Outdated US Constitution Argumentative Essay

📌Category: Government, History, History of the United States, Politics, United States, World
📌Words: 671
📌Pages: 3
📌Published: 22 June 2021

Taking into account the vast changes the U.S has gone through since the making of the constitution, it’s fair to say that it’s not up to date. In my opinion and I’m sure for many others, it hasn’t lived up to the expectations it once held. Firstly, as it was made a very long time ago, there are major differences in the way society works, so it doesn’t accurately represent our present day ideals. Although it is said to be very adaptable, the process to ratify a new amendment takes too long which makes it difficult to be able to modify. Lastly, voting systems are very outdated and aren't precisely showing how the public feels, for example how the electoral college works. 

To start off, many of the amendments don’t specify important details which have affected many people, so much so that they have had to fight for their own rights and get people to respect them. For example in the first amendment, it allows for freedom of speech but doesn’t condemn hate speech and therefore is so widely used, and many times without repercussions. It can be in the form of racism, malicious comments, demonization, etc., Next we can talk about how this document was obviously directed towards protecting a white male’s rights, not women, or people or color, or the lgbtq+ community, which shows the lack of modernization. To be fair, back then there weren’t as many people from other countries like there is now, but it should’ve been taken into consideration and allowed space for change because the world does evolve. An example could be how women marched for the rights vote, and not to mention how badly women are treated, and that they are being paid 17.7% less than men even now. In terms of being outdated, it is very behind, like the 3rd amendment which is no longer that necessary. The examples above aren’t protected in the constitution which makes it difficult for there to be equity and equality. 

For there to be changes, or amendments, to the constitution, the most common way is for a proposed amendment to get a ⅔ vote from each house, then be ratified by ¾ of the state legislatures. What isn’t mentioned is that this process was made to be a difficult process by the framers so that it “would last”. For example it can take months to years to ratify an amendment. The 27th amendment which was proposed on September 25th, 1789 was only ratified until May 7th, 1992. Whether it’s deemed important or not, the fact of the matter is that it takes entirely too long. As the world is changing, we need fresh additions which are, again, important to keep the constitution modern. The last time the constitution was changed was almost 30 years ago, which makes one wonder why. 

In terms of the voting systems, I don't like the electoral college. For example in recent years, Donald Trump had lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton by about 2.8 million votes. However, because he won the electoral vote, he became president which was negatively looked upon by most of the country. This has happened before with other presidents as well, where they lose the popular vote, but win the electoral vote. In that system, each state gets a certain number of electors based on the number of representatives they have in congress. Those representatives in each state are based on their population. Since they are based on population, I personally think that the popular vote should have more impact on the election, or be the only method, getting rid of the electoral college. This way, it could better express what the public wants. 

All in all the constitution’s ability to modernize is weak, it’s hard to change, and includes systems and amendments that are outdated. Can you imagine using the same notebook that you’ve written all over in pen with, for hundreds of years? No. So then why should we conform and be satisfied with a document that won’t allow for change easily when we need it to, the most. I’m not saying we should entirely scrap the constitution, but make it so that we can add the things that are necessary to protect everyone, not just white males, and also fix the way presidents are elected, for the public’s benefit.

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