“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
These words begin the Constitution of the United States, the shortest and second oldest Constitution still in use in the world today, which was adopted on Sept. 17, 1787 to serve as the supreme law of the land and framework for the organization of the federal government.
On March 4, 1789 Congress added the preamble to the Bill of Rights, stating “the conventions of a number of States, having at the time of their adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added.”
These first ten amendments establish the basic freedoms of United States citizens, including the right to freedom of speech, the press, assembly and petition expressed in the 1st Amendment. Additional freedoms include the right to bear arms, protection from unreasonable search and seizure, and the right to speedy trial by jury. The 10th amendment: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people” establishes New York’s right to honor gay marriages, New Hampshire’s right to have state-run health insurance, and California’s right to legalize medical marijuana, all of which have come under fire recently as the federal government attempts to trump state government in almost every capacity.
But the document still wasn’t complete. Since then, a total of 27 amendments have been ratified to address issues unforeseen by the founding fathers. The 13th amendment freed the slaves, and the 15th gave black men the right to vote. The 18th amendment established prohibition of alcoholic beverages and then, just to prove we are capable of recognizing a bad idea, the 21st amendment repealed it. The 19th amendment allowed women to vote, and the 26th amendment finally extended the vote to all U.S. citizens over age 18.
The most recent amendment, the 27th, ratified on May 5, 1992, states that “no law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened.” The amendment, first

proposed in 1789, took 203 years to become ratified and limits the ability of lawmakers to raise their own salary. Since passing this amendment, Congress has continued to pass “cost of living adjustments” against legal challenges, which the Supreme Court has yet to make any ruling on.
Recently, social networking sites such as facebook have begun circulating a proposed 28th amendment which would read, “Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens of the United States that does not apply equally to the Senators or Representatives, and Congress shall make no law that applies to the Senators or Representatives that does not apply equally to the citizens of the United States.” The facebook rant suggests that members of Congress have specifically exempted themselves from public health care in favor of their own system, that they receive one hundred percent of their pay for the rest of their lives as a retirement plan after leaving office, and that they may not be prosecuted for sexual harassment. Unfortunately, according to factcheck.org, all of these statements are untrue, and the suggestion that this amendment has been proposed is an urban legend.
This is not necessarily a bad thing. On the positive side, it’s good to know that the abuses of upper-class lawmakers have not yet reached epic proportions. Also, one wonders how useful would be a constitutional amendment that prohibits lawmakers from continuing to ignore the constitution. But while the amendment as stated is virtually meaningless, it does lay the groundwork for citizens to rally around a new law with a purpose. Perhaps an amendment stipulating a balanced budget, closing tax loopholes for the wealthiest Americans, or ending corporate personhood could bring attention to issues that desperately need to be addressed.
The biggest criticism again the Occupy Wall Street movement has been their lack of a clearly articulated purpose. If the movement in New York, or any of the spin-off groups around the country, were able to agree on the wording for a law or resolution they want to see passed, then the politicians ignoring or demonizing them would at least have to respond.
And if that response took the form of an amendment to the Constitution, possibly the most inspired legal document in modern history, then it would prove that our Constitution is still living, and that the American dream lives on with it.