by Rayne Britt

Created on: February 21, 2009

America's Constitution is a perfect document in that it allows for changes where it is perceived imperfect. It can be amended through the consent of the governed. Compare that to the constitutions and founding documents of other nations where the government gives people rights and reserves the right to change them at any time the government sees fit.

What is needed in America is not a new Constitution, but a return to the simplicity of the old one. I do not understand why some people seem to think it is outdated. What is outdated about it? Is it the free speech, freedom to worship whatever deity you choose how and when you choose to, the right to publish what you want, the ability to own a weapon, the right to petition the government? Without running down the whole list, what is wrong with the one we have? We have the freedom to change it in any way that seems right to us. We have freedom period. What is so outdated about being free?

The only perceivable problem that I see coming into play here is a government that takes liberties with changing it without the consent of the people. Different Supreme Courts over the years have stepped over the bounds of interpreting it and tried to alter it, perhaps because they don't like the fact it isn't in their constitutional authority to do so. But all that is required in these instances is for the people to take a stand against them and any other part of the government that oversteps its bounds. That is the great thing about our constitution; it is the people, not the government, which controls what it says. Ronald Regan commented on this once when he noted the difference between ours and that of other nations was that theirs say "We the government give the people the following rights" whereas ours states that "We the People allow the government these rights". When any body of the government tries to step beyond their constitutional liberties, the people need to stand up and say no. It is a right granted to us by the Constitution itself. But we have become so apathetic that we ignore these injustices and it will cost us the freedoms granted to us by that most wonderful of documents. We will wake up one day and be told we have to worship the State's god (which will most likely be no God at all), that we can only say and publish certain things as the government allows, and that the only way to defend yourself is to dial 911 and hope they arrive before you are dead.

While it is our constitutional right to completely dissolve the Constitution and even the whole manner of government and start over in any manner that suits us (another great right given to us by that most auspicious of parchments), why would we bother? The original can be changed to be current, though what is needed a remodeling of the government to fit the Constitution.

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