KGOldWolf

I visited the Supreme Court yesterday and took this iPhone photograph in the Grand Hall. The photo is terrible, but the ruling extract reverberates through centuries. Food for thought for the Constitution scholars in The Attic

LWW Loc: Banana Republic of America

There is a mechanism built in for change, it’s a shame it has been abandoned.

Kraken Loc: Barry's Bay

People made the constitution NOT God. Unlike the The 10 Commandments the constitution can be changed.

Texcaster Loc: Queensland

They forgot to tell Moses and LaPierre

Cykdelic Loc: Now outside of Chiraq & Santa Fe, NM

Correct.....the People, not the judges or the politicians du jour.

Not tough to grasp.

boberic Loc: Quiet Corner, Connecticut. Ex long Islander

The Constitution is the first document that was written for the express purpose of protecting the people from it's own government. It's a very profound concept. There is a mechanism for it's change, but executive or judicial fiat is not one of them

Keenan Loc: Central Coast California

Actually, you are incorrect. The Magna Carta agreed to by King John of England in 1215, which was the first document that limited the government's power to trample on the people's rights, predates the US Constitution by almost 600 years.

Cykdelic Loc: Now outside of Chiraq & Santa Fe, NM

It’s funny, but the difference between these two is that “the Magna Carta was made to set rules and give rights to the nobility, royalty, and other high-ranking officials of that time, whereas the Constitution was written to give rules and rights to all people.”

jcboy3

Typical propoganda. The Constitution did not give rights to slaves, women, children, young adults, workers, people without property. The Constitution was written to give rules and rights to the states. The bill of rights was added because they realized that they hadn't actually given many rights to the people in the main body (save a few obvious things like "ex post facto law"). In fact, it was up to the states to decide what classes constituted "the people". And uniformly, it wasn't many.

And it was written explicitely to exclude democracy in most instances. Representative, yes. Democratic, no (and I don't mean the party).

Cykdelic Loc: Now outside of Chiraq & Santa Fe, NM

Well, that’s because we are not a democracy......we’re a democratic republic. You know, beware the tyranny of the masses, etc. Catch up!

boberic Loc: Quiet Corner, Connecticut. Ex long Islander

You are right and wrong. As originally written rights were denied to segments of the population. But the beauty of the constitution is it's ability to be ammended. and thos ammendments have corrected those errors. And the founders were very afraid of the tyranny of the majority, so the correctly did not form a democracy. They created a republic. with democraticaly elected representatives. Your use of the phrase Typical Propaganda. betrays your dislike of the US constitution. I suggest you live somewhere else.

jcboy3

Or it's lack of ability to be amended. For example, it has not been amended to deal with the following:

1. The right to vote. A clap trap of state and federal laws. With lots of horseplay about who can vote or how someone can prove they can vote.

2. Fiscal responsibility. Not necessarily a balanced budget, but nothing restrains the Congress from putting the country into debt. It says they have to pay the bills, but doesn't say the can't run up the bills until paying them is all they can do.

3. Lifetime tenure for federal judges. Let's be realistic, really old people are usually slow in the head. I don't know how sharp Ginsburg is these days, but that stupid Steven Colbert skit was just embarrassing.

4. Campaign finance. No way around it; politicians get bought and sold over campaign contributions. And secret contributions mean there is no accountability. Great way to run a banana republic. Lousy way to run the United States. And PAC money is the worst. It's hard for "the people" to express their desires when they are so easily swayed by propaganda and money.

5. Congressional term limits. We got them for President; let's get them for Congress, too. Doesn't have to be 2 terms, but 18 years seems a good starting point.

6. Equal rights for women. Nothing guaranteed for women in the Constitution. The biggest argument has been the draft. But I see nothing wrong with drafting women. Used to be the military was mainly combat. But now it's not, so the argument against the draft is specious.

7. Declaration of war. How many "wars" are we going to fight outside of the Constitutional mandate that Congress should declare war? And pay for it? This definitely needs to be beefed up.

8. Emoluments. No one knows what that means. No one knows what a lot of the words in the Constitution mean. Clarification by the Supreme Court is usually a matter of judicial legislation. There could be a whole exercise in defining the terms.

I could go on. But the process is broken. I don't think in this polarized political climate, any amendment can get passed.

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

The politicians ARE the people, you NITWIT!!! LoL
Best you go back to gradeschool!
SS

boberic Loc: Quiet Corner, Connecticut. Ex long Islander

We agree on many of the things you mentioned. It ain't perfect. But nothing is. With all it's faults our system has lead to the wealthiest people in history. Our poor live mre comfortable lives than 90% of the worlds people. No other country in history has more people wanting to come here, upwards of 12 million people have come here despite our laws forbidding thier arrviale. And as I have said, if you disapprove of our flawed system I suggest you live somewhere else, perhaps Cuba or Venezuela or maybe N. Korea.

Cykdelic Loc: Now outside of Chiraq & Santa Fe, NM

Go wake your mom up.