Richie's Picks: A MORE PERFECT CONSTITUTION: 23 PROPOSALS TO REVITALIZE OUR
CONSTITUTION AND MAKE AMERICA A FAIRER COUNTRY by Larry J. Sabato, Walker,
October 2007, ISBN: 0-8027-1621-0
"It's worth remembering that the Philadelphia Framers were operating in
something of a pressure-packed vacuum. They were attempting to build a system
that had never existed in this form before, and to do it with dispatch. Much
of what they build was pure jerry-rigged experimentation. Moreover, they
recognized this and fully expected that future generations of Americans would
rework their designs to fit both actual practice and the needs of new times."
Awakening early on my first morning at last week's ALA convention, I was up
and out of the D.C. youth hostel at 6 A.M., off on an early morning stroll
over to the Mall and around the U.S. Capitol building before attending a
publisher's breakfast to which I'd been invited. It is just so inspiring to be
wandering around the middle of Washington D.C. early on a beautiful Saturday
morning! Thirty-six years after standing on the steps of the Capitol while
participating in my first antiwar rally, I stood there again and gazed down the
length of the Mall, past the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial
sitting shrouded in the early morning mist.
Later that same day I rode the Metro subway northward to the Embassy of the
Czech Republic, where Czech-born children's author/illustrator Peter Sis, an
early-Eighties defector to America, was honored by the exceptionally charming
Czech Ambassador for Sis' upcoming illustrated memoir of growing up behind
the Iron Curtain titled THE WALL.
Such a day, striding amidst the symbols of our government and our nation's
Founders, recalling the freedoms to which I've always had the rights, I could
not help but recognize and be thankful for the good fortune of being born an
American.
"In the early years of the Republic, the population ratio of the most
populated state, Virginia, and the least populated state, Delaware was 12 to 1.
In
2004 that ratio was an incredible 70 to 1 between California and tiny
Wyoming. Therefore, the current Senate is absurdly skewed in the direction of the
small states. Theoretically, if the 26 smallest states held together on all
votes, they would control the United States Senate, with a total of just
under 17% of the country's population...Even if 59 of the 100 senators favor a
particular bill, it will fail if the filibuster is employed, since 60 votes are
needed to invoke 'cloture" -- the shutting off of the filibuster to permit a
floor vote to proceed. Therefore, just 21 states can provide the 41
senators necessary to block action. The 21 most lightly populated states comprise
a
mere 11.2% of the nation's population as the Senate is currently
constituted."
But, gosh, the rest of the year back here in California, watching,
horrified, what my taxes are being spent on (and not being spent on), I feel
exceptionally frustrated, unheard and, yes, sometimes embarrassed to be an
American.
To say the very least, the system just does not work as it should. As noted
above, even when a majority of our elected representatives actually agree on
something that makes sense, arcane rules regularly allow a small minority of
Senators to prevent the will of the people from being enacted into law or
even expressed in a resolution.
And the System is seriously stacked in favor of the entrenched incumbents:
"The Founders could not in their wildest nightmares have imagined today's
redistricted House, where elaborate, exquisite computer programs permit the
politicians to carve up the map precisely to protect virtually every incumbent,
while draining the competition out of House elections...Instead of the people
choosing their House members, the House members now use redistricting to
choose their voters."
Back when the Constitution was first ratified, the 65 original members of
the U.S. House of Representatives each represented approximately 60,000
individuals. You can easily seat that many constituents in San Francisco's
Candlestick Park (or whatever they are calling it these days). It's quite a
crowd,
but over time, if you had something important to say, you'd have at least some
chance of catching the ear of your member of Congress. Nowadays, each
member of the House represents almost three-quarters of a million Americans.
That's the equivalent of the entire city of San Francisco. And you know, with a
crowd that size, only a fraction of them are going to be getting though the
gates, and the only people getting quality face-to-face service from that
repeatedly-elected member of Congress are the lobbyists and the big campaign
contributors who can spring for season tickets and front-row seats.
Professor Larry J. Sabato, a Rhodes Scholar who is the founder and director
of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, has compiled 23
sets of proposals for amending the U.S. Constitution in order to make things
fairer in the 21st Century. For each of these proposals he has also provided
extensive, well-reasoned arguments for all sides of the debates that would take
place if such proposals could actually be brought up for consideration.
"The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary,
shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Applications of the
Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for
proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents
and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures
of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths
thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the
Congress..."
Sabato advocates utilization of that portion of the Constitutional amendment
process that permits the states to vote for convening a Constitutional
Convention, reasoning that a serious push for change is not going to come from
Congress:
"Congress has proven to be a dependable graveyard for constitutional reform.
More than 3,000 amendments have been proposed in Congress over the last
forty years, with a grand total of six sent to the states for their
consideration -- and none at all since 1978. While many of the amendments may
have been
bad ideas or poorly conceived, surely more than six were worthy of
deliberation in the states."
While I certainly am not in agreement with all of Professor Sabato's
proposals -- not even a majority of them (yet) -- there are certainly a fair
number
of them that seem well worth considering. For instance:
There are proposals, dealing with the grim realities of our world today,
that would allow for members of the House of Representatives to be temporarily
replaced in rapid fashion in the event that a significant portion of them were
killed or incapacitated in a terrorist attack. Currently there is no way to
insure a continuity of government operations -- even during a time of
national crisis special elections would have to be conducted before new House
members could be seated and get to work.
There is a proposal to increase the size of the Senate, giving the ten
most-populous states four Senators instead of two and giving the eleventh through
twenty-fifth most populous states three Senators instead of two. This would
also, then, alter the composition of the Electoral College and bring the
Electoral College results more consistently in line with the national popular
vote for President.
There are proposals for dealing with the shocking situation whereby over
half of a million Americans who live in Washington, D.C. are still not
represented by voting members in Congress.
There is a proposal to limit Supreme Court justices to a single 15-year term.
There is a proposal for an automatic voter registration system for all
qualified American citizens.
Sabato also proposes that all able-bodied young Americans be required to
"devote two years of their lives to the service of their nation," choosing from
a wide variety of options.
There are dozens of other possible amendments that are presented so
equal-handedly from both sides that I am still not decided whether they would be
beneficial or detrimental.
Hey, this guy is a fascinating professor -- if he teaches online seminar
classes, you can sign me up for one today.
"Politicians in government should be changed regularly, like diapers, and
for the same reason."
-- Richard Davies
Whether or not you share the sentiments of term-limits aficionado Richard
Davies, Larry Sabato's A MORE PERFECT CONSTITUTION is a very readable,
thought-provoking presentation of important 21st Century Constitutionally-related
American issues. Whether one is a student of American history or just someone
who turns on the tube at night and grumbles, "There they go again," this book
offers lots for us Americans to think and talk about.
Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.com
Moderator, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/middle_school_lit/
BudNotBuddy@aol.com
http://www.myspace.com/richiespicks
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