EXPANSION OF A COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY RON PAUL IN
RINF
Contrary to followers of the American Civic Religion -
people otherwise known as Patriots - who embrace America’s Constitution as a
document of almost scriptural perfection, I’ve long believed that it was written
containing many flaws and mistakes.
Or, to put the best possible face on it, America’s
Constitution was written in a time (1787) immensely different in character to
our own and by men whose interests – including, importantly, rich slave-holding
planters - were not those of the majority of people even then, let alone now.
Over time, a few flaws have been corrected - e.g., the
election, rather than appointment, of Senators in 1913. Although even with that
change, the method of election deliberately maintains some of the
characteristics of the original appointment provision, as with the election of
Senators being staggered in such a fashion as to protect that powerful body
from being held accountable to public opinion at any given time.
But many flaws remain, such as the antiquated and
anti-democratic Electoral College, the Founders, most of them by their own
admissions, being no admirers of democracy.
I've always included the Constitution’s designation of the
President as Commander-in-Chief as one of these flaws, a very serious one.
The Founders felt safe, as a balancing measure, giving
Congress the sole power to declare war, but that has become an irrelevant
provision.
