The time has come for the election campaigns which are out
in force, each trying to get its candidate elected, to talk to the people as
honestly as can be done. That is, the people must be told that America will
not solve its most pressing problems such as the economy, for example – or any
of the other well entrenched problems – by continuing to play politics the way
that the game has been played up to now. Something needs to change, something
that would be as fundamental as the Constitution of the United States .
Yes, the Constitution is considered to be a hallowed
document but it also sets the rules for how the political game is played. And
yes, the Constitution is held in high esteem by the American people, which is
perfectly understandable, but someone must now promise that if elected
President or reelected to the post, he will start a big project to save the
nation. This will be the start of an effort to have the Constitution modernized
because to preserve a nation that has become sclerotic is more important than
to preserve the aura of a Constitution which no longer serves the purpose it
was framed to serve.
There is no denying that the American Constitution has
served the country well for two centuries, and no denying that the politics
which resulted from that document will for ever represent the best in political
governance – as it has endlessly been debated and aptly demonstrated by the
ideologues of the time, people who unfortunately now stand as advocates of a
bygone era. Times have changed, and a new philosophy of governance must replace
the old to allow the country to keep up with the times, and allow it to deal
with new challenges that the original framers of the Constitution could not
have foreseen at the time that they lived and the circumstances in which they
found themselves long ago.
In brief, the time has come for America to say goodbye to
the ideas of the individuals in its midst who refuse to let go of that which is
broken, that which proves to be unworkable every day of the week that the
government is supposed to be working and producing efficiently but remains
gridlocked as if it were frozen in time. It is now imperative for America to
walk through the gates of modernity, and prove that the exceptionalism it attributes
to itself does not consist solely of attracting people from abroad who may come
with new ideas, but that the American system of government is open to ideas
which are generated locally in response to needs that are produced by local
conditions.
What makes the American Constitution obsolete, and what
renders it even more so as time passes is that it was formulated to serve a
newly liberated republic whose people still dreaded the kind of rule they
endured under the old colonial masters. Suffering from a bunker mentality and
fearing the return of tyranny, the framers of the Constitution cobbled together
a set of ideas that balanced the powers of the various branches of government
so well; they weakened those branches enough to forbid the rise of a tyrant at
the helm of the ship of state.
The result was that the approach did solve the problem it
was meant to solve, and no tyrant rose to govern America . But unfortunately for
future generations, the approach also paralyzed the government, a development
that was not considered a threat to the nation at the time that the framers
were alive because the world was then a different place from what it is today.
In fact, from the agrarian society it was then, America has
evolved to become an industrial state, getting there in the same way that
things have evolved in many other parts of the world. From being sparsely
populated, America
has become a much denser society with most of the population now living in big
cities. Flanked by two oceans, the nation that lived at a safe distance from
the rest world, is safe no more from the threats that may come from abroad in
an age of supersonic travel, of instant communication and of means to access
large gatherings of people.
This is a threat that would not have fazed a sleeping giant
in the past but could now hurt a giant that may be wide awake but is not
attentive enough to protect itself. Indeed, this is what happened on 9/11 in
the year 2001, which is the reason why similar threats are now being dealt with
diligently, and why they are guarded against with utmost attentiveness. But a
giant can still be foolish enough to have its hands tied behind its back with a
constitution that is obsolete and getting more so with each passing day. Sadly,
this is where America
stands at this juncture, where the ideologues of an earlier era wish to keep
it.
In fact, the challenges which are facing America today,
and will continue to face it in the future will not be of the sort that
manifest themselves in the form of invading armies streaming from abroad to
land on the beaches of the nation. And they will not be challenges that
manifest themselves in the form of elected leaders harboring the secret
ambition of someday setting up a dictatorial administration through which they
plan to rule with the iron fist of a tyrant. No, these days are gone forever
never to return, thus the Constitution that was meant to guard against them is
obsolete and needs to be updated to be relevant in the face of the new
challenges which are cropping up all over the places.
Let it be understood that the challenges will now come in
the form of a foreign competition that is economic in nature more than anything
else. To deal with them effectively will require a federal government that is
not paralyzed but one that is able to formulate a quick response and keep up
with the immediate demands of every fast moving challenge. More than that, the
government that America
needs at this time is one that is flexible and can modulate its responses
nimbly. It will have the ability to shift its responses at a moment's notice to
stay abreast of the changing circumstances if not be ahead of them.
To that end, the courageous candidate in the current
presidential campaign should promise the electorate that if elected or reelected,
he will propose and fight for a set of amendments to the Constitution that will
maintain the system of checks and balances now in existence. But the amendments
will also allow for the timely execution of the nation's affairs if and when
the political process becomes so paralyzed as to bring the business of the
nation to a standstill and keep it there, which – sad to say – is what takes
place too often these days.
For example, if it happens that the Congress cannot pass an
important piece of legislation for say, six months, the idea is to have an
amendment in the Constitution that will give the power to act on this one
matter to a troika made of the President and the leaders of the two Houses of
Congress. Where two members of the troika agree on a course of action, it shall
be so ordained, and will be executed as if Congress had made the decision.
However, to preserve and safeguard the principles of checks
and balances, such decision will only unfreeze the current situation and help
it move forward but will not become a law onto itself. It will not be allowed
to apply somewhere else or serve as precedent to guide future actions or
precipitate the enactment of new laws or cause the adoption of new regulations
that can become permanent.
Of course, an amendment such as this will need to be debated
in public where other ideas will most certainly be introduced. For example,
there may be a call to give a role to the Chief Justice who would intervene or
refuse to do so when the three members of the troika are of the same political
Party, and there is widespread misgiving in the Congress or among the public
that the decision of the troika could damage the nation. As to what role the
Chief Justice will play is a matter that is open for debate.
Now that the threat posed by the near meltdown of the
financial system of 2008-2009 seems to have passed with no more dangerous side
effects looming on the horizon, the dysfunction of the system of governance
stands as the next major trouble to threaten America and a number of other
nations.
Given that this is a subject that will have to be dealt with
sooner or later, it will be a good idea for the candidates to the American
presidency to tackle it now and thus launch the public debate about it.