Critical Analysis: Process of Revising The US Constitution
The US Constitution is one of the most important documents to be drafted in history. As with all other documents that have been made through the hands of man, there have been numerous changes that have been made. This is why the US Constitution consists of a number of amendments that have been able to assist in the development of the nation to a great degree. On the other hand, it has led to a number of damages along the way even with the numerous amendments that have been made throughout the 200 plus years that the nation has been independent. For example, the thirteenth amendment of the United States Constitution has been seen to encourage slavery for people who have been convicted of a crime. Therefore, due to such circumstances and situations, there is a need for the process of revising the US Constitution to take more heat during this time and age than ever before. When the damages that have been born from the existence of the US Constitution can be dug into, it will be noted that there are cases associated with a history of discrimination and racial inequality.
The issues of discrimination and racial inequality are engraved into the history of America. The fight and crimes resulting from these issues have been the backbone of what has made sure that America is what it is today. However, due to a number of concerns and the need to maintain an image to the rest of the world as being a nation that seeks for equality in all aspects, it has embraced the aspect of having a number of races in the country enjoying the same privileges as the privileged whites. With this in mind, the article titled “ Marginalized groups and constitution building” has been one of the many ways that the process of revising the constitution can be achieved in the areas of marginal group discrimination and racial inequality. Therefore, we are going to look through the themes that have been discussed by the author and critically reveal their usefulness to the process of revising the US Constitution in relation to how the history of discrimination can be put to an end and the aspects of racial inequality can be eradicated or reduced to the lowest degree possible.
To begin with, we had the theme surrounding gender. According to the author, it was deemed as imperative that there should be implemented a framework that will ensure that the constitution forces institutions and the political arena to adhere to gender equality (International IDEA, 15). This recommendation is associated with the aspect of discrimination whereby the female gender has been downgraded to the lowest degree possible in terms of intellectual capacity and even strength. This discrimination forced women back during the times of the war and the recession, to engage in a movement that managed to enable them to achieve some form of status in society. Even though this show of resistance was helpful, the male gender was immune to the whole scenario and it was somehow forgotten to the minds of a number of individuals (International IDEA, 6).
Secondly, the author managed to talk about ethnic minorities. According to the author’s discussion, these are groups who have been discriminated against and as such, in order to make sure that there is the mainstreaming of these groups in the political process and ensure that revising the US Constitution in their favor is possible (International IDEA, 14), the 4r’s are crucial. These include representation, resources, rights, and recognition (International IDEA, 9). The third theme that the author talks about is religious minorities. In his argument, he states that the problems that have been seen within religious minorities are most importantly associated with identity. For this, he means that, because the groups are small and the followers practicing such activities in any minor religious framework are deemed to be a small number, there is a tendency for the political arena to forget and generalize the whole religious community and categorize them as probably 3 or 4 large groups while leaving out the minor groups. Through this, the minor groups are seen to be stepping on and their rights when it comes to the Constitution-making process, seem to be left out. As a result of these major issues, concerning minor groups, the revising of the constitution is deemed as worthy (International IDEA, 9).
Fourth, we have the LGBTI groups. According to the author, it is crucial for the constitution and everyone in society to figure out the issues that concern the group and determine an effective strategy that will be effective in engaging with the group. Through this, the level of discrimination practiced over the years will be drastically reduced. Additionally, it will help to inform the form of measures and amendments that should be done on the US Constitution during the revision process so as to limit the history of discrimination leveled against the group. Finally, the themes of new media and international support happen to cut across the whole marginalized groups. They form the framework and bridge that is capable of making sure that the process of revising the constitution in all groups is able to be achieved as the necessary information and support will be able to be achieved (International IDEA, 9).
Work cited
International IDEA.Marginalized Groups and Constitution Building, A RoundTable Report. https://www.idea.int/sites/default/files/publications/marginalized-groups-and-constitution-building.pdf[Accessed 27 June 2020]