U.S. Constitution Archaic, No Longer World Model

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From NYT:

Our Constitution is terse and old, and it guarantees relatively few rights. The commitment of some members of the Supreme Court to interpreting the Constitution according to its original meaning in the 18th century may send the signal that it is of little current use to, say, a new African nation. And the Constitution’s waning influence may be part of a general decline in American power and prestige.

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In a television interview during a visit to Egypt last week, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg seemed to agree. “I would not look to the United States Constitution if I were drafting a constitution in the year 2012,” she said. She recommended, instead, the South African Constitution, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms or the European Convention on Human Rights.

The rights guaranteed by our Constitution are parsimonious by international standards, and they are frozen in amber. As Sanford Levinson wrote in 2006 in “Our Undemocratic Constitution,” “the U.S. Constitution is the most difficult to amend of any constitution currently existing in the world today.” (Yugoslavia used to hold that title, but Yugoslavia did not work out.)

Other nations routinely trade in their constitutions wholesale, replacing them on average every 19 years. By odd coincidence, Thomas Jefferson, in a 1789 letter to James Madison, said that every constitution “naturally expires at the end of 19 years” because “the earth belongs always to the living generation.”

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  • What seems to escape all these Constitution bashers is that ours was created to LIMIT the power of government in order to optimize the inalienable rights and freedoms of the INDIVIDUAL.

    Our founders knew that power corrupts and this fabulous blueprint of checks and balances and limits on government, our Constitution, was to prevent tyranny against the people or LIBERTY.

    If you read further in the Federalist, anti-Federalist papers, you would realize that Thomas Jefferson’s remark about starting over ~ 20 years was to undo the inevitable damage that those that would use the power of government as a means to garner unearned wealth and control.

    If you look at other Constitutions, they are all designed to subjugate the masses to an all powerful government, with the myth of infinite ‘rights’ provided by that government. Since there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch, the ultimate condition under those constitutions is slavery of all to a powerful monolith ruled by an oligarchy of elite (banksters and big corporate monopolies).

    This has been the ultimate plan of the elites for millennia.

    http://www.ratifyconstitution.com

    • @egarners Where did you see anyone “bashing” the Constitution? Fact: the world no longer looks to the US Constitution as a model. Could you provide some concrete examples of “other Constitutions designed to subjugate the masses, with the myth of infinite ‘rights'”? Why don’t you start with South Africa’s Constitution. If you are going to make sweeping hyperbolic unsupported statements, your statements cannot be taken seriously. Have a good day.