COMMENTARY
Constitution, not candidates, key to change
By Larry J. Sabato
The presidential candidates are offering prescriptions for everything from Iraq to healthcare, but listen closely. Their fixes are situational and incremental. Meanwhile, the underlying structural problems in American politics and government are systemic and prevent us from solving our most intractable challenges.
If we really want to make progress and achieve greater fairness as a society, it is time for elemental change. And we should start by looking at the Constitution, with the goal of holding a new Constitutional Convention.
The Founders would be amazed and disappointed that, after 220 years, the inheritors of their Constitution have not tried to adapt to new developments that they could never have anticipated in Philadelphia in 1787.
The Constitution remains brilliant in its overall design and sound with respect to the Bill of Rights and the separation of powers. But there are numerous archaic provisions that inhibit constructive change and adaptation. These constitutional bits affect the daily life of the republic and every citizen in it. A few examples:
The president should have the freedom to commit troops for up to six months, under procedures similar to that of the War Powers Resolution of 1973. But a new constitutional amendment should require that after six months — and every six months thereafter — both houses of Congress, by affirmative vote and without filibusters, would have to approve any extension. If one house votes no on extending, all combat troops must be withdrawn within a year.
This is an institutional reform, not a partisan attack on George W. Bush.
Today, the structure of the upper chamber of Congress is completely outmoded. Let's build a fairer Senate by granting the 10 states with the greatest population two additional senators each, and the next 15 most populated states one additional senator each.
The Electoral College also must be overhauled, with more populated states receiving additional electors so that a candidate who loses the popular vote no longer can become president. Why not abolish it entirely?
The Founders were concerned about foreign intrigue in the early days of an unsettled republic, so they limited the presidency to those who were "natural born" citizens. But the melting pot that is now the United States includes an astonishing 14.4 million Americans who were not born on U.S. soil and are therefore ineligible for the presidency — a number sure to grow substantially. Any American who has been a citizen for at least 20 years should have the right to aspire to the White House.
No thoughtful person will rush to change the Constitution, and it will take many years of work. But let the debate begin, and let us start the process that will lead to a 21st-century Constitutional Convention.
Larry J. Sabato directs the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. He wrote this commentary for the Los Angeles Times.
