A very informative article for everyone to read!
December 10, 2011
Most Americans haven't read the U.S. Constitution in a long time, if ever. They may be able to tell you about the Second Amendment, or the Fifth, maybe even part of the First. But other than that? A lot of blank stares.
Christopher Phillips has been leading what he calls "Constitution Café" discussions with people across the country. He's asking Americans to imagine themselves as framers of our founding document.
The idea of traveling coast to coast to discuss philosophical topics with Americans is not new to Phillips.
Before this reconstituting-the-Constitution tour, the author and scholar conducted a similar exercise, traveling to different states and asking Socratic questions: What is knowledge? What is beauty? What is love?
He led these discussions in schools, parks, homeless shelters and even prisons. Then he wrote about them in three separate books.
Write Your Own Amendment
Always wanted to be a Constitutional framer? Add your own amendment in the comments section at the bottom of this piece. We will collect some of the most popular suggestions and let you vote on whether to "ratify" them the week of Dec. 12.
EnlargeASSOCIATED PRESS
Who exactly is included in the preamble's "We The People" anyhow?
Now, he's turned to one of his heroes — Thomas Jefferson — who believed, Phillips says, that Americans should revisit the Constitution every 20 years and rewrite it from scratch.
"His argument was that if Americans weren't vital stakeholders in that foundational document, they would become distanced from governance itself," Phillips explains. "And the politicians from the president on down would become 'like wolves.' "
For several months, Phillips has been asking people to imagine themselves in the role of Constitutional framers. Would we change some things if we could? Or would we leave them the same? He asks people to look over something in the document and rewrite it as an exercise.
One School's Experience
At Constitution High School in Philadelphia, a public magnet school, his assignment is the beginning: Students look at the preamble and write their own version.
"How many of you kept the first three words, 'We the People?'" Phillips asks the diverse class of high school juniors. "Should we make sure who we are talking about when we say 'We the People?' "
"'We the People' is just based on everybody," replies Mai Nuygen.
"When this Constitution was approved, 'We the People' only included white, landowning, tax-paying males," Phillips tells the class, then asks, "How many of you believe we might want to clarify who we are talking about?"
After pausing for a response, he notes, "a lot of you."
"I think we should put in 'the citizens of the United States,' " says 11th grader Maria Diaz.
"How many of you would like to add — off the top of your head — 'the citizens of the United States?' " asks Phillips.
"Immigrants are people too," Shane Duson replies. "If you leave it to just the citizens of the United States, then they lose all their rights."
"I think it should only apply to the people who were born here," says Brian Cornell. "I think that our say is more powerful because it is our country."
Phillips then tells the class that, until the 1920s, white, male, tax-paying, property-holding immigrants who were not U.S. citizens could vote in federal elections.
One student suggests that "We the People" should be everyone who pays taxes. But another student points out that he has a job and pays taxes, but he's too young to vote.
Then another student offers up a utopian view. "If you live in this country and you help promote the general welfare, as the preamble states, then you are a citizen," says Jonathan Vargas.
Phillips observes that Vargas has a very different notion of who is a citizen — not simply someone born on U.S. soil, or someone who comes to the U.S. and goes through the various hoops to become a citizen.
"What Jonathan is saying is that a citizen is someone who participates in public life and contributes actively to our democracy," explains Phillips.
Soon the students are discussing Robert Heinlein's libertarian science fiction novel Starship Troopers, which makes a distinction between a citizen and a civilian. A citizen has to help make the democracy work.
For the rest of the article go to the link provided!
-
added by:
![]()
kennymotown
- 19 comments
