Our Constitution needs a fix. But it will be a hard one

[Cyrano]

Never again can a maniac get to be president. Trump has shown us that.

Amending the Constitution is difficult, yet someway, somehow, we must add an amendment that a crazy person can't get to be president.

The 25th Amendment was an attempt to do this. It provided that the Cabinet and the VP could declare him/her unfit. Good luck with that. Given the lackeys Trump has appointed, they would sit in a meeting and praise his farts.

Nonetheless, the need to amend the Constitution is obvious. However, the country is so divided, this would seem like an impossible task today.

The Republican Party would like to see an amendment that puts them in power forever and a pro-business leader who would destroy democracy.

The Democratic Party would like to see an amendment that returns sanity to our broken political system.

Given this divide, nothing will happen.

The answer is that the Republican Party, which has evolved into a criminal/fascist organization over the past four or five decades, has to go. The Republicans who have deserted them represent the core of a party in exile. And they must, somehow, be returned to power.

Why? Because a country with a one party system quickly becomes a dictatorship. A sane opposition party is an absolute necessity.

So here's the dilemma. A sane Republican Party is needed, and a Constitutional Amendment is needed that stops this horror from ever happening again.

How do we get there? I don't have a fucking clue. But the start is to win the presidency and the entire congress in 2020. And then, never forget what is needed to fix the government.

Some brilliant men formed this government over 200 years ago. We now need some brilliant women and men to repair it and let it function from here on forward.

[vlyons]

1. It needs more than one fix

Here's a few that I would like to see

* Equal rights for women
* Woman's right over her reproductive cpacity, i.e. right to an abortion
* Healthcare is a right
* No more gerry-mandering congressional districts

[Cyrano]

2. Couldn't agree more

But let's start by getting rid of maniacs in power over all these things.

[Blaukraut]

3. Democrats need to focus their attention on regaining power in individual states

This is how Republicans got to where they are now: With a stranglehold on the country. Once Democrats have the majority in state legislatures and hold the governorships, they can undo a lot of the damage that has been done and has 'trickled up'. The first order of business in each of those states needs to be anti-corruption laws. Once those are established, it will be much more difficult the current iteration of Republicans to survive.

[montanacowboy]

4. For Starters:

1. Abolish the Electoral College - one man, one vote
2. Abolish Gerrymandering
3. Abolish Citizens United
4. Healthcare for all
5. Give D.C, & Puerto Rico Statehood
6. Equal Rights Amendment
7. Remove FCC Licenses from Fox, Sinclair, etc. propaganda stations that do not serve the public good
8. Add members to the Supreme Court and have term limits

and that's just off the top of my head

If this were in place, we would never see a Republican President or Senator for that matter

[csziggy]

7. #1 - One PERSON, one vote!

Just saying...

[uponit7771]

8. ..👍🏼

[zipplewrath]

5. Fatal flaw

I'm afraid our constitution is fatally flawed, and unfixable. I agree that the democrats need to get control in more legislatures. But there are some states that aren't going to go blue. The whole game in many ways is in the senate and right now 30% of the country controls over 50% of it. By 2020 it will be 70%.

If there is any hope, any at all, it will be a national revival of the union movement. The democrats were able to maintain the loyalty in the voting booth of many people we'd currently call "Reagan Democrats" or "Obama - Trump" voters. As the union movement waned (mostly because of their own success that created the false idea that it wasn't needed anymore) many union members started to vote GOP.

And at some point we need agriculture to understand that the GOP is not their friend.

[customerserviceguy]

6. I don't think the Constitution will ever be amended again

The last time it happened was nearly thirty years ago, and it was over Congressional pay, an issue that doesn't affect the daily lives of the vast majority of Americans. The time before that was to lower the voting age to eighteen, and this happened in the very early 1970's, when we were sending eighteen year olds to die for nothing in Vietnam. The phrase, "Old enough to fight for this country, old enough to vote for its leaders," had a lot of resonance at that time with people of all political stripes.

The amendment process absolutely requires a truly united country, and not just in name only. We have split into two competing factions since the days of Nixon, and I don't see anything changing that.

[eallen]

9. Disunion would be the likely result of any Constitutional Convention today

There are changes the blue states want, that the red states would block. There are changes the red states want, that the blue states would block. I suspect the level of vitriol coming from any convention would lead to the proposal that we partition, and each go our own way.

That makes big fixes unlikely and less attractive.

[Cyrano]

10. Reading all of the above,

it seems that the Constitution actually is a suicide pact after all.

And I tend to agree.

Sooo, if we can't change/fix it, we have two choices. A second Civil War, or live under a wingnut dictatorship.

Both choices suck. But take your pick. Which one sucks less? And I don't say this lightly. More Americans died in the Civil War that in all our other "wars." So don't jump to your answer too quickly.

Then again, you may have another "cure." If so, let's hear it.

[YOHABLO]

11. The Constitution is the law of the land. Why aren't candidates literally tested on it?

I suppose that would be 'Un-Constitutional' We know Trump has never read it. We know he doesn't read much. He watches television and tweets. Why shouldn't our President be held to the same standards of professionalism as say lawyers and doctors? Shouldn't the nations highest position in the land, also be the best and the brightest?