A Constitutional Convention
¬“Progress is a nice word. But change is its motivator.” (Robert Kennedy) A Constitutional Convention is necessary to the longevity and forward motion of the nation. There is no part of the Constitution that says it cannot be changed. In fact, it was made to be changed. In no way did the founding fathers expect the rules and regulations of the eighteenth century to apply to the country over two hundred years later. In 227 years, there have only been twenty-seven amendments to the Constitution! This is, by no means, enough change for the Constitution to accommodate modern day life and support a growing superpower. More amendments are essential for the progression of the United States. Making additional amendments to the Constitution, like reforming the Senate, changing presidential term limits
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The judges are appointed by the President to serve for the duration of their lives, or until they choose to retire. When the lifetime tenure was adopted, the average life expectancy was much less than what it is now, allowing for the rotation of judges to happen more often. With the new life expectancy of around eighty years old, a lifetime tenure can have judges serving anywhere from ten to forty years as a Supreme Court Justice. To ensure that the alternation happens often enough, there should be a limit to one fifteen year term per judge. These fifteen years of judgeship would be the “lifetime limit” for a term in the Supreme Court (page 115). This term would encourage the President to avoid any bias against the age of a judge. With the term limit, having a younger judge would not have much more of an appeal to the President (page 115). The lifetime tenure may be seen as some judges as an anchor, not allowing them to explore other options with their life. Some judges may have disliked the pressures of being a justice, and the term limit allows for a way
Under the U.S. Constitution, this appointment is a lifelong position that will only be nullified if the judge resigns their post or dies in office. This creates serious contests within the partisan political environment found among federal representatives, for any candidate appointed to this post helps define the direction of the Supreme Court for the rest of their life. Thus, it is frequently believed that a president who appoints a judge to the Supreme Court is creating a legacy, helping to shape the direction of the laws for the country for a time long after their presidency has expired. This makes the selection of a judge a hotly contested process.
For over two decades, citizens of the United States of America have had strong feelings on the subject of congressional term limits- more specifically, the imposition of term limits on Supreme Court Justices as well as the restriction on judicial review. This controversial issue has been further publicized due to the more recent publication of Mark Levin’s book, The Liberty Amendments: Restoring the American Public. Levin, a talk show host, makes his term limit case in his book about several amendments that have been attempted in the past.
At the constitutional convention in Philadelphia in 1787, building of a stronger national government to strengthen the weak central government under the Articles of Confederation was the focus of some leaders. The solution to this issue brought about the framing of the constitution. The framers of the new plan crafted a startling new approach through a ratifying procedure that went directly to the people. By this method, the Constitution would become law if nine of the thirteen states approved it after holding special conventions to consider the issue (Ratifying the Constitution, 2016). This marks the beginning of what many known as the Great Debate.
The goal of the constitution of to remove the excess of power controlled by individual members of the Texas government, mainly the powers of the governor. The new constitution also set limits for government spending and the terms of political positions that were not defined in the United States constitution. The constitutions of 1876 allowed people to directly vote on amendments placed in its new constitution. With the guidance of the federal government, the constitution allowed for suffrage for former slaves and women in Texas. There have been 673 amendments proposed for the Texas constitution and 491 amendments that were actually adopted. With all the progress that has happened in the transition of the constitution a new problem has risen, is the constitution too cluttered and
The Constitutional Convention of 1787 marked the evolution from the Articles of Confederation to the U.S. Constitution. The ratification argument led to disagreements between the Federalists, who wanted to approve the Constitution, and Anti-Federalists, who opposed the document. The latter believed that the new system forced by the Constitution failed to protect the individual rights of citizens and threatened liberties.
When the United States Constitution was created back in 1776, Thomas Jefferson argued that there should be a constitutional convention held every 20 years to make changes to the Constitution. Jefferson believed that holding this Constitutional Convention would update the constitution to apply to the modern era. After debating whether or not to hold this constitutional convention every 20 years, the house decided to not hold another constitutional
The constitution, as designed by the Framers, was intended to be guarded and a permanent declaration of the law that allowed alterations or changes. With these alterations came a very difficult process to go through, as these 55 men who created the constitution in 1787 wanted the document to not be changed for insignificant reasons, this document was supposed to last forever. (National Constitution Center) George Washington, being one of the Framers, believed that the constitution was created with the permission to be corrected by the people after their experiences with the laws/rights it contained. He said, “I think the people (for it is with them to judge), as they will have the advantage of experience on their side.”
I believe it is time to add items to the Constitution in which it is to be designed for today 's time. Not to rewrite the Constitution anew. While it 's true that the constitution was written centuries ago. It was written in a very particular way in which can be held its values in many generations to come. The ideas created in the document weren 't only meant for their time and place. The ideas can be brought attention in modern times. While some items can be added for a more updated modern issues such as technology, and ethical standpoints. This can greatly benefit the Constitution more thoroughly. Since that is one of the major differences it holds in today 's time.
Amending the Constitution demonstrates the desire to make a "more perfect union" by U.S. citizens by giving them what they want basically. Making sure the people get exactly what we want in this union, It changed during the Progressive Era, especially with jobs for people like equal pay, min. wage, banned children to work at night, and had work safety regulations. However, there were also major changes during an election process, including where voters could repeal laws which was called Referendums. There was also a law which allowed voters to propose laws directly rather than wait for state legislatures to do it, called, Initiatives. Another, which gave voters the power to remove government officials if they were unpopular or corrupt which
As it is explained in the Constitution, the ability of Court Justices to hold office “during good Behavior” and does not provide for the necessity that a Court Justice resign after a certain age or period of service”(U.S Constitution). When James Madison wrote the U.S Constitution, it did not specify the term limit of the judges, which makes the judges more fair and allows them to rule the cases without worrying about being reelected. Moreover, another reason that the Supreme Court judges judges are appointed for life is to assure the integrity of the power granted to Court Justices and protect them against unwarranted interference from either the legislative or executive branch”(Constitution 1). Since Congress does not have the power to interfere with the power of the judicial branch, they are able to rule in a fair and just manner. So this way it is guaranteed that the people will receive the best trial and obtain their desired wishes.
“The most popular proposal affecting presidential qualifications, first offered in the 1860s, would allow foreign-born citizens to be eligible after being American citizens and residents for a specific number of years” (Constitutional Daily). This proposal seeks to allow foreign-born citizens to become president of the United States of America. This idea is simply one of many. Another popular proposal is abortion laws. “Over the years hundreds of proposals have been introduced in Congress to restrict abortion, and at least 19 states have called for a constitutional convention to address this issue” (Constitutional Daily). There have been countless proposals to make abortion laws, but none have been accepted. ”Since at least the 1970s, Congress has considered numerous proposals to require a balanced federal budget and prohibit deficit spending” (Constitutional Daily). The proposition suggests that there be a federal budget. It has yet to be approved. Fortunately, getting the Constitution amended is very difficult. Even with the slim chance of getting it changed, the future could be very
Amendment: Term Limit for Congress Amendments where created and passed to help protect citizens rights. One amendment I would have created is limiting terms of congress. I believe that if the president must serve a limited amount of terms that congress should as well. We have flaws in our system and we have what we call rotten apples (corrupted) people in our government.
The ability of The Constitution to be amended is what still allows it to be relevant today. The updates that are made reflect the attitude of the nation. An example of this being the
Even though we do not change the actual Constitution, we do however, make changes as needed to the Amendments (Osborne,
This allows the executive branch to determine the makeup of the judiciary branch, and through it exercise power over the legislative branch. Because the men and women appointed to the Supreme Court remain there for life, with no public elections to possibly remove them, a president can affect politics through his choice of appointees for decades after his time in office has ended (Romance, July 29). But this, too, is limited by the Congress as the president’s judicial appointments are subject to the consent of the Senate (Landy and Milkis, 289).