Imagine that you are back in school and you have a group project due. The deadline was yesterday, and not only have you not submitted anything, you haven’t even met up with your group to begin discussing the project. Unfortunately, your life, freedom, and happiness depend on getting a good grade on this project; the one you haven’t even started.
Then, out of nowhere, the laziest guy in your group sends out a group text and with a rough draft he made. It’s not perfect. To be honest, it’s not even an A; but that B/B+ looks infinitely better than a big, fat, red zero. He then says we should meet up tonight and finalize the draft before submitting it tomorrow, letting the smartest group members do most of the work. What do you do? Do you work with him or ignore him?
This, of course, is a metaphor for our reality. I am the slacker who made a rough draft, the group is all American citizens, and the project is drafting a new Constitution for the American People. Another amendment or an Article V convention of states will not address the entrenched corruption in our government. We need a whole new document, one tailor made for the realities and complexity of the modern age. Nothing lasts forever, and constitutions are no exception to this rule. Our Constitution has stood watch for more than two centuries, taking us from a pre-industrial nation of 3 million to a post-industrial nation of 350 million, it has earned the dignity of an honorable discharge. Until we address the structural capture of our political system, all other systemic crises will continue worsening: our rule of law will continue breaking down, our culture war will continue intensifying, our economic disparity will continue growing, and our environment will become increasingly, exponentially unstable.
Our goal must be to assemble the best minds in the country to debate and design the next iteration of our democratic experiment, just like we did in 1787. We should not leave such a delicate, consequential task to corrupt, generalist politicians that have led us to such depths. Just as a ship is designed by a collection of specialists (electricians, engineers, etc.), so too should our government be designed by a collection of specialists (constitutional law professors, political scientists, etc.) who consider the needs and preferences of the crew (all American citizens).
Because unlike last time, we can take advantage of the awesome power of modern technology to broadcast the discussions of our delegates so that “We the People” can criticize, comment, and cheer from the comfort and safety of our homes. A digitized Convention would reveal the will of the American People in unprecedented detail, allow our foremost experts to educate the nation on the mechanics of modern governance, and provide a unifying cultural experience for the nation. This Convention would not just be a political solution to a political problem, it would be a solution to our growing cultural divide, cutting through decades of propaganda with truth of the highest caliber. By combining executive direction, specialized expertise, and public feedback, we can design the best government in the world.
The goal of the USAv3 movement is not to make our Union great again, the goal is to make our Union greater than ever. A digital Constitutional Convention would become our generation’s greatest achievement, restore our Republic, and create the most democratic Constitution in the world. So let’s do that. Let’s close this dark chapter in our history and begin the American Renaissance.
“I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and constitutions. But laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made... institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors.”
Thomas Jefferson
Preamble to the Preamble
These documents are written in pencil, not ink. They are malleable, adjustable, erasable, and, most importantly, they actually exist. Do not, do not, and do not treat them like gospel. They are simply a starting point. Subject them to the full force of your intelligence and offer your own authentic, unique perspective. Start with the executive summary, and move on downward document by document, finishing with the draft. This draft is roughly 30,000 words, which is far longer than our current Constitution, but well within the range of modern Constitutions. Take it one Article at a time. Take breaks. The language is dry and difficult to read, as befits a legal document, and the philosophical and political questions it grapples with are nuanced and complex, debated and contested in classrooms and courtrooms around the world. Yet this is our task, the one on which our Republic depends, the one openly inviting your contribution. You do not need to be a constitutional law professor, a career lawyer, or an elected politician to contribute. You only need to pick up your own pencil and get to work.
“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”
Theodore Roosevelt