Is it Too Hard to Amend the Constitution - Essay Example

Constitution Essay It is evident that the US Federal constitution has had frequent difficulties in the course of amendment. As seen in the compilation of Taylor, the amendment of the US constitution is controlled by five judges of the Supreme Court that act autonomously and are not influenced by the politics going on in the country (1). This means that these justices determine what will be passed and what will not. The author continues to argue that instead of changing the constitution, the justices force the country to change their behaviours to fit the expected norms of the society as opposed to altering the vital document (Taylor 1).

The influential court has not only made it hard to fine-tune the constitution, but also to row against the essentials of the constitution. The makers of the constitution have been said to have placed the bar extremely high for a likelihood of any type of regulation in the constitution. Black argues that the constitution gave the president the authority of being the commandant of the forces, but ordinarily the president does very little in the event that decisions touching on warfare and peace are concerned (1).

This means that the constitution has very little to recommend in regard to nuclear assails. In this case, the main challenge is that the framers of the initial constitution had very little information on the important issues in the country as well as the role of politics in shaping the structure of the constitution (Black 1). Unless this transforms, it might be too time-consuming to adjust the present constitution. The Senate and the House are require to pass a majority of 2/3 votes if the constitution has to be amended (Black 1).

This case has been alien to the country for the earlier periods. Article V of the constitution, as the author terms it, - an “iron cage”- has made it extremely tasking to amend the constitution (Black 1). The Anti-flag-burning amendment is good case in point that failed. The amendment only had 66 votes in favour, and 34 votes opposing the same (Martin 1). This means that the amendment failed to gather the necessary 2/3 votes that would have otherwise led to the Bush government leading the congress towards holding the power of banning contravention of the treasured American flag.

Despite the fact one would argue that passing the amendment would be critical both for the current generation and the future, in terms of political and constitution importance, the same was hampered by the culture of the country in relation to constitution amendments. The narrow defeat will therefore have a huge implication on the citizens of US as well as the dignity of the flag of the country. However, nothing much can be done as the process of amending the constitution has remained a spiky thorn that continues to hinder the progress of the country in regard to making alterations to the old constitution.

The Supreme Court judges seem to have taken the day, as the voices of the people are simply set to be heard not listened to. Works citedBlack, Eric. “Constitution nearly impossible to amend: Is the bar too high?” MinnPost, October 12, 2012.Martin, Patrick. “Anti-flag-burning amendment to US Constitution fails by a single vote.”World Socialist Web Site June 30, 2006. Taylor, Steven. “Is it Too Hard to Amend the Constitution? A Brief Response.” Outside The Beltway, May 29, 2012.