In
twenty years, 75%
of the US population will live in only 15 states.
And
that, sobering as it may be for real-estate, manufacturing, or our culture, is
particularly terrifying with regards to our political system. By 2040 those 15
states will have 30 Senators – and 30% of this nation will have 70% of the
Senators.
So if
you think Mitch McConnell is a master obstructionist, just wait and think what
tomorrow will bring…
The
Senate is a particularly difficult knot to untangle, thanks to a particularly
stupid aspect of our Constitution: Article 5.
The brilliance of a nation
founded in law is that our Constitution can be amended, with the founders
recognizing that there was no way their document could be the final word in a
changing world. Yet Article 5 has become a ticking time bomb, with no fuse or wires
to cut to disarm it, with regards to those scary population projections in the next twenty years. The
text of Article 5 states:
“…and
that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in
the Senate.”
In
other words, unless Wyoming agrees to it, they get to have two Senators, despite
a state population that is less than that of San Francisco (and 30 other
cities, ranging from Indianapolis to Louisville). This section, Article 5, is
the only part of the Constitution which cannot be amended.
And in
the next two decades that’s going to be a staggering problem. 1/3 of the nation
will be able to determine the legislative agenda of the United States over the
protests of the other 2/3. Or at least stymie it. A great example of this growing disparity came
up recently, actually, with Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation process in the
Senate. The 11 Senators on the Judiciary Committee who voted for Kavanaugh – combined – represent 65
million people. The other ten Senators? The Democrats? They represented the
will of nearly 10 million more people than the 'aye' votes. This played out again in the floor vote, with a majority of America, by population, not wanting Kavanaugh on the bench - and their Senators, despite their votes, were drowned out by a minority with outsize say in our government.
How do
we fix this sort of minority rule, especially when it can have generational
consequences?
Why not call a new Constitutional Convention?
The
legal grounds of this are shaky. Our old friend Article 5 provides a couple of
ways to do this, originating either in Congress or the Statehouses. But the
language in those provisions deals with amendments – not a new convention, per se. The
founders, though, didn’t seem to mind meeting purportedly to discuss the Articles of Confederation, merely
to throw them out and create a new foundational document. That act does provide
a precedent.
Once we
have a Democrat in the office of the Presidency, and a Democratic majority in
the House (and ideally Senate), you could take the following steps:
The
President announces to a joint session that they have 60 days to pick their
delegates for a new Constitutional Convention. Each member of the House and
Senate (including the Territories) gets to pick at least one delegate – with each
state having a proportional number of delegates based on population. This would
roughly mean 680 or so delegates. As for the Senate, their chosen delegates
would be the only ones eligible to be Chair, so they have that. This choosing of the delegates would fulfill any current Constitutional qualms about Legislative oversight.
The delegates would have a low threshold of entry to serve: 1) Having been found guilty of
no high crimes, felonies, misdemeanors, or treason, 2) Having not worked in the
service of any foreign nation’s government or military interests, excluding in diplomatic
service, and 3) Not currently serving in an elected or appointed capacity in
any Federal or State government. (If a Representative, say, wanted to resign to
serve in the Convention, though, that’s totally fine.)
In another
special joint session, overseen by the VP and once the 60 days were up, the Representatives and Senators would have 30 seconds
to announce each of their nominated delegates on the floor – with full biographies being posted in a single, online, government site for in-depth analysis. The document of delegates would be sent to the
President, who could veto the list in toto or could veto specific State delegations –
but only if:
1)
The delegates submitted did not fit the criteria listed above (eg. a felon from
Georgia or a current Senator from Delaware)
2)
The delegate list of a state is not proportional to the State’s population on a
basis of gender and ethnicity.
In general,
there should be a push to get a broad coalition of folks. Delegates should
represent agriculture and law, commerce and education, faith and science,
medicine and the armed forces, diplomacy and technology, and all other major walks of life.
Assuming
the President signs off on the list, then the delegates have a month to pack
their bags and head to Philadelphia. Or maybe Denver. Wherever. The Chair will
be voted on by the Senate-nominated delegates, and have a single vote, as well as a
paid staff. Every delegate, including the Chair, will be paid $75,000 for a
term of one year, starting with the Convention’s being gaveled to order. No
other paid or contract work of any kind can be done during their service as delegates, nor can they take any positions lobbying at the State or Federal
level for a period of ten years after their service.
Whatever
document they come up with will require a simple majority to ratify, and must
contain the following three aspects:
1)
Equitably
handle the problem of the Senate, with a solution on the grounds of a proportional-to-population basis.
2)
Keep
all laws not directly repealed by the new Constitution. (We don’t want to
rewrite all of America’s laws, after all – so a provision is needed that states
all US laws that were passed, both at the State and Federal level, including the
First Constitution, still apply unless directly contravened by the provisions of the
new Constitution.)
3)
Protect
human dignity for all.
This
document would be presented to the President to sign off on. If the President
vetoed the new Constitution, or the Convention was unable to create a document
in the year assigned, then the process begins anew automatically, with the
selection of an entirely new set of Delegates, including Chair. Assuming that
doesn’t happen, though, and the President signs off on it, then it goes to the Statehouses to ratify, requiring 2/3 to ratify (34 in total) to become law – and with no stated time limit in which to do so. Then it would be up to the American people to compel their statehouses to ratify the new Constitution.
Then, and only then, we
would have fixed the problem, quick approaching in the next twenty years, of a
Nation even more divided and more partisan than our current mess.
No comments:
Post a Comment