Should I revere The Constitution when it made me 3/5 of a man?

[egbertowillies]

A Politics Done Right listener recently called the show to discuss the constitution. It is clear he did not necessarily like my take. That said, I think my take is consistent with my experience and the country's reality. What do you think?

We should respect the constitution as the law of the land but always note that it continues to be a very flawed document that needs a whole lot of work. There are those who want us all to hold this document in high regards. I beg to differ.

My goal as a political activist is neither to denigrate the decent portions of our history nor to excuse or whitewash the vile parts of it. Doing so is a disservice to the country's strive to continue atoning for its less than good deeds.

Few understand that the constitution in its infancy gave little rights to the vast majority living within the boundaries for which it was law. The one genius of the constitution is its ability to change through an amendment process. But given the fracture within the nation, even that is broken for the foreseeable future.

And then there is the electoral college, the constitutional aberration that gave us Donald Trump. It is a useless undemocratic section that should be removed.

We must all work to make a better nation. That does not happen by worshipping the past but learning from it.

Watch the entire episode of the show here.
https://politicsdoneright.com/2018/06/different-journalism-trump/

[lunasun]

1. K&R

[dameatball]

2. I think of the Constitution as a tool and a guide in governing the nation,

just as the flag is a symbol of our nation. No need to revere either one if it doesn't suit your outlook.

[disillusioned73]

3. k&r..

Very well stated..

[cyclonefence]

4. I marvel daily--hell, hourly--at the patience of people of color

When the Black Panthers were created in the '60s I thought, well, enough is enough. But society (read: white people) criminalized the Panthers, murdered them, destroyed them. I read "Last Man Standing" about Geronimo Pratt and his beautiful soul, and I remain puzzled. How long will black people turn the other cheek? The Constitution tacitly grants full humanity to African Americans with the 15th Amendment, but it took until 1964 to have that really become law, and by the end of the 20th century that law was being eroded into non-existence, a process that continues today.

The Constitution is a remarkable and noble document, unfortunately flawed, pretty near fatally flawed, as far as people of color are concerned. It remains the best we've got, though, with protection for free speech and right of assembly, so we don't have to take its shortcomings sitting down.

[lagomorph777]

5. That particular piece has been amended.

But we still have related vestiges of slavery in there, such as the Senate and the Electoral College. Those need to be amended as well.

[cooldude]

6. The US Constitution didn't make you 3/5th of a man.

The 3/5th Compromise "was a result of the apportionment of taxes being related to land values.
Initially, taxes were levied not in accordance to the population numbers, but the actual value of the land. Many states began to depreciate the value of the land in order to provide for relief from their taxes. A committee was held that would rectify the situation by implementing the apportionment of taxes in relation to the state’s population. However, this idea was met with the dispute over how to consider slaves in the apportionment process and the actual ratio of slaves to free people at that time.
For the most part, those who opposed slavery only wanted to consider the free people of a population, while those in favor wanted to include slaves in the population count. This would provide for slave holders to have many more seats in the House of Representatives and more representation in the Electoral College. Many ratios were considered, such as three-fourths, one-half, and one-quarter. After much debate, it would be James Madison that would suggest the Three-Fifths Compromise. However, the Three-Fifths Compromise would not be adopted until the Constitutional Convention because the Compromise was not approved by all of the states and the Articles of Federation required a unanimous vote."

https://constitution.laws.com/three-fifths-compromise

[ChoppinBroccoli]

8. In A Technical Sense, The ORIGINAL Constitution Didn't Even Consider You Human

It wasn't until the 13th and 14th Amendments were included that minorities were given the same rights as everyone else.

[RobinA]

7. The Constitution

didn't originally have everyone on board, but it included the mechanism whereby everybody could get on board. Once on board it gives people some fairly significant tools to work with. It is flawed of course, but it is not at fault when it isn't utilized as it was meant to be. It can prohibit something, but it can't walk into a courtroom and tell a judge that something that is prohibited is happening.