Constitutional Amendments

Assertion: Instead of Legislating from the Bench, or from the “bully pulpit,” or through popular, media-driven opinion, major changes to the American legal, social, and political landscape should be implemented through Constitutional amendments.

Why This Is Important: The Constitution of the United States of America is the blueprint of our Federal Government and the foundation upon which our Republic was built. It has stood firm for over two hundred years, a shining beacon of self-government that has inspired countless others to freedom and liberty. But it is also more than that: It is the very soul of our Nation, a touchstone for all that we have ever been or ever hope to be. Within that hallowed parchment lay the genesis of our national identity, and any radical or far-reaching changes to the basic American ideals contained therein should and must be approved by the people, not by any single political party or political ideology. Amendments have been passed to guarantee our right to bear arms, to worship as we see fit, to assemble, and to say what we want. Amendments were also used to abolish slavery, and to ensure that all Americans have the right to vote. We even used the 21st Amendment to repeal the 18th Amendment. We have the genius of our Founding Fathers to thank for providing a mechanism through which we can adapt and change when the issue is important enough to warrant it by amending the Constitution. In an age and a time when there are seemingly countless “special” or personal interests, we feel it is vitally important that the number one allegiance should be – should always and without fail be – to the Constitution of the United States of America.

Constitutional Basis: Article V provides the means for proposing and ratifying changes to the U.S. Constitution. Essentially, three fourths of the State legislatures must sign off on any proposed changes to the Constitution. The Bill of Rights further stipulates, in Amendment X, that “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

Quote: “Let us make democracy work by working through the instruments of democracy.”
– Raymond C. Moley, a law professor, economic advisor and member of FDR’s “Brain Trust.” He later became a critic of Roosevelt’s administration and it’s arbitrary “reforms.”