Should the U.S. Write a New Constitution?

The Founding Fathers debated the finer points of our government in the Constitutional Convention more than 200 years ago, signing the finalized constitution on September 17, 1787. The average lifespan of a country’s constitution is 12 years, by comparison, making our document a relic by most standards. Is it time for a rewrite? And if we did re-do our user manual, who would lead the charge?

"America From Scratch" host Toussaint Morrison looks at examples from around the world with insights from Marie Failinger, professor of law at the Mitchell Hamline School of Law; Silja Bára Ómarsdóttir, adjunct lecturer at the University of Iceland; and Chief U.S. District Judge John R. Tunheim.

Made possible with funding from The Corporation for Public Broadcasting

📓Attention Teachers! Video classroom discussion guides available at PBS LearningMedia

[rsrt]

We actually DID this in high school as a month long civics lesson.
Turns out, we wrote a Constitution nearly identical to the current US Constitution without even fully knowing the intricacies of it to begin with.

[YaxKukMo]

In the same time period (230 years) the French have had 5 Republics, two periods of Empire a period of monarchy and four years of rule by the Nazis. So you don't have to look to a small country like Iceland or a new one like Kosovo to see an example of a country drawing up new Constitutions.

[stevenschmidt]

If we were to rewrite the constitution, I would want the electoral college done away with. With today's technology there's no reason to not have the popular vote be the winning vote. I would also like to see something done about the "two party system" (even though there's more than two parties). Having 2 opposing parties voting out of spite or to gain votes is toxic and creates deadlock in government.

[Irodmel]

We all know who would end up losing in this scenario

[Juleskiii]

How bout they add the right to privacy in it

[yurielastillero]

I am from the Philippines, and our constitution is currently 34 years old (or 35 if February 2 will occur this year). The problem in our constitution is that it maintains a strict protectionist policy that prohibits foreign businesses from making investments or doing business in my country. Also, it maintains a presidential system of government that is similar to the United States, but governed under a unitary system in which the national government is the ultimate source of authority.

I would have liked the idea of proposing a list of amendments that would change some portions of the constitution, but not the idea of replacing the old constitution with a new one because that would ideally distort the efforts of the framers in ensuring a liberal democracy, but the actual problem is that, our political culture is not adaptable or conducive to changes that would reflect modern times.

[kwjames]

I recommend reading Federalist 51 (James Madison), addressing the Tyranny of the Majority

[Zahlenteufel]

Should America rewrite its constitution? Yes. Why? The short answer is: The voting, healthcare, education, legal, and prison/jail systems and gun laws, drug laws, and so much more are either massively outdated or outright bad. For the long answer watch "Everything that's wrong with America" aka "Last Week Tonight".

[crimson]

There was so much potential for an episode here, but you didn't do enough with it. You could have gone over different examples of constitutions that have cropped up in the past few decades or so. There's not enough here to feed my brain. I know this stuff is designed to hit the masses and spark curiosity, but you really got to get into the meat of this stuff. People are smart, and glossing over things and not going into detail about a lot of stuff just isn't going to cut it. I know a lot of effort goes into making these videos, but you got to do a little more.

[GamePath]

The fact that there are people within the US who want to rewrite the constitution is absolutely scary.

[danieljones]

If "from scratch" means retaining the parts of the Second United States Constitution that has served well and continues to do so ( with adjustments in that too) then I think to do this is a good Idea.
What text has been presented toward this goal and where might I find such text?

[thatcoolkidjoey]

Iceland's population is smaller than my my City's population and I live in Kansas🤣

[Spiritfba]

I wouldn’t trust our current politicians to properly manage a kindergarten class, let alone create a constitution for all of us peasants. I’m sure they would grant themselves qualified immunity and unlimited ways to hoard every cent of wealth.

[Thebibleauthority]

The whole problem with this argument is that you are speaking of the government changing the constitution or the states, but it is we the people the ones that have to abolish it and change it and rewrite it.

[Grokford]

No, the country barely held together the first time.
Besides, if you want to change it, there’s a clearly illuminate process to do that. You could even change that process if you follow it the first time.

[miguelrosado]

I propose a competition between all law schools and relevant institutions for the honor of writing the next USA Constitution and some prize money provided by the billionaires. Obviously, the country would go through the necessary process of adopting it. I envision a two-year contest; it would be very educational for the country, and we could end up fixing all the problems we have with today’s document.

[TeddyFresa]

I've been waiting for this channel.
Begging pardon though, asking who should write it might be less effective than who's it being written for.
There's no ideal author, there's always a side, our people. Yet isn't there an ideal who for?
Isolating select factors we'd get down to authorship

[aganib]

Implement either the British or German model of Parliament. The House voted through a Mixed Member Proportional or Sainte Lague system and the Senate with a Single Transferable vote.

[zacharyclark]

Correction. The 2nd process laid out in Article 5 is not a Constitutional Convention. It is a Convention of States for the purpose of proposing Amendments to send to the State Legislatures for ratification.

[skeletonkeysproductionskp]

I have written a draft for an English Constitution for an independent England, and a video of mine will be out on 20th January 2022 with me going through it. My best advice: just like the original US Constitution, just have one person write it and have a small group go over it. 25 authors with countless people online is bound to fail, James Madison (the US Constitution's author) made this point in Federalist Paper No.38. Too many cooks spoil the broth!