The past twenty-five years have been an interesting journey that has tested the very foundations of democracy and our government. Hanging chads on ballots in Florida during the presidential election got SCOTUS involved in deciding our next U.S. President. Retaliation after a terrorist attack brought up the issue of who can send American troops into combat. People are arming themselves with AR-15 rifles and shooting up schools, churches, synagogues, restaurants, and grocery stores deliberately killing innocent people.
The NRA and politicians hiding behind the second amendment offer thoughts and prayers, but refuse to consider sensible gun laws. Election deniers encouraged by a man who lost the 2020 presidential election attacked the U.S. Capitol. A former president deliberately removed classified documents from the White House, stored them at an insecure location, and showed them to visitors. SCOTUS has now given presidents immunity from prosecution for criminal acts they decide to commit while carrying out their official duties without explain just what the term, “official duties” includes. There’s more, but you get the idea.
Thanks to the evolution of social media, everyone seems to have an opinion about what the Constitution and it’s amendments say and mean. The first ten amendments are known as The Bill of Rights. Many argue they must never be changed or reinterpreted. It’s funny because every time we voice our opinions on a specific amendment we are interpreting it’s meaning based on the context of some situation that probably wasn’t around when our founding fathers were.
Should the people’s right to bear arms which was established when muskets were our weapon of choice extend to the AR-15 rifles being used to kill innocents?
Are presidents above the law? We fought a revolution against King George because our founding fathers agreed no on should be above the law.
This month I read, OMG WFT Does the Constitution Actually Say by Ben Sheehan. He breaks down the Constitution and it’s amendments into common sense easy to understand segments. He references amendments to other amendments and adds historical context to explain why our leaders felt each amendment was necessary.
Sheehan has respect for the Constitution, but he’s not afraid to add the occasional snarky comment or call out the hypocrisy of some of our founding fathers, legislative representatives, and members of SCOTUS.
Over the years amendments have been repealed and in some cases an additional amendment(s) is needed to strengthen an existing one. Its important to note that amendments pertaining to civil rights often needed additional amendments because certain members of government chose to ignore or circumvent them with state laws such as “Jim Crow” Laws, Black Codes, poll taxes, and literacy tests.
The issue of slavery is especially interesting given that many of our founding fathers were slaveholders and resisted adding passages that might call their rights to own slaves in question. Sheehan includes a passage written by Thomas Jefferson that was cut from the Constitution because it criticized King George for profiting from the international slave trade. Jefferson’s anger over its removal is ironic because he owned over 600 slaves during his lifetime.
Our founding fathers looked after their own interests when they were assessing the needs of the new citizens of their country. They often included the words “free, white, and male” to make clear whose interests they wanted these rights to protect.
Making changes or reinterpreting amendments, especially the first ten amendments, is difficult because The Bill of Rights is considered sacred by SCOTUS members who consider themselves “originalists.” They claim the original intention of the authors, textualism, and strict constructionism of the amendment must be respected.
Progressive interpretations view the Constitution as a living document that should change with the developments of new technologies, and the needs of society and the citizens of The United States. Progressives argue that our founding fathers could not have envisioned modern high-tech weapons or their destructive possibilities when freely available to the general population as opposed to military militias for the purpose of defense.
I recommend this book to everyone. Far too many Americans slept through History and Civic classes, and we are paying the price now. Even if you stayed awake, a yearly refreshers course seems in order before hitting the send button on the next political post.
Let’s learn what the Constitution actually says instead of trusting political and religious leaders, or tech billionaires to spoon feed us their versions.