Should our Constitution be considered sacred? No, of course not.

 Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, of the U.S. Supreme Court, when asked if Egypt should get a Constitution modeled on the U.S. Constitution stated: 

 "You should certainly be aided by all the constitution-writing that has gone one since the end of World War II. I would not look to the US constitution, if I were drafting a constitution in the year 2012. I might look at the constitution of South Africa. That was a deliberate attempt to have a fundamental instrument of government that embraced basic human rights, had an independent judiciary. It really is, I think, a great piece of work that was done.


Much more recent than the U.S. Constitution: Canada has a Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It dates from 1982. You would almost certainly look at the European Convention on Human Rights. Yes, why not take advantage of what there is elsewhere in the world? I'm a very strong believer in listening and learning from others."

This brought calls from impeachment, treason and her being a traitor from the far rightwing. Let me explain, the rightwing views tradition and authority as sacred over anything else. Even though our Constitution is our second constitution (the first being the Articles of Confederation) since it is old, it must be defended in every way according to the far right. 

  Justice Gingsburg is given the duty to defend the Constitution and our constitutional rights but that does not mean she can not have an opinion on the document, especially when it comes to new constitutions in different nations. Indeed, the U.S. has worked with fledging democratic states in putting in place constituitons that are quite a bit different than our own. 

 Our Constitution was made for us, Americans, not the other way around. It has great things in it, but freedom of speech, free exercise of religion and rights in support of a jury trial are what is most important, not per se the Constitution. Any other constitution that holds these protections is just as good as a constitution as the one we have.

The Constitution is not the 10 Commandments from up high (which is a myth of course) but the product of imperfect human beings. It can be criticized (especially in areas such as the electoral college), and should not be free from criticism.  We can amend it, and indeed, we can call a new convention to replace it. To state that criticism of it is treasonous does a disservice to the Founders who gave it to us. We should not engage in Constituiton worship as if it was a cult.