US Constitution

Does the US Constitution work?

I guess there are both pros and cons to it...

Advantages...

-It served as a model for countries who later achieved independence--which is most developed countries today. And for state constitutions.

-It completely outlines the purpose and role of US government with remarkable terseness and economy of words.

-It was ratified (eventually) by all 13 of the colonies so everyone 'got behind' it, everyone bought into it.

-It protects the rights of people, and of the states, by telling government what it CAN'T do.-It sets up a system of checks and balances between three 'co-equal' branches of government so that no one branch can become too powerful (well, at least that was the idea).-It achieves a good balance between the rights of states and the rights of the federal government, one that has resulted in a (relatively) stable republic for more than 200 years.

Disadvantages:

-It contained a number of serious compromises in order to get states to ratify it. The electoral college, which gave more power to smaller states. It allowed slavery, etc.

-Because it is so economical of verbiage, it is easy to 'interpret' to mean whatever people want it to mean.

-The relationship of military power to the rest of the system was not really well thought out. On the one hand, the 2nd amendment would seem to put military power primarily in the hands of the common people, not professional soldiers or mercenaries; this would tend to weaken the central government. On the other hand, the constitution handed power over the navy -- the only large weapons systems of the era - directly to the federal government. As weaponry became more and more a matter of large, expensive, purpose-built military equipment, it was only natural that we should find ourselves with an expensive and opaque military bureaucracy.