A lot more than four score and seven years ago, our forefathers laid out the basis for our fledgling nation in a Constitution on which we have based our entire society.
The document has stood the test of time, guiding us through nearly a quarter of a millennium of wars, politics and seismic changes in our country and the world around it.
It is in this truth that the Constitution gains its greatest strength. The founding fathers not only laid the framework for a free nation, but they allowed for flexibility for future change they could not possibly anticipate in those hot Philadelphia buildings.
Congress has the ability to make amendments – which it has done successfully 27 times – in concert with the state legislatures. Like so many aspects of the document, it is built on balance – simultaneously allowing for change but not making it too easy to change, either.
There have been no changes in the last 30 years, but our political climate looks a lot different now than it did then, and it may be time to open a dialogue about the future.
In 2014, Georgia was the first state to call for a constitutional convention under Article V, which allows two-thirds of the states to pass and ratify amendments without Congress or the president’s approval. Article V reads:
“The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application 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; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate.”
In the last eight years, 18 other states have passed similar calls for a convention, while six others have at least made progress toward doing so. It would take 34 states to call the convention to order.
While the Constitution has many pillars that have given our country strength, it may be worth at least having discussions after 250 years about how we interpret what the forefathers laid out and how it fits in our current societal paradigms.
If nothing else, it would give some of our leaders a chance to talk to each other, something that goes on far too infrequently these days. Those men in 1776 charted their own path, and we have the right to make a few marks on the roadmap, too.