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An 18th century Constitution

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Fault Lines in the Constitution book cover

The Constitution is radically defective. The defects are the “hard-wired” structures within which we conduct our politics and confront – or, in fact, fail to confront – the great challenges facing our country. Think only of the grotesque misallocation of voting power in the Senate or the Electoral College.

In part because of Constitution worship, but also because of the near impossibility of constitutional amendment because of Article V obstacles, we seem incapable of conducting a national conversation about vitally needed changes in the Constitution. Instead, we remain trapped within a dangerously outmoded 18th century Constitution unsuited to 21st century realities.

Sanford Levinson, University of Texas Law School, Author of “Our Undemocratic Constitution” (2006) and “Framed: America’s 51 Constitutions and the Crisis of Governance” (2012) and, with Cynthia Levinson, “Fault Lines in the Constitution” (2017)

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