Month: November 2021

NYTimes: Constitutional Change Will Be Here Sooner Than We Think. ^

Constitutional Change Will Be Here Sooner Than We Think nyti.ms/3pTp5QS

“More than a few scholars have written books calling for a new Constitution or at least profound constitutional reform. I have read a few, and they all hit the same notes: that our government is almost hopelessly gridlocked; that Congress has yielded its influence to both a powerful executive and an unaccountable judiciary; and that extreme gerrymandering in the House and gross malapportionment in the Senate makes a mockery of the ideal of political equality.

But if the story of the Articles of Confederation tells us anything, it is that these flaws (assuming one views them as flaws) are not in themselves enough to prompt change. What will bring change — or at least, the possibility of change — is when those flaws render the country too sclerotic and dysfunctional to tackle its most existential challenges.

As the United States struggles, for example, to do anything serious to prevent climate catastrophe, it’s fair to say that this moment is somewhere on the horizon. In which case, constitutional change will be here sooner than we think. The real question is whether, in the face of such a crisis, we keep our commitment to self-government. And that, I’m afraid, is impossible to say.”

Sent from my U.S.Cellular© Smartphone