The Constitution of our country was written at a time when only white landowners could vote. At a time when most Americans didn't travel more than a couple days' ride in horse and buggy from the place they were born. At a time when the previous governing document, the Articles of Confederation, was found deficient. At a time when there was still the very real danger of the "American experiment" in democracy completely falling apart.
The Constitution has been amended many times. But I think we need to look at three new ways it and the "American" way of doing business needs to change.
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First, I think our legislative arm of government needs to be much more representational of who we are. No, I am not talking about any sort of equal opportunity racial "quota" system because to do so would quickly turn into a quagmire of statistics and those who interpret such statistics to their own ends.
But there does need to be a change based on one fact - women were not allowed to vote when our Constitution was adopted. Of course, now they can, many think that it's enough to let women fight it out to get to the top of the political heap. But I don't think that's enough.
Women make up approximately half of our voting population. They come from every race, every social strata that makes up our nation. So why don't they make up half of our representatives in Washington? We have two Senators from every state - what is stopping us from requiring it be one man and one woman from each state?
Of course, many would argue that not enough "qualified" women could be found to fill all these seats. But you don't even want to get me started on some of the "qualified" men who currently fill these same seats - and there never seems to be an empty seat for lack of a qualified man, does there?
Second, we need to get rid of the Electoral College completely.
The Electoral College was created at a time when there was concern rural voters in far-flung corners of our growing nation would not be able to cast an informed vote for or against candidates largely unknown to them. So representative "electors" were created to act in their stead to choose our nation's president.
But is this really STILL the same situation today? Does a voter in California NOT have access to information about a candidate from Maine? Why do we have this absolutely archaic "Electoral College" gumming up the machinery during our presidential elections?
Especially given the growing trend among the country's minority party to use the electoral college process to swing the 2016 elections in their favor - in open defiance of the clearly expressed will of the American voter - why aren't we looking to get rid of this process now?
Third, we need a universal DRAFT - not simply a registration for Selective Service - NOW. We need to send all of our sons and daughters off to war if we ever hope to end these pointless, politically-motivated overseas adventures. Model it on what Israel does and require merely two years in uniform, just enough to give each and every citizen of this country some iodea what our men and women in uniform do for this country every days of their lives.
A beneficial side effect of such service would be training in the use of firearms - both the benefits as well as the devastating effects of shooting or getting shot - that would very likely make for fewer firearms accidents and a much more balanced view of the gun control issue in this country.
These three things - setting aside seats in Congress for women, getting rid of the Electoral College, and a genuinely universal military draft - would fundamentally add to our democracy and way of life. Which means they probably do not stand a snowball's chance in Hell of ever happening.