Timely Renewed » progressives

Why the Electoral College is Not in Tom Perez’ Constitution

admin — Mon, 11 Dec 2017 02:16:48 +0000

Many thanks to Western Journalism for publishing my article Why the Electoral College is Not in Tom Perez’ Constitution. The DNC chairman’s misstatement that the Electoral College is not in the Constitution was not an inadvertent error. In fact, it reflected an attitude toward the Constitution which is common in the modern Left. In recent decades, through the process of judicial amendment the Supreme Court has used four words in the 14th Amendment, “equal protection” and “due process,” to rewrite the Constitution to reflect their policy views. These views include an absolute one-person one-vote standard under which the Electoral College system, with its careful balancing of state and sectional forces, is outdated.

I discuss this “four word” Constitution further in chapter 9 of my book Timely Renewed, and discuss a constitutionally sound way to update the Electoral College system in my new book Fifty States, Not Six.

Are We The People? is now available – the answer to SCOTUSocracy

admin — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 21:10:30 +0000

Using Amendment to Take Back Our Constitution from Big Government, Big Business and the Supreme Court

I have not posted on the Affordable Care Act decisions because I’ve been busy getting out my new book, Are We The People? Using Amendment to Take Back Our Constitution from Big Government, Big Business and the Supreme Court. This controversy is an excellent opportunity to step back and ask the “big picture” question: ”Why it is, in a democracy, that a single Supreme Court justice can decide on the meaning of our Constitution for over 300 million Americans – even though our Constitution begins with the words WE THE PEOPLE? Do you personally remember the last time the meaning of the Constitution was decided by the deliberative democratic method the Framers intended – amendment?

Are We The People? shows how we, the People, can take back control of our Constitution from Congress and the Supreme Court. By enabling the states to directly initiate amendment proposals and other careful limited reforms, the Amendment Amendment will revive the ultimate power the Framers gave us. Carefully balanced to appeal to both progressives and conservatives, the Amendment Amendment set out in Are We The People? is intended as a politically realizable proposal which could actually be enacted under our existing amendment procedures. It is time to reform the amendment process and return final control of our Constitution and our government, as the Framers intended, to we, the American People.

Are We The People? is available in e-book format for only $2.99 from Nook and Kindle, and in print from Amazon and other online outlets for only $5.99.

Can the “Amendment Amendment” be Enacted?, or a Progressive-Tea Party alliance, are you kidding?

admin — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 22:08:21 +0000

Of course, the “amendment amendment” would have to be added to the Constitution under the existing Article V procedures. If Congress can not be trusted to pass constitutional amendments limiting its governmental power, why would two-thirds of both houses approve a constitutional amendment which will end Congress’ de facto monopoly on initiating constitutional amendments? Here a historic alliance is the answer. Constitutionalists are not the only Americans who are enraged at the Washington power monopoly. There are many sincere Americans who consider themselves “progressives” who recognize that the current Washington power establishment is dominated by corporate special interests. They also call for constitutional amendments to correct the system. For example, Ralph Nader has called for a constitutional amendment which would provide that corporations are not “persons” entitled to the same constitutional protections as natural persons.

The “amendment amendment” is content neutral. By breaking the congressional monopoly on initiating amendments, it opens the amendment process to popular participation, which is one of the most important values of sincere progressives. An alliance of constitutionalists and sincere progressives could command the political and popular clout to force two-thirds of Congress to initiate the “amendment amendment.” Once out to the States for ratification, it should be quite possible to reach the three-fourths threshold in state legislatures no matter their political makeup since the “amendment amendment” will vest them with a significant new constitutional status.

Now, many on both sides of this alliance may be nervous about the proposed amendments the other side might introduce with this new procedure. However, I would suggest a broader view. Almost all Americans are peripheral subjects of our modern imperial center in Washington, D.C. We are faced with major issues about the nature of our nation. Every bit as much as constitutionalists, sincere progressives believe that those decisions should be made by the people.

The “amendment amendment” is not about what those decisions are. It is only about assuring that the decisions are made at the level closest to the people, the States, where grassroots input is most effective. Any one who believes in democratic governance should support this.

Indeed, the “amendment amendment” may well be the purest test available to separate those politicians who truly believe in government “of the people, by the people and for the people” from those who really prefer government “of the Supreme Court, by the federal bureaucracy, and for the Washington power elites.” Its only effect is to move control of our Constitution away from the Supreme Court and Congress in Washington, D. C. and to the people in their States.