With a New Year, it’s always healthy to look back and analyze mistakes that have been made. In this article, my look back will go a bit farther than most people’s.
Here in the US, we tend to revere the “Founding Fathers” and their creation, the US Constitution. Unlike Britain, everything seemed to be included in that document, written down for future generations to follow. My reverence is a lot more muted. Too many errors were made in that venerable document the Founding Fathers could have avoided even in their day, if they’d truly been real fans of representative democracy. Let me list some critical ones.
Creating the Electoral College and US Senate. I’ve analyzed elsewhere how these institutions were the Founding Fathers’ bows to their privileged and undemocratic pasts: They didn’t trust the rabble to make wise decisions. Both institutions are like the watering down of a fine Irish whiskey, where the whiskey is representative democracy.
Lack of term and age limits for justices, senators, and representatives (assuming you want to keep the Senate). They put term limits only on the president, and they excessively constrain him (2 x 5 years would have been a more intelligent choice), but none on representatives (that probably should have been four years, not two, and limited to three successive terms). (If you insist on keeping the Senate, okay, but a limit to two successive terms is more than enough.) And age limits all around would clear out the deadwood of old has-beens ignoring the majority!
Not guaranteeing equal opportunity and not eliminating double taxation. Americans didn’t have equal opportunity at the time the Constitution was approved, and they still don’t! This isn’t about that “all men are created equal” blather and twaddle either. If you think a Nobel prize winner is equal to a moronic Donald J. Trump, you’re also an idiot. But giving everyone equal opportunity to be a Nobel prize winner or president if their innate intelligence and skills permit it is the essence of democracy. This also means no special treatment for the rich and powerful in the tax laws either who often pay zero taxes and never suffer from double taxation!
Not recognizing women’s rights and not eliminating slavery. We’re still fighting about human rights, women’s and minorities’ rights in particular. This should have been settled once and for all in the Constitution, and probably would have been if the Founding Fathers hadn’t been misogynist pricks and slave owners. The Civil War didn’t solve anything, so maybe we need another one?
Not limiting states’ rights to only fiscal and administrative issues. Slavery was also an issue because states’ rights came to the fore before the Civil War. States’ powers should never trump the federal government’s. Period!
Not making clear that religious freedom doesn’t imply religious tyranny. We’re still fighting the religious wars too. Even the Founding Fathers’ statement about a creator giving us those inalienable rights is pure malarkey. The people won their rights by sending the British king’s oppressors packing, and then the Founding Fathers set about limiting them! Every American has the right to believe or not believe as he sees fit. No government institution should bow to outside pressure from religious groups and interfere with this fundamental right.
Not making clear that gun ownership is a privilege, not a right. I’ve often written about this issue too. Militias won the Revolutionary War, so it was natural that the Founding Fathers wanted to keep them around and armed. They are still around; we call them the National Guards (which should be under federal control, by the way,) Their error here was to use language so obscure that crazy bastards are led to believe they have a right to own a gun. That’s pure BS!
Pretending the Constitution is gospel. I’m not sure the Founding Fathers intended this to happen, but it’s turned out that way. The country is hamstrung by the fact that passing the necessary amendments to modernize that old document is nearly impossible, which can’t possibly keep up with modern issues. It’s more difficult than inventing nuclear fusion. Our hands are tied, and we’ll pay dearly for that in the future. Hell, we’re paying dearly for that now. Roe v. Wade should have been an amendment, for example, so that scurrilous dogs wanting to trample women’s right to choose couldn’t find state work-arounds of a federal law.
As I said, this is only a partial list of errors the Founding Fathers made. You might have additional ones. The point is, a lot of the country’s problems are either caused or exacerbated by these errors. That’s sad.