Making amendments to the U.S. constitution is remarkably difficult. One of the ways through which this supreme law can be amended is a vote in Congress. For the amendment to occur, at least two thirds of the members of Congress need to vote in favor of the amendment (National Archives, 2016). Those who framed the constitution were deliberate in making it difficult to amend the constitution. I find that the framers protected the country from anarchy and chaos. Had they made the constitution easier to amend, the US would not be enjoying the level of stability it experiences today. In other countries, it is fairly easy to amend the constitution. For example, the Ugandan parliament recently passed an amendment that lifted the restrictions on the presidential age limits (Oneko & Gitta, 2017). The US would probably be witnessing similar chaos and impunity without the tough amendment processes that the framers put in place. For example, a party with many members in Congress could exploit its numbers to remove the presidential term limits. The tough amendment processes are clearly designed to prevent abuse and political impunity.
To appreciate the wisdom of the framers of the constitution, one needs to imagine how the US would be without the tough amendment processes. Personally, I feel that without these processes, politicians would abuse their powers and pass laws that violate the rights of the American people. I also predict that citizens would rise up and demand that order be restored. It is also possible that the federal government would become tyrannical. To push through its policies, it would simply rally its members in Congress to pass amendments. For example, suppose that the federal government wished to declare the US to be a Christian nation and forbid the practice of all other religions. Using its numbers in Congress, the government would simply scrap the provisions of the Second Amendment which protects religious liberties. The American people should be grateful to the founding fathers who had the wisdom to institute tough constitutional amendment procedures.
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References
National Archives. (2016). Constitutional Amendment Process. Retrieved May 17, 2018
From https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/constitution
Oneko, S., & Gitta, A. (2017). Uganda’s Parliament Votes to Scrap Presidential Age-Limit.
Retrieved May 17, 2018 from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/12/20/ugandas-parliament-votes-scrap-presidential-age-limit/970958001/
