Should we the people of the United States of America rewrite our Constitution by holding another Constitutional Convention? This was the heated topic of debate for notable national figures such as former Senator Bob Dole and Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito at the Center for Politics' National Constitutional Convention held in Washington D.C. Friday.
Debate focused on the idea of a new Constitutional Convention to fix the afflictions of the current governmental system in such areas as presidential and congressional election reform and the balance of governmental powers.
Director of the Center for Politics, Politics Prof. Larry J. Sabato, opened the conference by invoking the words of Mr. Jefferson, "No society can make a perpetual constitution, or even a perpetual law. The earth belongs always to the living generation ... Every constitution, then, and every law, naturally expires at the end of 19 years. If it be enforced longer, it is an act of force and not of right," he quoted.
There was a subtle division between the opinions of academia and those in government from the outset.
"Let's be frank -- our system is broken," former vice presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro said, citing issues such as lack of health care for uninsured children, the national debt at risk in the hands of foreign countries and judicial powers.
Ferraro set the tone for fellow politicians when she said she would be "uneasy" about opening up the ability to rewrite the Constitution.
"Amending the Constitution should not be done lightly," Ferraro said.
According to Ferraro, without any limit on amendments, there would be too much room for the special interest groups in Washington to assert their influence over a new constitution.
Some members of academia tended to disagree.
State Sen. Jamie Raskin, also a professor of Constitutional Law at American University, said "the electoral college is anachronistic," supporting the idea to move toward a national popular vote "like most of the world."
"The rest of the world has moved beyond us in modes of democracy ... we need to catch up with our own legacy," Raskin said.
Alito pointed to the relative stability the current Constitution has provided and the fact that it was at a moment of crisis in the nation's history that the Constitution was founded, one quite unlike today.
"It was a perilous time," Alito said. "Washington compared it to a house burning down," referring to the failing Articles of Confederation.
Alito added that there is no reason to think a group of current national minds could do any better than those in 1787, let alone obtain the full consent of the nation. According to Alito, passing the current Constitution was, "either a providential event, or just really lucky."
Eric Lane, senior fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University and Hofstra University School of Law professor, echoed sentiments similar to those of Alito and Ferraro.
"There isn't going to be a call for change unless people perceive a crisis ... right now people perceive crisis on hot-button issues," Lane said, citing abortion and the death penalty among others. "I don't think we have citizens ready for this ... there is a lack of civic literacy."
Colleague Sanford Levinson, professor and chair at the University of Texas School of Law , ardently disagreed, suggesting sequestering 500 to 700 citizens for two years with an appropriate budget to come up with a new constitution.
"They will rise to the occasion if we give them real responsibility," Levinson said.
Michael Steele, Republican political action committee GOPAC chairman and former lieutenant governor of Maryland, said the discussion revealed the need "to focus on the re-education of the American citizenry."
The Center for Politics' Youth Leadership Initiative encouraged civic education about the Constitution and allowed approximately 500,000 high school students to vote on an array of possible amendments through an online survey. The 450 people in attendance at the D.C. mock convention also participated in the survey, yielding interesting results.
Passing measures by the convention included non-partisan redistricting standards, a nonrenewable 15-year term for federal judges and the adoption of a staggered lottery primary system. The most striking difference between the opinions of those at the convention and the high school students surrounded the proposal to require all young Americans to devote at least two years of service to the nation. The students overwhelmingly approved the measure with over 70 percent in favor while the convention observed the same opposed this addendum.
"Mandatory volunteering is an oxymoron ... voluntary service should remain voluntary," said Sarah Weddington, who served as the attorney for Jane Roe in the case of Roe v. Wade, referring to the historical consideration of such a system during the Carter presidency.
Ultimately, there was no decisive outcome from the convention, but the debate was both a means and an end in itself, according to Sabato, who added, "we just wanted to start the discussion"
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