Often when thinking about politics and where the US has got itself to, I despair because it seems that no matter what we do, the Powers That Be are so powerful, nothing will ever really change. There is, in effect, no independent press. The political process is so infused with money that it need not concern itself with the welfare of this nation's citizens. We may see small improvements here and there but it's never more than nibbling around the edges.
We can change this state of affairs; we can re-frame the Constitution.
If that sounds sacrilegious (and it does to me), consider this:
Article V, U.S. Constitution
The Congress, whenever two thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on the application of the legislatures of two thirds of the several states, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of three fourths of the several states, or by conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress; provided that no amendment which may be made prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any manner affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first article; and that no state, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate.
The original framers intended for us to be co-framers of the document they wrote. All 50 states have passed resolutions calling for a second Constitutional Convention. Article V states clearly that "The Congress, ...on the application of the legislatures of two thirds of the several states, shall call a convention for proposing amendments". Why has this not happened?
Imagine a gathering of citizens, constrained neither by party nor by monied interests, gathering in... oh what the hell... Las Vegas, with the only agenda being to set things right. Of course everyone's idea of what's "right" may be different, but if the proposed amendments were "right" enough to be ratified in 38 states, those amendments would become, not only the law of the land, but part of that document most of us hold so dear - the Constitution.
Call me idealistic, but what do we have to lose? We could take back the airwaves. We could find a way to truly drain the swamp. We could take another whack at that nasty electoral college business.
The excellent article that got me pondering all this is - Runaway American Brainwashing, currently on the front page at Political Cortex. Read the opening paragraphs and see if you don't get chills:
You may not want to know this. Americans have been successfully brainwashed to fear exactly what their revered Constitution gives them the right to have. Those smart Framers of the Constitution decided that we needed exactly what the establishment, pro-status quo elitists who run our plutocracy do NOT want us to have. There is even a well funded semi-secret group organized to prevent what we the people have a right to.
Has the brainwashing worked? You bet it has. In the absence of public furor, for over 200 years Congress has not done what Article V of the Constitution says it "shall" do. Congress has never issued a call for an Article V convention of state delegates to consider constitutional amendments, in response to two-thirds of state legislatures asking for one. That numeric requirement - the only specified requirement in Article V - has been satisfied, with 50 states submitting over 500 requests. Such a convention operating under authority of the Constitution would be a fourth, impermanent branch of the federal system, not beholding to the three permanent branches. Such independence has been cartooned into a frightening monster.
Imagine that. The original framers intended for there to be a fourth branch of government. No small wonder that the other three branches are hoping we hadn't noticed.
Freedom is never voluntarily granted by the oppressor, it must be demanded by the oppressed. --Martin L. King, Jr.
What do you have to lose?