as a tribe by the US government and shall have a reservation with a sovereign government

with relations with the US government and rights equal to an American Indian tribe. Nothing in this

article shall be construed as denying or abridging Native Hawaiians' right to pursue the return to being

an independent nation as they were before the illegal overthrow and seizure of their nation. 4.US

citizens and nationals of American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, and Washington

DC have full local self rule, and shall vote in federal elections and have voting federal congressional

districts.

Article 8-Renouncing War

1.The United States shall not go to war except in self defense, and permanently renounces wars or acts

of military aggression. 2.The United States, its government, agencies, or agents shall never try to

overthrow another nation's government again unless directly attacked by said government. 3.Unless

under direct and immediate attack, the United States shall not go to war, and the President cannot

deploy troops for combat without an official declaration of war by Congress. Unless under direct and

immediate attack, the declaration of war by Congress must then be approved by a vote of the American

public within 30 days. Failure to get approval by the American public overturns the declaration of war.

4.The US President can deploy troops to rescue US or other citizens and must prevent genocide, other

large scale atrocities, or humanitarian disasters. The President must report to Congress on such action

within 7 days and Congress must approve the deployment of troops within 30 days. 4.The US

government is forbidden to go to war or use war as an opportunity to enrich in any way any American

businesses, corporations, or individuals. Family members of government officials shall not be exempt

from military draft, nor sheltered in special units, or in any other way.

Article 9- Referendums and Recalls

1.Members of the public may propose referendums to pass new laws, recalls to remove for illegal or

corrupt actions the President, Vice President, member of Congress, Supreme Court Justice, or any

appointed official, or bring an end to wars or operations involving US troops. 2.A referendum or recall

begins 30 days after the certified collection of valid signatures of ten percent of all voters.3. No

referendum may overturn, contradict, or limit anything in either constitution, and such efforts must be

done instead by constitutional amendment. Nor shall referendums or recalls be funded by corporations

or private contributions, except for individual unpaid volunteer work. Referendum advertising must be

equally funded both pro and con, must be publicly funded only, and subject to reasonable limits.

Article 10- Nonprofits for the Public Interest

1.National defense industries, healthcare, prisons, education, and news media must be nonprofit. No

business, corporation, or individual can profit unfairly from the federal government or public resources

and must pay fair market value for all current and previous resources, subsidies, and research. 2.No

journalist, commentator, or others presenting themselves as experts in politics, history, law, society,

health, medicine, or science can make more than five times the median national income, and any excess

income must be donated to charity or it will be seized by the federal government. 3.All journalists,

commentators, and others presenting themselves as experts for mass news media will be fined every

time they lie in their articles, broadcasts, or public statements. No person or media outlet can profit

from lies or falsehoods and fine shall at least equal all profit, money, or benefits made from lies or

falsehoods. 4.The agency in charge of judging lies and falsehoods by journalists, commentators, or

experts for the mass media must be entirely of respected historians for matters of history and politics,

respected legal scholars for matters of law, and respected scientists or doctors for matters of science,

medicine, and health, and shall be entirely nonpartisan, with no member affiliated with any party.

Article 11- Ending Institutional Support for Hatred

1.No government body, law, or regulation will sanction or reward racism or ethnic hatred, religious

bigotry, sexism, or other hatreds based on linguicism (hatred or discrimination based on language) or

national or regional origin. 2.Nor shall any government fail to provide redress for longstanding

discrimination based on the previous. 3.Any person or institution taking part in or promoting

discrimination or hatred based on the previous results in that person or institution's permanent inability

to receive government jobs or benefits, including licenses, grants, subsidies, retirement including

pensions and Social Security, tax refunds, eligibility for public assistance, student or business loans or

credit.

Article 12-Ending Class Bias in the Law

1.All crimes must be punished. No president may pardon or give clemency to any in their own

administration, or the administration of other presidents of their party, or to anyone who has given them

campaign contributions. All such previous pardons are overturned. The guilty shall never be allowed to

profit from their crimes. The guilty must pay back all wealth from their crimes and pay for all damage

done to others. 2.All fees, fines, and taxes must be progressive, based on ability to pay. Regressive

taxes, where the wealthy pay a proportionately smaller amount, are expressly forbidden and must be

immediately made progressive.

Article 13-No Special Treatment for Wealthy Elites

1.Government assistance only goes to those in need and corporate welfare is forbidden. No person or

corporation, nor any trust or legal entity used by a person or corporation, shall receive government

assistance or funding unless they make less than double the median national income and possess less

than double the median national wealth. 2.All government loans or tax deferrals or holidays or other

benefits to corporations or business must be repaid, with interest at market rates. All facilities built even

partly to benefit or profit private businesses or individuals must be paid for by those businesses or

individuals equal to the benefits or profits received.

Article 14-Limiting Idle Wealth

1.Large concentrations of idle wealth are inherently dangerous and inhumane. All income from any and

all sources greater than 100 times the median national income and all wealth of an individual greater

than 100 times the median national wealth shall be seized, unless it is reinvested or donated to charity.

2.All attempts to conceal wealth to avoid taxes shall result in prosecution as grand larceny, full seizure

of not just concealed wealth but all their wealth, and long prison sentences which may not be

suspended. Separate white collar prisons, or other prisons that are less arduous or harsh, are forbidden,

and all white collar criminals must be punished and imprisoned with all other prisoners.

Article 15- The Right to Privacy

1.The right to privacy, unless it can be shown to directly and obviously harm others or affect national

security, shall not be abridged in any way. Private individuals shall not have their private lives divulged

in any form without their consent unless they commit felonies, or failure to divulge such information

can be shown to affect or harm others in a direct and obvious way. 2.Libel, slander, or defamation of

public figures is subject to the same punishments and standards as for private individuals. 3.Private

information on public figures cannot be divulged without their consent unless it can be shown to serve

the public interest.

Articles and Amendments Not Proposed

Balanced Budget-This would be disastrous in times of depression, recession, or war.

Equal Rights Amendment- This is already covered by Article 11.

“Right to Life”/Anti-Abortion Amendment- Most of the public supports keeping abortion legal. Article

15 would guarantee that continues.

Flag Burning Amendment- This contradicts the First Amendment.

Prayer in Public Schools Amendment- This also contradicts the First Amendment.

English as the Official Language- This is barred by Article 11, since it creates institutional

discrimination based on hatred of other language speakers.

Term Limits- There is no need. The average congressman serves only ten years.

Altering the Second Amendment- The convention would spend its time on nothing else. Crime rates,

including firearm deaths, have been dropping for decades.

These are my proposals. Larry Sabato of the Center for Politics has his own, some that I agree

with and incorporated. What are yours?

Al Carroll is Assistant Professor of History at Northern Virginia Community College and the author of

numerous articles and books, including the forthcoming A Proposed New Constitution.

http://proposednewconstitution.blogspot.com/

http://alcarroll.com