I (one of) the people of the United States, in order to fix an imperfect union, suggest we to do what the founding fathers would have expected anyone with half a brain to do – draft a brand new constitution applicable to the age in which we live. A constitution that does not have to be interpreted so very often would be preferable.
Sure, they expected The Constitution to endure, but I bet very few at the time imagined the world we know live in. Too many amendments, with too many precedents set against said amendments and too much overturning of precedents set for or against. All this requiring countless hours of legal mind wrangling to once again uphold, or overturn.
Admit it. The maintenance on that thing is ridiculous. Interpretation, and reinterpretation, with no one getting it right yet.
I’m sure the originators had no idea what kind of great firearms were going to be coming at us in the future either, just as I’m sure The Justices had no idea the “murder capital” of the country – as some still call the nations capital – will be no less, and probably more so, once this ruling takes full affect.
I’m for banning all guns from the face of the planet. Unfortunately, with the cost of food transport, you meat eaters may have to be shooting your food soon.
Cheers to a well trained Militia.
Peace
This is one one which I disagree with most liberals, perhaps because I have a anarchist streak I’m perfectly capable of imagining the entire government collapsing under a Fascist Republican regime, in which case I do not want to be defending myself with a broom stick and a white tee. And I strongly believe that the constitution grant the right to arms for the specific purpose of keeping a balance between government and a people’s militia, if ever a time required one. This is one reason I’m not really for banning assault rifles as well. That said, I do feel a perfect world is one of diplomacy and without war. Where violence isn’t easier for parents to deal with than sex in educating their kids. And I do agree with you that we shouldn’t be afraid of addressing the constitution in the context of modern times. However, as long as Republican’s and religions zealots have a part in democracy I want my right to bear arms…
I love those gun toting progressives.
I think a 21st Century constitutional convention is a great idea, but there are very few politicians out there that I would trust to give us something better than what we’ve got. We’d have to broaden the bargaining table to seat representatives of groups who don’t currently have much say in governance, and that would be a big challenge.
Living in Chicago, where we have our own gun violience issues, the ruling is pretty frustrating.
Chicago, Atlanta, Baltimore, and so on.
They know not what they do. (did)
I don’t trust most people with guns. I’ll go with the “well trained militia”.
That song is scary, it seemed less so in “Kill Bill”. Maybe because of that hair.
I’m all for a constitutional convention too. I just can’t imagine it being well handled situation. Not from what I’ve seen of the practices of our government, at least since I’ve been paying attention.
I love that song.
You’re right about who would actually handle it and the likelihood of it being quite a mess.
happy Birthday G.
The Europeans have been trying to work out a bill of rights in the last years, but they come nowhere near the elegance of ours. I think it’s not that our constitution doesn’t work if used properly, it’s just that it’s been completely undermined.
But a lot of the balance of electoral votes, etc. was in place to balance the power of large states vs. small states. That is not as much an issue these days, so could maybe be one area for improvement.
Here is the current European declaration of rights:
http://conventions.coe.int/treaty/EN/Treaties/html/005.htm
To me it’s so full of compromises, that it’s disgusting. You have this and that right, but depending on which European country you live in, your exercising of that right may made very difficult by local law.
I agree it looks quite mess. Our is also turning into a bit of a jumble though, there has to be a way to make these documents actually functional without constant overturning. The bill of rights itself was written for the times, though it is significant and necessary and should remain intact the ability to amend amendments constantly needs addressing. If state right are also going to be taken to task periodically that needs to be addressed to. One can’t really see the logic in the rights of the states if at any given time those rights can be declared unconstitutional.
I like your plan to redraft, but just trying to come up with which group of people would be responsible and how to go about it might cause more headaches than any one country can handle.
That seems to be the general consensus. How did we ever become so inefficient?
I cannot imagine who would redraft the Constitution…the idiots that we have on the Hill these days are totally not capable and I would not trust them with with a bag of rice, let alone changing something that I am going to have to live by…
Look at what they have done with it so far…
BTW, I absolutely love this song! I searched for days after watching KB until I found it and downloaded it…some serious rawness in this tune!
It’s a freak little son really but I like it.
It seems the general consensus is that we are pretty incapable of even addressing a revamp of The Constitution.
Perish the thought. If we wrote a new constitution it would be 211 pages long and we’d need a Supreme Court with 14,281 justices to interperet it. Keep it simple. Own a gun.
I knew I could count on you Doug. ;)
Our Constitution was drafted by a bunch of men (yes, they were men) of above-average intelligence, courage, and life experience.
While I agree with your ideal for a new constitution, I fear that it will be a watered-down piece of poll-driven pablum that says everything and means nothing. I don’t trust the special interests, and thanks to our wonderful public move-them-through education system, I don’t trust a democratic vote to replace it. (Constitutions, by their very nature, are supposed to insulate us from the folly of the day.)
With regards to DC, I’m really curious to see what happens to the crime rate in five years. If lifting the ban causes gun crime to drop, can we revisit this?
It will be some time before we actually see the result of this ruling. I always hopeful that my opinion turns out to be the wrong one.
I don’t think the document was insular enough, how could it be really with the onset of technology and nuclear war potential, and crime rates, terrorism backed by nuclear capabilities, sanctioned corporate Thievery and so on.
Hey Cooper! Pop by Black Tennis Pro’s, I’ve got something that I think you’ll be able to use.
This is quite an treat Sheila. Wowsa.
I think it’s the first thing I’ve ever won or was gifted online.
Thanks much.
I’m not sure how much the original drafters intended our Constitution to be a living document – ie., one which changes ever-so-slightly with the country as it grows and retracts – but I see no need to redo what was done pretty well the 1st time thru. We have a mechanism for adding necessary items to our Constitution and have added (and subracted) items in accordance with our needs.
There is currenly a discussion in pennsyltucky as to holding a constitutional convention. It is a very interesting discussion but one which is bound to go nowhere because nearly everyone involved wants to call the shots as to language and participation. It will only be magnified at the federal level. Frankly, one of my fears is that too many of the wrong people (think Rove and Carville) will be involved in any reframing. The result of that will be disaster.
I’ve only read about a couple dozen pages of this laters SCOTUS ruling; from what I’ve read thus far, it’s fairly detailed and not a bad writing job considering Scalia is the author of the majority opinion. But at 157 pages, whew! Even with a predictable outcome.
One other thing – people’s approaches and views of firearms in different settings, i.e., city vs rural, are very, very different. The sense of paranoia, however, is not. City dwellers fear a fascist republican takeover; ruralites fear the rule of the uberliberal. A real shame that there is such a schism within our country. But it could be worse. Just look at any number of other countries and count thy blessings.
I do differ with you on this, but I am not againstfree speech. ;)
In a perfect world there would be a truly objective way to do this, but alas the original was not written under those conditions, and as the fractures which have occurred over time are much deeper I agree there seems no way to reconstitute the constitution in a reasonable was at this time, and until the time when man is more reasonable there won’t be a way around this.
Everyone pretty much said it all,on both sides.
Many cities will follow. The end result of this will be felt for years to come and on into the future.
I lean toward you, I can’t imagine this as a good thing.
I’ve never seen that video seen , but I’m familiar with the “Kill Bill” video.
I’m with someone at the you tube site who said it is pretty disturbing. I like it.
Dark songs I love them.
I still hold out the hope that the Constitution can be useful. The problem isn’t the Second Amendment; it is the power of the NRA. Which, in and of itself, represents the problem of powerful lobbyist groups. If we could cut down on the power of lobbyists, many other problems would simply go away. Lobbys should be used to help powerless groups get the attention they wouldn’t otherwise get.
Ok, I’m rambling. But I still have hope.
We must always have hope. What comes when we lose hope?
Great song. Why am I always the shallow one who comments on the music :)
I think you know from those incredibly earnest posts I used to write in another life how I feel on the Constitution.
Ironically, ha ha, I would say “I’ll give you the Second if you give me the Fourth”
OK we know how that worked. The thing Cooper–and I would give you any gift etc if it will keep you blogging but you always will–anyway, The Constitution is an amazing instrument–with flaws–nothing in life is perfect
Until recently The Constiution, has always moved forward. But the past almost eight years haven’t been normal times. It’s only now being used to move things backward
And we don’t know if the ruling applies to all of America or to DC only–a funny thing about this court–they don’t consider all of their own rulings precedent
I love the Constiution I do. I think it’s glorious–and if you take apart all the Amendments that have to do with voting rights you see how America has evolved
The Amendments when used properly and they usually have been are progressive. Please don’t hate the Constitution because of one truly stupid ruling.
And take at least two Con Law courses–one with aJesuit scholar and one with an Orthodox Jew. They can argue like nobody us, make you see how wonderful it is and not inflict their personal opinion on it
Yes, well I read it again last night just to be certain .
Maybe we should just erase everything after the original except the except the Bill of Rights and start again.
I tend to like things succinct. clean and uncluttered, even my Constitution. It’s a psychological issue I’m sure.
You’re probably right – but I don’t think the founding fathers thought that America would be governed by a bunch of self-serving idiots. But the real problem – at least as I see it – is that most of the folks in government have no knowledge of the American history that shaped the BoR and the Constitution in the first place. If they did, then I’m sure that the Court would have come down differently on the gun issue. Would have been pretty hard for the Revolution to have been fought and won if folks didn’t have the “right to bear arms” against the Crown. Duh!!!???
I agree. They could not have envisioned such a mess.
Good in theory, but bad in practice.
Most have touched on the downsides.
Just for thought: I wonder if conservatives realized that without liberals (aka radicals) they wouldn’t even exist in these “United” States of America. That our forefathers were extremists, patroits, terrorists, religious radicals, unhappy capitalists and pretty much any other marginal position as it related to THE CROWN. That they (the NEO CONS) wouldn’t have a leg without the ones provided by our founders.
Which is why the con. convention might not be such a happy idea; if the 2004 electoral map held sway, and say, 38 states were the ratifying point on new amendments (because getting all 50 states behind a comprehensive constitution at this point would be an impossibility, I think), we would be undoubtedly swung to a more conservative viewpoint.
Not good.
It is bad enough though the constitution has been shredded up by state laws…
It really ll about the brain functions. Liberals and Conservatives have markedly different brain scans, so maybe we really have no control over any of it.