Amending the Constitution

A series of Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, hopefully reflecting the intent of the Founding Fathers, will be included in the next series of these blogs.  The rationale behind these proposed amendments is included in the previous discussions by some of the Founding Fathers.  Note that many of these amendments are not meant to stand alone but rather to work in conjunction with each other.  Also note that many items suggested in the previous discussions are not reflected because they do not require amending the Constitution.


The first ten amendments, The Bill of Rights, provide for rights of liberty and property for the people and the States.  James Madison introduced these ten amendments (and two others) at the 1st Congress.  They were meant to correct deficiencies in the original Constitution.  The proposed  ten amendments described in following articles are meant to correct operational deficiencies in the way the Federal Government operates by establishing an incentive structure that will lead to Government behavior more consistent with the intent of the Founding Fathers.

George Mason Speaks on Gerrymandering

“As a professional politician from Virginia, the largest State in my time, I have an appreciation for the value of Gerrymandering and might have wished to employ it during my tenure.  However, I believe my record of having refused to sign the Constitution because it did not include a Bill of Rights makes it clear that fairness and justice are clear values of mine.

I was amazed at the extent to which the boundaries of Congressional districts are manipulated to assure a particular party can win the district.  For example, North Carolina’s 12^th Congressional District, shown above, has the characteristics of extreme gerrymandering.  But not as extreme as Illinois’ 4^th Congressional district which is so severely gerrymandered that it almost appears to be two districts rather than one.  Such manipulation of the populace is contrary to all the principles upon which this Nation was founded.

Since allowing arbitrary selection of Congressional districts obviously results in manipulation by the group in power to remain in power, and since this practice results in perversion of the objectives  in the founding of the nation, a solution must be found.

  

A formula for drawing district boundaries that would provide appropriate representation would have been difficult if not impossible until the advent of computers.  Today it is quite simple to define such a formula and an appropriate one is to choose the districts so each contains equal population and so that the sum of the perimeter of all the districts is a minimum.