Over the many years that the Constitution has been our supreme law of the land, only 27 amendments have actually made it all the way into our Constitution. That is, only 27 out of more than 10,000 proposed amendments have made it. Of those 10,000 only six others were approved by Congress but did not make it past the states. That number (10,000) seems really high, but if you look at how long our country has been intact, that may not be too many at all. It seems crazy that our constitution has only been changed 27 times, while the way we look at life changes almost every day. We shouldn’t really have the same amendments controlling us that were created in a time when TV’s were not invented yet and the Xbox 360 could not even be imagined in the most brilliant minds. Yet, only 0.27% of proposed amendments ever make it past Congress. That doesn’t seem proportional if you ask me.
The fact that only 27 amendments have been passed by Congress and the states truly shows how serious the amending process is. Yes, it is difficult to get an amendment passed because it requires a two-thirds vote in both houses and three-quarters of the state legislatures, but there is more to it. Once an amendment is ratified, it will be in our constitution forever. Even if another one is passed to cancel the original out, the writing will not go away. In my opinion, that is enough reason to scare many Congressmen to not pass many amendments.
There are currently about 40 amendments that are being considered by Congress. A notable proposed amendment deals with ensuring that children born in the U.S. to illegal immigrants don’t automatically become U.S. citizens. It is still in Congress, but could one day make it to our constitution, if it beats the odds. This would be a great amendment to have, as long as it has some limitations. Too many illegal immigrants come to the U.S. just to have a baby to ensure its citizenship at birth. This shouldn’t be allowed. Some other amendments deal with same sex marriage and flag burning. Both of those things should be allowed. It is a person’s personal choice to get married to whoever they want to and they should be given the right to do that. If someone wants to burn an American flag, let them, it causes no harm to others and follows their personal beliefs, which are protected by the First Amendment.
This whole idea of this article is beyond important. It involves the future of our country and how it will be run. If an amendment was passed stating that Congress must tax people proportionately relative to their incomes, our country would be different. Or if an amendment was passed prohibiting our president from “entering into a treaty in which he would recognize as legal tender currency issued by someone other than the United States,” things would change. Whether the various proposed amendments are changes for the better or worse are up to Congress and the states. Congress and the states hold the true power in our country. They truly determine our future.
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