"that this nation...shall have a new birth of freedom"

[More Than A Feeling]

Lincoln wrote that, during a time when it seemed like America as "one nation, indivisible" would be torn asunder. We live in equally perilous times. After four years of an administration that cares nothing for "we, the people" or a "more perfect union", there is precious little that has not been tainted. But I still have hope.

We, too, can have a new birth of freedom, if we expand our vision to include more than the next election, or the one after that. The weaknesses and contradictions of our government and society have never been more apparent. We need to start a movement for new constitutional amendments to fill the cracks and shore up the foundation of a structure that, let's face it, after 200+ years, is looking more than a little rickety.

We can have an explict right-to-privacy in the constitution, and shut the fundamentalists up once and for all. We could put new restrictions on presidential power in there. We could put a guarantee to adequate healthcare in the constitution, and avoid the attempts to dismantle it that social security just recently suffered. We can put in an amendment concerning the media, and the vital role they have abrogated in our democracy. Most anything you could think of that would put our democracy back on the right path.

It could take a very long time, but isn't democracy worth it? I say that it is. So, tell me, what would you like to see put into the constitution so that government of the people, by the people, and for the people, does not perish from this Earth?

[shraby]

1. That presidents can't pardon wrong doers

in their administration, or previous administrations. (I'm thinking of Ford pardoning Nixon as well as Poppy Bush and the Iran-Contra fellas.)

[More Than A Feeling]

2. That's one I hadn't even thought of

It would probably make officials much more cautious about participating in corruption. That's definitely a good thing.