Is our Constitution outdated?
It must be considered that there is nothing more difficult to carry out nor more doubtful of success nor more dangerous to handle than to initiate a new order of thing — Nicolo Machiavelli, (1469 1527) The Prince
Sept. 17 is the day observed when the Constitution was signed and adopted in Philadelphia in 1787. Every so often I hear our Constitution is hopelessly outdated and needs to be rewritten for the 21st Century. Thirty years ago it needed to be rewritten for the 20th Century. How could an 18th Century document created from much older writings be of any relevance now? How could it have initiated “a new order of things?”
Every one of our Bill of Rights is a reaction against decades of cruelty by authority. Those cruelties are not “outdated.” Modern inhumanity and the pains inflicted are not “outdated.”
Our world history is one of one-man rule: a king or queen or military strongman or emperor, a religious figure or chieftain. The Divine Right of Kings putting God’s stamp of approval on those in charge; a type of Caesar or Pharaoh. No restraints, no protections. His word was law.
The Romans tried a separation of powers. Worked for a while, and then fell apart. The Magna Carta laid down historic protections. Our Constitution permanently separated an executive from the judicial and the legislative so “one-man rule” would never be possible in America. We have, and must keep, co-equal executive, legislative, and judicial branches because in the Founders’ collective words, human beings are inherently evil and must be checked and balanced to keep them in line.
Article 2 Section 2 of the Constitution calls for civilian control of the military. Not control by a general or a clique of generals. Unelected military men have taken control of many countries by force. Not here. The movie “Seven Days in May” describes what happens if it was attempted in America.
We hear the 3rd Amendment against the quartering of soldiers is outdated. Did you know when the Boston Marathon bomber was on the loose, police had to ask permission to enter private homes in search of him? They couldn’t say “get out of our way — police business.” This is today’s equivalent. FBI agents couldn’t stop at your house like Saddam Hussein’s gang and take all the goodies from your refrigerator. Maybe critics would repeal this “outdated” amendment.
Freedoms of speech, worship, the press, assembly, and petitioning the government are all within the 1st Amendment. Why? Because they were denied under British tyranny. They are still denied one way or the other in much of the Earth. In Mexico, the drug cartels are mercilessly killing journalists exposing them. They understand the serious power of the press.
Our Constitution puts the Rights of Man, a phrase from Thomas Paine, to be served by humane law, not servants of corrupt law. In the 18th century, the British could kill colonists with impunity. In any modern dictatorship, you can be falsely arrested, falsely and brutally imprisoned, a life taken without consequence. Yes, these have happened here, but we have a standard that says that’s wrong: the Constitution. Too many other places have no such standard or ignore it with a smirk. However, we are far from innocent. Think of prisoners found not guilty after decades of imprisonment because their “rights of man” weren’t seen as important.
When American crime dramas go overseas and foreign audiences see “you- have-the-right-to-remain-silent” Miranda rights given to the accused, they wonder if they have their own versions. I heard of this question from French movie-goers. We take for granted the apparently “outdated” 4th through 8th Amendments protecting us from judicial tyrannies. Overseas, they’d love to have them.
Virtually all of our constitutional talk is about the 2nd Amendment. I support the 2nd, but it’s not all there is. The intent was to have individual and collective armed protection when everything else failed. By defending, fortifying, demanding the observance of all 27 Amendments (yes, we have 27), our rights are secured. The process for adding or removing amendments is builtin so political struggle, not armed struggle, changes the Constitution.
Our Constitutional system is far from outdated. Along with the Declaration, it called for a new order of things. This document puts into words principles that mean something. It’s the bedrock of our stability and as current as human nature.