Lex Ferenda

A Constitution Modernization with Tea Party Bullets.

This book concerns Constitution reform and how this great but aging founding document of the United States and how it might be improved using a State lead Constitution convention as wisely provided for in Article V by our Founders/Framers. With a failing Congress and out of control government regulations and programs, it's dejavu all over again as Yogi Berra would say, it's like 1787 revisited.

We start with early history of the Constitution and then review the works of eight authors about needed revisions. The basic U.S. Constitution is then annotated for areas of deletion of obsolete 18th century and Civil War reconstruction period phrases. Further annotations are made for the inclusion of the current applicable amendments. These changes are then folded into the current Constitution without meaning changes.

Next, a few minor modernizations are made in references to the armed forces, speedy trials, etc. Third, the basic changes favored in modern polls by a significant majority of our citizens are considered. The pros and cons of seven of these items are discussed, justified and reduced to constitutional language. These revisions are then incorporated into the Constitution.

Finally, consideration is given to more recent problems such as the 2008-2011 financial crisis that called attention to the possibility that organizations, including the government and unions, are too large. Chapter 5 supplies Constitution language to solve this problem by placing limitations on giant organizations and gives an extended discussion of antitrust law and financial economics.

The last and perhaps most important chapter outlines a method to organize and manage an unbiased Constitution reform convention. No other author covers this subject in detail to my knowledge.

There are seven appendices providing extensive background information. Considerable attention is given to the Supreme Court since its rulings have a profound impact on constitutional law. Three of the appendices are devoted to this subject. Appendix 4 is also of particular interest giving over 300 topic ideas (Tea Party Bullets) for a convention.

Although not designed as a textbook, Lex Ferenda could be used for a seminar or as required reading in a political science or constitutional law course.