Since governments and their charters or constitutions are made by humans, they are not perfect. Humans are far from perfect, as individuals or as a species. It would be impossible for them to make a perfect constitution in the hopes of establishing the ideal government. However, there are a number of suggestions that I would recommend to the government of any new country. This paper will discuss these recommendations, as well as offer some improvements upon the Constitution of the United States of America.
Firstly, the right to vote must be considered sacrosanct for all adult individuals. Sadly, the United States’ Constitution indicates that it was not always fairly shared by all members of society in the United States. A government that recognizes the rights of all individuals from the start will be in a better position.
Next, the government should ensure that there are separation of powers. Separation of powers, as seen in the Constitution and in the actual use of them by the government, work to ensure that no one manages to usurp more power than is good for the people. When people crave power, they must be curtailed. It is natural to seek power. It is not wise to give it to people. Power must be used to check power.
The third suggestion that I would make to this new government would be to establish more modern rights in their constitution. For instance, health care is not a right in the United States. When our Constitution was written, this was not considered something to worry about for the Founding Fathers. It is an issue today. People cannot have the right to “life” if they cannot access health care. A basic level of health care should be a right for all individuals. It is important to remember that the world today is much different than it was in 1787, the year that the United States Constitution was written.
The fourth suggestion focuses on the need to ensure that people do not decide to become career politicians. Term limits should be installed. This is a failure of the American political system for the most part. When people gain massive amounts of power through decades in Congress, there is no way to “check” their power. The only people who can do this is their constituents. They do not do this because they realize that they benefit from this. A new government should learn from the mistakes of the old governments. Establishing term limits allows the new government the chance to prevent this possible type of abuse.
The fifth suggestion is probably one of the most important, given the current rhetoric of the political world. I would suggest that they have a firm Bill of Rights that ensures that religion and ethnicity cannot be used against a person with regards to hiring, housing and other possible discriminatory situations. While the Bill of Rights established that church and state are separate, it was not until the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that these rights were established. Sadly, they are being ignored today.
It is also important to realize that there are some changes that should be made to the United States Constitution. While it is an amazing document, it should be considered a living document. It must adapt for the modern day world. The world has changed drastically in the two hundred years since it was written. The Founding Fathers could never have predicted the world that modern day Americans live in. The document needs to be updated by individuals who live in this world and recognize the problems associated with a modern day political system.
Firstly, I would also implement term limits for Congresspersons and Senators in the United States Congress. If a President requires a term limit, it only makes sense that the persons in Congress should also have them. The reason for a term limit for the Presidency is to prevent the President from becoming a monarch. One should also want methods to prevent any representative or senator from becoming a type of Washington D.C. royalty or aristocracy as well. Currently, there are some. They have served in Congress for decades and exert extreme influence in it. This must end. It needs to have a relatively equal playing field. This equal playing field could be obtained by not letting anyone serve more than two terms as a senator and three terms as a congressperson. This would give a person a total of eighteen years of service in total. That is plenty. The Founders believed in the principle of frequent rotation of these positions.
Next, I would also suggest that there are twenty year limits on Supreme Court Justices. While it is important that they do not sway too easily with popular appeal, it is also important that they are not on the bench well past their prime and their influence. No one needs to serve in this position for longer than two decades. It does not allow change to occur. However, two decades would also prevent rapid change from occurring. This would offer a balance in the court system.
No government is perfect. However, with work, governments and constitutions can continue to improve upon their methods of government. This will allow the governments to adapt with the changing world. Since the world does not stay static, a method of government cannot and should not either. Rather, all documents that establish governments should be considered living documents. There must be ways to update them as necessary.
- Clinton Rossiter. 1787: The Grand Convention. New York: Norton: 1987. 23-26
- Larry J. Sabata. A More Perfect Constitution. New York: Walker. 2007. 41.
- Edwin Corwin. The Constitution and What It Means Today. Princeton: Princeton University, 1978. 204.
