Overhauling the American System and Starting Over
Part Three: Let's Rewrite Article V
By Roger Copple
When the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling was passed in 2010, corporations and the wealthiest one percent were granted even more power to finance politicians than they had before. Therefore, the Move to Amend petition to reverse the Citizens United decision through a constitutional amendment can still be signed, if you haven't already signed it.
But even before the detestable Citizens United ruling was passed in 2010, the conditions for democracy were still deplorable. So even if Citizens United is hopefully reversed, Americans will still be stuck with the following: the great influence of money on a two-party system; no proportional representation in the election of the House of Representatives; California having the same number of Senators as Wyoming, even though California's population is 70 times larger; the Electoral College system for electing a President; Supreme Court Justices serving for life terms; the corrupt, private central banking system of the Federal Reserve, and still failing public schools.
Moreover, even if the ideal President were elected, it would take several constitutional amendments to eliminate all the entrenched, undemocratic elements (described above) from the constitution and government, and those reforms may take generations to implement. Until these archaic components are removed, the undue influence of the one percent will always be with us.
The best solution is to focus primarily on getting a constitutional amendment passed that totally rewrites Article V, so that it will be easier to amend the Constitution and easier to properly abolish it in the future. This essay tells why and how we should rewrite Article V. Article V of the supreme document of the land has been pasted below. It will be followed by my Twenty-eighth Amendment proposal to totally rewrite Article V.
Article V
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. (End of Article V)
Did you enjoy reading that? Did it make everything crystal clear? I think it should be made readable for the common person. I also think it should be totally changed.
Proposal for a Twenty-Eighth Amendment to Totally Rewrite Article V:
Article V
How to Amend the Constitution and How to Abolish the Constitution in a Fair, Safe, and Orderly Way
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