With all the hubbub lately with talk about packing the Supreme Court, it’s time we take a perspective look at the structure of our constitutional republic, and the roots of this experiment in democracy. Especially in this technological age of instant news and the attendant devolution of our so-called news outlets into editorial bias.
People who don’t know a world without the instantity (yes, it’s a new word) of the internet are all atwitter with the notion that we can have everything at our fingertips via swipes or clicks. Instant karma, instant justice, mob rule, you get the picture.
Looking at our US Constitution as its evolution from the original Articles of Confederation, it remains the current longest standing written constitution organizing a federated government on the planet. They must’ve done something right.
Deeply deliberated and debated, our Constitution took ten years to be put into effect, after deficits in the Articles of Confederation revealed shortcomings in representation. Even the Articles took five years since the Declaration of Independence to be finally ratified.
The Constitution has undergone changes called Amendments over the years, with each Amendment being enacted in a bi-partisan manner. The Constitution defines the structure of our federal government and adopted the Article’s naming of the “United States of America.”
Among the major flaws in the Articles of Confederation that were lacking were the absence of a House of Representatives, one vote per state in the Senate, the complete absence of a judiciary branch, problems with force and authority of the executive branch, etc. It was a good start, but lacked the required checks and balances for a fair and democratic society, and equality in representation.
After correcting these deficits, which took years to be agreed and ratified, our Constitution was born and enacted, more than eleven years after the Declaration of Independence. I suppose the US was born on 4 July 1776, but our present federal government was not established until 17 September 1787. And it has stood as perhaps the greatest document establishing a representative republic ever conceived.
This is contrary to the speed of information flow today, and seems to be causing much unrest. Many people erroneously think that we live in a democracy, where the majority carries the day. Yes, things work democratically, but the structures enumerated in the Constitution have safeguarded that against bullying and informational editorial bias. Everything cannot be decided by direct referendum; although we have the technology now to do that, albeit inefficiently still, we still need to deliberate without bias or bullying to the extent possible to eliminate mob rule.
The perfection of this document is what countless many have laid down their lives to protect. Times do indeed change, of course, but spirits do not. It seems to me that the civics lessons have gone by the wayside.
Shame.