The Last Amendment
Do y’all know what the last Amendment to the US Constitution is? It came in 1992, a scant ten years after my birth. And do you know what it did? It regulated the pay of congresspeople. LOL. Here’s the text, from Wikipedia: The Twenty-seventh Amendment prevents members of Congress from granting themselves pay raises during the current session. Rather, any raises that are adopted must take effect during the next session of Congress. The Amendment before that came in 1967. So you can see we’re great at updating the thing.
This is not what the Founders would have wanted. Heck, they amended the Constitution right away, adding ten amendments (which we call the BILL OF RIGHTS) two years later. Without getting into the weeds too much, the Founders could scarcely agree on anything when creating the United States. Some wanted a strong federal government, with the states pledging fealty. Others felt that the states should have most of the power and the federal government should be as limited as possible. Having just thrown off the yoke of an oppressive monarchy, the Founders were not looking to create another master to rule over them. They had also seen the problems with a weak federal government, as their Articles of Confederacy showed. What to do? In order to have some semblance of peace and to get the foundational documents in place, they pushed a lot of the negotiations off into the future. The Constitution was ratified and the negotiations began over what would become the Bill of Rights.
It was important to the Founders that the Constitution be updated regularly and shaped to ensure a more perfect union between the states. Change was inevitable and they wanted their founding document to be fleet of foot. By allowing amendments, future generations of Americans could adapt the document for their needs. This was good, considering that one thing the Founders did compromise on was that native and black people (slaves) should be counted as 3/5ths of a person. And to be clear, this was not a gauge of their humanity. The compromise was passed simply to find out how many representatives southern states should get. In reality, they were not considered to the people at all, thus, there was no humanity question to answer. They simply did not count in any way outside of tally marks.
Mistakes were made. In January 1920, the 18th Amendment kicked in, outlawing booze. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Those who supported it believed that banning alcohol would decrease poverty, improve civil life, reduce industrial accidents, and create a better home life for children. Did it work? Not really. If anything, it gave birth to organized crime and the Mafia. Turns out, people are gonna do what they do. How we haven’t learned this lesson a century later is beyond me. Millions of our fellow citizens are being destroyed by the “war on drugs” aka the war on minorities. In 1933, Americans were getting loaded again, having repealed the prohibition of alcohol with the 21st Amendment.
There have been six amendments since 1933. Want to guess what they are about? I already told you about the 27th, the most recent. In 1951, presidential term limits were set (22nd). Thanks, FDR. Ten years later, DC was allowed to have Electoral College votes (but no real representation). This was number 23. Three years later amendment #24 banned poll taxes, a dirty trick racists used to prevent black folks from voting. Another three years after that, in 1967, the 25th was passed, clarifying the succession of the presidency, should anything happen. Gee, I wonder what might have happened in the Sixties that would have made people think about that? Oh yeah, Kennedy was killed by the CIA in 1963. In 1971, 18-year-olds got the right to vote.
That’s it. That’s all we’ve done to the Constitution in the past century. Without question, these amendments were important. Banning poll taxes and allowing people to vote is very important. But when compared to the monumental strides taken by the Bill of Rights (1-10) and the abolition of slavery (13th), it seems like small potatoes. Isn’t there something more we could be doing to update our founding document? Are we leaving something on the table?
Yes, we are. Without question. It has been estimated that more than 11,000 amendments have been proposed since 1789. And out of all those only 27 have passed. That’s a pretty low batting average. Some of those have been total wackadoodle ideas. There was the one in 1860 that sought to eliminate the presidency entirely, replacing it with a two-headed executive. 1860… what could that have been about? Slavery, of course. And wouldn’t you know it there was A LOT of proposed amendments during this time looking to codify slavery in America permanently? In 1893, there was the proposed name change from the United States of America to the United States of Earth. Not bad, actually. During the Great Depression, there was a lot of movement to limit how much people could make in a year. No really, there was! Pretty radical idea to cap income at $1,000,000/year.
There hasn’t been anything on the amendment front this century. The Equal Rights Amendment has received a bit of attention lately. It was passed by Congress in 1972 and sent for ratification by the states that year. This is a necessary step for some amendments and it required 38 states to ratify it. That still hasn’t happened and the future of the amendment is murky.
I think it’s time for a new Bill of Rights. A package of amendments that guarantee the rights of modern Americans. A lot has changed since 1789 and it’s time for our founding documents to be updated to reflect this. It’s far from a new idea. FDR talked about it during his presidency. There are a lot of ideas out there for what should be proposed. Here are a few I like:
The right to equal education. We could define this in a lot of ways but if we really want to have a country of equal opportunity then we need to address the disparity in educational standards. This isn’t about the content, so much, but more about the quality of education. There is no reason why rich white kids should have a much better education than their minority counterparts. I would guarantee child care and education from birth to death. If you want to learn and you’re a citizen, then you should be allowed to. It’s an investment in the future. Will it all pan out? No, of course not. There will be dropouts. But we have those now. I’d rather give some people an opportunity than not.
The right to clean air and clean water. Again, we could define this broadly or narrowly but I think it’s time we address environmental issues in our Constitution. Without a planet habitable for human life, all of this is moot. We need to seriously address pollution and the problems that climate change presents. What better way than to do it in our Constitution?
I’m going to borrow one of FDR’s from 1933 (!!!) and say that people should be guaranteed a job. Now, this is a little complicated because what about people who don’t want to work? Or lazy people? Or bad workers? There are some wrinkles to iron out but I have confidence in the nation that put a man on the moon. If you live in America and want a job, we’ll get you one. Either through private enterprise or government agencies.
Going along with the economic justice angle, I would also say people (over 18) have a right to make a livable wage. Obviously there are different ways to calculate this but eight bucks an hour isn’t going to cut it. I’ve always been a fan of tying executive compensation (in all forms, bonuses, stock options, etc) to what they pay their workers. Meaning, for example, that you can only pay your top people five times more than the lowest people. There is some kind of ratio we can find that will ensure businesses comply. The workers ARE the company and often the product as well. No one should be making millions while others struggle. That’s just common sense.
I envision a system by which the PEOPLE actually vote on how the money is spent. We’d still have representatives that propose and negotiate bills but it would be in a general election that we say “yes, pay this much for this” or not. Part of what keeps Americans impoverished is ignorance of how the system works. By letting us see where the money goes we’ll be better equipped to root out corruption and make sure our tax money is going where we want it.
I would also guarantee the right to housing in America. We’re one of the richest nations and yet we have tens of millions of people who are impoverished and housing insecure. One in five children goes to bed hungry. Millions of school children are homeless. Meanwhile, Jeff Bezos has more money than he could spend in 100 lifetimes. He could literally spend a million dollars a day and STILL MAKE MILLIONS each week. Now, I’m not saying everyone gets a house with a pool and all that. But we can and should do a lot better than the Section 8 junk we mostly have now.
And since we’re making sure people are educated, working, and housed, let’s also guarantee their right to quality food. Not Cheetos. Not Sugar FunFuns. Apples, vegetables, whole-grain bread, that kind of stuff. And let’s also start teaching people how to cook again. They’ll have time since we’re giving them childcare and a good-paying job and a home.
Most importantly, the last amendment I would propose would guarantee Americans healthcare. It can be through a universal system (the correct solution as most of the world has already shown us) or through other programs but no one should ever go bankrupt because they get cancer. If you disagree then I humbly suggest you reconsider your life choices. Again, we have wealth in this country beyond imagination. There is no reason why people should die from treatable illnesses.
OK, I know what you’re saying. Matt, these are all super expensive ideas. Who is going to pay for all this? Well, Americans will, of course. If we’re paying people more, they will in turn pay more in taxes. We can tax corporations a bit more than, say, NOTHING. After all, they will be the beneficiaries of our investment in education and healthcare. Their workers will be smarter, healthier, and happier than they are now. We could get billions tomorrow if we simplified the tax structure and removed loopholes for rich guys.
Listen, this shit ain’t hard. By keeping it complex and daunting, wealthy corporations and their puppets ensure average Americans will never challenge or understand it. I’ve owned a business for 3 years. It’s a nightmare trying to figure this stuff out. And that’s intentional. We could simplify things and make it a lot easier. Other countries have a lot of this stuff already! It’s time for America to take a step into the 21st century and secure its citizen’s future.
Who’s with me?! Did I forget any? Have an interesting idea of your own? Be sure to post in the comments or on Facebook. America, this is you!