Constitution 2.0

An Essay of the Man from the North

by Rivera Sun

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If we, the people, wrote a constitution now, what would go
in it? Equal rights for women, men, non-binary, and undefined? Caps on wealth
tied to poverty levels? Rights of nature? Reparations for past crimes, wrongs,
and thefts? Limits on military spending? A free and open Internet? Abolition of
mass incarceration, or the entire prison system; replaced with restorative and
community justice? Free healthcare for all? Living wages or universal basic
income? Would we keep corporate personhood or the electoral college?

The possibilities are endless; they include a million ideas
over which to agree or vehemently oppose. We can envision things (like
airplanes, climate change, and the Internet) beyond the Founding Fathers’
wildest dreams . . . and that is exactly the point of even raising the question
of a Constitution 2.0. Our first constitution was written by propertied white
men to the exclusion of all others, centuries ago when messages traveled by
horseback and 94% of the population was excluded from all political process.
Like an aging computer program, we’ve patched in updates over the years, but
perhaps its time to overhaul the operating system and redesign it to reflect
the dreams, needs, interests, and ideas of 100% of us.

The US Constitution was designed to empower and serve
property and wealth. It is unresponsive to the demands and plights of ordinary
people. It often fails to incorporate concerns beyond those of commerce,
wealth, and property. The Bill of Rights was added as a protest by constitutional
delegates who were alarmed by the earlier drafts. Small protections like the EPA,
the Clean Air & Water Act, the FDA are vulnerable to corruption and
dismantlement by hostile administrations. The Declaration of Independence’s
revolutionary proclamation of the inalienable right to “life, liberty, and
pursuit of happiness” was shifted in the Constitution to preserving the
rights of an elite to “life, liberty, and protection of property”.
Ever since then, we have struggled to update the US Constitution to reflect the
needs of its people. Perhaps it’s time for a Constitution 2.0.

I am not recommending that we completely throw out the old
and rush a new political operating system into existence. (No software designer
would advise that approach.) This creates power vacuums that are inevitably
exploited by the most depraved, opportunistic, piratical and tyrannical
bullies. No, I am instead recommending that we allow the potential of a
nationwide re-imagining of our governing documents to throw open the doors of
civic conversation . . . and let our dreams break free of the corsets that bind
our imagination and suffocate our political aspirations.

We risk our lives for mere crumbs, waging struggle for the
chance to glean the leftovers from the plutocrats’ feasts, or lick the floors
under their groaning tables. We deserve to dream larger. We should organize to
build, seize, and run the bakeries, kitchens, farms, delivery systems,
groceries and warehouses by which the daily bread of our lives are given shape
and form. We have been trained to petition for scraps like pleading beggars
rather than seizing the means of destiny, existence, and self-governance.

I dare you to lift your eyes and dream like the magnificent
human being that you are: one among many, each equal to the other, none above
or below the next.

I call for a Constitution 2.0 because the old document – and
all of its revisions right up until today – was written by a narrow elite with
only partial enfranchisement of our citizenry. We have never imagined what all
320 million of us might craft as a governing structure. Would mother and
fathers demand veto power over the wars their children are sent to fight in?
Would students demand referendum rights on whether our budget should be spent
on education or military? Would seniors insist on basic incomes and affordable
healthcare so they can live their elder years in ease, contributing their
skills and wisdom to our communities? We cannot answer these questions in and
through our current political system. What would a Constitution 2.0 look like
if it was designed to empower (not limit) widespread political
participation? 

Never in the history of the United States, have we
recognized the shared humanity of one another and cultivated the respect and
trust that we would need to write a Constitution 2.0. Nor am I foolish enough
to assume that we have those skills now. A constitutional convention (as
imagined by the Founding Fathers) would most likely devolve into a brawl, a
civil war, an oligarchic coup, or worse.

Democracy of, by, and for the people can not be crafted
overnight. It is a mass endeavor, one that spans the scope of years, and is
designed to engage our citizenry in a multitude of ways. Creativity, visioning,
education, knowledge-sharing, communication, dialog, exploration would all be
needed. Healing, truth-telling, and connection are all necessary for a populace
as deeply wounded and divided as ours. When I call for a Constitution 2.0, I am
asking not just for a final document, but a collection of processes by which
we, in pursuit of shared ideals, forge a more perfect union than the original
framers of the US Constitution could ever envision. We have no chattel slavery
any more, though racism continues to plague our land. Women are no longer
property, though neither are they treated as men’s equals. The child is no
longer a creature “to be seen and not heard”, but a treasure
unfolding over time, offering insights and gifts of their own. The LGBTQ
community is coming out of closets and shadows and the margins of society where
centuries of persecution has pushed them for too long. The Earth is demanding
that we listen and treat the living systems with respect. So much has shifted
since the late 1700s. We must update our operating system to keep pace.

While it is foolhardy to imagine that our populace could
enter a room without dealing with the harms of the past, present, and future;
it is also inaccurate to assume that we are incapable of undergoing a
transformative process in pursuit of a Constitution 2.0. Such a goal requires a
realistic assessment of the resources we need, the pitfalls and sabotages of
the processes, and the depth of understanding, truth-telling, growth,
knowledge-sharing, and healing that would facilitate an effective redesign of
our governing structure. We need to call upon our institutions to paly a
supportive role instead of a destructive, dominating, or manipulative role.

We must ask ourselves: what might we do to prepare the
entire populace for such a revolutionary, inspiring, and terrifying endeavor?
After centuries of abuse, oppression, injustice, inequality, and suffering, how
would we heal enough of our wounds to even discuss the crafting of a new
constitution with each other? Backloads of lies and propaganda need to be
cleared out. Truth-tellings could be held (perhaps everyday in every town for
the next decade). Story circles could be facilitated to help us learn to look
into the eyes of our fellow citizens and start to hear and know each other
beyond the stereotypes perpetuated in the fear-mongering and power-hoarding
media apparatus of elites. The information bubble that hovers unseen over the
United States needs to be burst so the bright ideas and best practices from
around the world can be seen and shared. Knowledge must be spread of
participatory, direct, wise, and real democracy; horizontal organizing,
sociocracy, the commons, collective processes, and so much more. Lessons and
training on how to hold a discourse (rather than a shouting match) need to
become as common as driver’s education courses.

To even raise these ideas is undoubtedly considered
treasonous under a Constitution designed to preserve the power of the rich
under the guise of “democracy”. 
The true revolutionary is always a traitor to the established system.
The revolutionary, however, always shows steadfast dedication to the well-being
of the people. They never rest on laurels nor suffer the laurel wreathe to be
placed upon their heads. They leap down off of pedestals and wade into the muck
of life. They describe the horizon of possibility long before others dare to
look in the direction of the rising sun.

They dare to call for change when the time for change has
come: It is time for a Constitution 2.0 and all the transformations we must
undergo to stride in the direction of such a vision.

____________

Author/Activist Rivera Sun syndicated
by PeaceVoice,
is the author of The
Dandelion Insurrection and the sequel, The Roots of
Resistance. Website: http://www.riverasun.com

The Man From the North is a fictional writer in Rivera Sun’s novel, The Dandelion Insurrection and the sequel, The Roots of Resistance. The novel takes place in the near future, in “a time that looms around the corner of today”, when a rising police state controlled by the corporate-political elite have plunged the nation into the grip of a hidden dictatorship. In spite of severe surveillance and repression, the Man From the North’s banned articles circulate through the American populace, reporting on resistance and fomenting nonviolent revolution. This article is one of a series written by The Man From the North, which are not included in the novel, but can be read here. This essay was first published on Dandelion Salad.