in a prior post<\/a>, whether the ability to own weapons was a human right, rather than simply a benefit provided for in the constitution. \u00a0And there is a difference between the two; after all, consider all the constitutions which state that the country\u2019s citizens have the right to a university education or to government-provided healthcare or the like, and, on the other hand, foundational documents for other countries which omit any mention of such human rights as freedom of religion or free speech or the like, even though, in fact, those rights are recognized and respected but just not seen as proper material for the constitution.<\/p>\nSo imagine if the Second Amendment were simply repealed, or perhaps replaced with a statement that states that the government is able to regulate the ownership of weapons to any degree as the majority deems appropriate, and perhaps some determination of at what level of government (city\/state\/federal) regulation is permitted. \u00a0What would our laws look like? \u00a0What would the majority choose?<\/p>\n
Or, on the other hand, if there\u2019s a solid majority in favor of an individual right to bear arms, perhaps limited to such arms as would make sense for self-defense against an individual intruder, then why not amend the constitution to resolve these squabbles?<\/p>\n
But we can\u2019t amend the constitution!<\/em><\/p>\nWhy not?<\/p>\n
Some years ago, prior to passing DOMA, there was discussion of a constitutional amendment that would either say, \u201cmarriage is defined as a relationship between a man and a woman\u201d or, more likely, \u201ceach state shall have the right to define marriage as it chooses; no state shall be compelled by the federal government to change its regulations.\u201d \u00a0Of course, it never happened, and now we have Obergefell<\/em>.<\/p>\nJust imagine if there had been an amendment that had said, \u201cnothing in this constitution shall be construed as providing for a right to obtain an abortion\u201d in 1973. Or \u201ca right to assisted suicide\u201d or whatever else someone will dream up that\u2019s not even on our radar in 2015.<\/p>\n
But we can\u2019t amend the constitution!<\/em><\/p>\nEveryone \u2014 well, many people, anyway \u2014 recognize that the Electoral College makes no sense. \u00a0Sure, there are justifications for it, that it forces candidates to campaign in small states, but in 2012 it had the impact of voters in almost the entire country being written off while voters in the \u201cbattleground\u201d states had near-constant ads. \u00a0(Illinois? \u00a0Never saw a single presidential ad.) \u00a0But its opponents are trying work-arounds like having individual states choose to allocate their electors proportionate to their ballot results, instead of simply pursuing a constitutional amendment.<\/p>\n
But we can\u2019t amend the constitution!<\/em><\/p>\nNot to mention that our two-party system of government has its own flaws, compared to multi-party coalition-type governments elsewhere. \u00a0The fact that we have a president elected separately from Congress, rather than simply being the leader of the winning party\/coalition, has good and bad, but is not somehow morally superior to the parliamentary system.<\/p>\n
Yes, it\u2019s difficult to amend the Constitution. \u00a0It requires a supermajority. \u00a0And in an ideal world, the Supreme Court wouldn\u2019t be running off unearthing new \u201crights\u201d anyway. \u00a0But that\u2019s not a reason to treat it as fixed in stone.<\/p>\n
The constitution is the document which lays out the basic structure of the government of the United States. \u00a0The Bill of Rights and various of the subsequent amendments enshrine various human rights. \u00a0But it is our belief in these human rights, and the right of Americans to govern themselves via representational democracy, that matters. \u00a0If we turn that into a notion that the Constitution, as currently written, is sacred, and cannot be amended, we are making a serious mistake.<\/p>\n
UPDATE: \u00a0 It appears that large numbers of left-wing types have happened on this article, with large numbers of comments accusing me of trying to impose my religion on everyone. \u00a0Yeah \u2014 well, comment away, but please understand that I don\u2019t have the time \u2014 or interest, really \u2014 to respond to each of these comments.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Before I start writing, let me just remind you all, and any new readers in particular, that my discussion of some topics and not others is not a reflection on what is or isn\u2019t important, but just what I feel halfway competent writing about. \u00a0In particular, the situation in Syria (and Germany!) is going from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":2970,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
The constitution is not sacred<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Before I start writing, let me just remind you all, and any new readers in particular, that my discussion of some topics and not others is not a\" \/>\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\/janetheactuary\/2015\/10\/the-constitution-is-not-sacred.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The constitution is not sacred\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Before I start writing, let me just remind you all, and any new readers in particular, that my discussion of some topics and not others is not a\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/10\/the-constitution-is-not-sacred.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-10-08T17:51:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-10-13T02:13:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/533\/2015\/10\/800px-Constitution_We_the_People.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"278\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\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\/janetheactuary\/2015\/10\/the-constitution-is-not-sacred.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/10\/the-constitution-is-not-sacred.html\",\"name\":\"The constitution is not sacred\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-10-08T17:51:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-10-13T02:13:03+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a\"},\"description\":\"Before I start writing, let me just remind you all, and any new readers in particular, that my discussion of some topics and not others is not a\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/10\/the-constitution-is-not-sacred.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/10\/the-constitution-is-not-sacred.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/10\/the-constitution-is-not-sacred.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The constitution is not sacred\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/\",\"name\":\"Jane the Actuary\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a\",\"name\":\"Jane the Actuary\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jane the Actuary\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/author\/actuaryjane\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The constitution is not sacred","description":"Before I start writing, let me just remind you all, and any new readers in particular, that my discussion of some topics and not others is not a","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\/janetheactuary\/2015\/10\/the-constitution-is-not-sacred.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The constitution is not sacred","og_description":"Before I start writing, let me just remind you all, and any new readers in particular, that my discussion of some topics and not others is not a","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/10\/the-constitution-is-not-sacred.html","og_site_name":"Jane the Actuary","article_published_time":"2015-10-08T17:51:48+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-10-13T02:13:03+00:00","og_image":[{"width":768,"height":278,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/533\/2015\/10\/800px-Constitution_We_the_People.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jane the Actuary","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jane the Actuary","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/10\/the-constitution-is-not-sacred.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/10\/the-constitution-is-not-sacred.html","name":"The constitution is not sacred","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-10-08T17:51:48+00:00","dateModified":"2015-10-13T02:13:03+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a"},"description":"Before I start writing, let me just remind you all, and any new readers in particular, that my discussion of some topics and not others is not a","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/10\/the-constitution-is-not-sacred.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/10\/the-constitution-is-not-sacred.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/10\/the-constitution-is-not-sacred.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The constitution is not sacred"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/","name":"Jane the Actuary","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a","name":"Jane the Actuary","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jane the Actuary"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/author\/actuaryjane"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2209"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2968\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"800px-Constitution_We_the_People\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/533\/2015\/10\/800px-Constitution_We_the_People.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n