{"id":55882,"date":"2021-07-13T06:00:30","date_gmt":"2021-07-13T10:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=55882"},"modified":"2021-07-11T21:09:11","modified_gmt":"2021-07-12T01:09:11","slug":"proposing-a-new-constitution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2021\/07\/proposing-a-new-constitution\/","title":{"rendered":"Proposing a New Constitution"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

<\/p>\n

Now that we\u2019ve passed the midpoint of the year, I had been thinking of what the future might hold for this blog\u2019s annual predictions-for-the-coming-year post on New Year\u2019s Day.\u00a0 My prediction was going to be that, given the various frustrations with our Constitution and the discrediting of our Founders, we would see a serious attempt to scrap that document in favor of a completely new constitution.<\/p>\n

Well, that has already happened.\u00a0 The journal Democracy\u00a0<\/em>sponsored a symposium of progressive academics (read this<\/a> for their deliberations) who actually drafted A New Constitution for the United States.<\/a><\/p>\n

It begins with a new bill of rights.\u00a0 Nothing about the right to keep and bear arms, of course, but it does assert a right for all citizens over 18 to receive a guaranteed income of one-fourth of the salary given to members of Congress.\u00a0 (That is currently $174,000 per year, so, by that odd measure, the base income would be $43,500 per person.\u00a0 Presumably, those who earn that much or more would get nothing, but those who do not would get checks from the government.\u00a0 For a couple, that would come to $87,000.\u00a0 Since presently<\/a> the average U.S. household income is $87,864 and the median is $61,937, most people would find no need to work.)<\/p>\n

\n

The Bill of Rights includes progressive ideals, such as guaranteed health care and education, enshrining non-discrimination, and mandating \u201cenvironmental rights.\u201d\u00a0 It includes some elements of the old Bill of Rights, preserving the freedom of religion and freedom of speech.\u00a0 It even goes so far as to say, \u201cThere shall be no censorship.\u201d\u00a0 (I don\u2019t think that provision would survive the \u201csuccessor ideology\u201d among the progressives, who would consider the inability to cancel people to be racist.)<\/p>\n

The Legislative Branch would include a House of Representatives and a defanged Senate with additional senators for large states, no filibusters, and with only the ability to delay, not stop legislative measures (modeled after the House of Lords).<\/p>\n

There would also be a third branch:\u00a0 a \u201cCouncil of Indigenous Nations.\u201d\u00a0 This would consist of representatives from each tribe and would have the power to approve or disapprove any measures affecting tribal affairs.\u00a0 The council could also propose legislation to the House on tribal issues.<\/p>\n

No Electoral College, of course, to elect the president.\u00a0 The Supreme Court would have only 8 members, the even number to encourage consensus, and justices would serve for a term of 16 years, staggered so that a new justice would be confirmed every two years.<\/p>\n

It goes on and on in this vein.\u00a0 Read it yourself<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now I know this new constitution is just an intellectual exercise and has no prospect of actually being implemented.\u00a0 For a document that says so much about the importance of democracy, it has no democratic input.<\/p>\n

As the statement that there shall be no censorship indicates, this is a \u201cliberal\u201d document.\u00a0 It would not be acceptable to the more progressive faction, despite its inclusion of a Council of Indigenous Nations.\u00a0 As we discussed yesterday, advocates of the woke \u201csuccessor ideology\u201d do not approve of democracy or civil liberties or anything that would allow any \u201cracist\u201d or \u201cwhite supremacist\u201d attitude.\u00a0 So even the progressives wouldn\u2019t all get behind this constitution, though they would doubtless find it an improvement.<\/p>\n

But this exercise demonstrates the attitudes of the progressive factions that prepared it.\u00a0 As the accompanying essays<\/a> make explicit, they see the U. S. Constitution as being at the root of our problems, as they see them.\u00a0 We see what civil liberties they reject\u2013such as the right to keep and bear arms\u2013and we see the right that they would put in their place.<\/p>\n

I would think that any current politician, however progressive, would be unable to support such a document, since they take an oath \u201cto support and defend the Constitution of the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

And any serious attempt to replace that Constitution would surely be an act of insurrection far more than anything that happened on January 6.<\/p>\n

And the measures for unchecked and unbalanced democracy that they propose here would surely come back to bite them if the American voters elect conservatives, as they regularly do.\u00a0 Then they might propose a different kind of government.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Illustration:\u00a0\u00a0tearing by Luis Prado from the Noun Project, Creative Commons<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our Constitution is getting in the way of certain progressive proposals, and the Founders have been discredited. So a new constitution has been drafted for our consideration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":55933,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,19,26,35,36],"tags":[567,10927,10924],"class_list":["post-55882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-america","category-government","category-law","category-philosophy-2","category-politics","tag-constitution","tag-critics-of-constitution","tag-new-constitution"],"yoast_head":"\nProposing a New Constitution<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Our Constitution is getting in the way of certain progressive proposals, and the Founders have been discredited. So a new constitution has been drafted for our consideration.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2021\/07\/proposing-a-new-constitution\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Proposing a New Constitution\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Our Constitution is getting in the way of certain progressive proposals, and the Founders have been discredited. So a new constitution has been drafted for our consideration.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2021\/07\/proposing-a-new-constitution\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cranach\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-07-13T10:00:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-07-12T01:09:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/305\/2021\/07\/noun_tearing_151317.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2021\/07\/proposing-a-new-constitution\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2021\/07\/proposing-a-new-constitution\/\",\"name\":\"Proposing a New Constitution\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-07-13T10:00:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-07-12T01:09:11+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\"},\"description\":\"Our Constitution is getting in the way of certain progressive proposals, and the Founders have been discredited. So a new constitution has been drafted for our consideration.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2021\/07\/proposing-a-new-constitution\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2021\/07\/proposing-a-new-constitution\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2021\/07\/proposing-a-new-constitution\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Proposing a New Constitution\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\",\"name\":\"Cranach\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\",\"name\":\"Gene Veith\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gene Veith\"},\"description\":\"Gene Edward Veith, Jr. is a writer and retired literature professor, serving as Provost Emeritus at Patrick Henry College. He has authored over 25 books on Christianity and culture, literature, classical education, and theology. Dr. Veith previously held academic and editorial roles at Concordia University Wisconsin and WORLD Magazine. A respected voice in Lutheran and classical education circles, he holds a Ph.D. in English and several honorary doctorates. He and his wife, Jackquelyn, live in St. Louis and have three children and twelve grandchildren.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/\",\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Gene_Edward_Veith\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/author\/geneveith\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Proposing a New Constitution","description":"Our Constitution is getting in the way of certain progressive proposals, and the Founders have been discredited. So a new constitution has been drafted for our consideration.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2021\/07\/proposing-a-new-constitution\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Proposing a New Constitution","og_description":"Our Constitution is getting in the way of certain progressive proposals, and the Founders have been discredited. So a new constitution has been drafted for our consideration.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2021\/07\/proposing-a-new-constitution\/","og_site_name":"Cranach","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/","article_published_time":"2021-07-13T10:00:30+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-07-12T01:09:11+00:00","og_image":[{"width":700,"height":700,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/305\/2021\/07\/noun_tearing_151317.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Gene Veith","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Gene Veith","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2021\/07\/proposing-a-new-constitution\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2021\/07\/proposing-a-new-constitution\/","name":"Proposing a New Constitution","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website"},"datePublished":"2021-07-13T10:00:30+00:00","dateModified":"2021-07-12T01:09:11+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1"},"description":"Our Constitution is getting in the way of certain progressive proposals, and the Founders have been discredited. So a new constitution has been drafted for our consideration.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2021\/07\/proposing-a-new-constitution\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2021\/07\/proposing-a-new-constitution\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2021\/07\/proposing-a-new-constitution\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Proposing a New Constitution"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/","name":"Cranach","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1","name":"Gene Veith","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Gene Veith"},"description":"Gene Edward Veith, Jr. is a writer and retired literature professor, serving as Provost Emeritus at Patrick Henry College. He has authored over 25 books on Christianity and culture, literature, classical education, and theology. Dr. Veith previously held academic and editorial roles at Concordia University Wisconsin and WORLD Magazine. A respected voice in Lutheran and classical education circles, he holds a Ph.D. in English and several honorary doctorates. He and his wife, Jackquelyn, live in St. Louis and have three children and twelve grandchildren.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Gene_Edward_Veith"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/author\/geneveith\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1281"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55882"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55882\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}