[dead]

Jeff Mankoff is a sixth-year Ph.D. student in the History Department.

He has a sixth-year, third-grader's grasp on the history, as well as the legal, political, and societal underpinnings of our nation.

Seriously, he must eat lead paint chips with his lunch each day.

[flashbunny]

--As Yale political scientist Robert Dahl has pointed out, the Constitution is grossly undemocratic. Since Wyoming, with fewer than 500,000 inhabitants, has the same clout in the Senate as California, with almost 34 million, each Wyomingite counts 68 times as much as each Californian.--

That's because we're a republic, not a democracy, you moron.

There's a reason we're called the united STATES of America, not the united PEOPLE of America.

[caisson71]

Oh, the horrors of learning about the Constitution at Yale.
The admission that "it has aged well" speaks volumes in itself.

[A.Hun]

Future star of the Democratic Party in the making!

[Jeff Head]

Jeff Mankoff is a sixth-year Ph.D. student in the History Department.

Yea, yea, yea...if only we could strip the constitution of those quaint notions of individual freedom, keeping and bearing arms, etc...then folks like this nitwit could enlighten us all and be free to develop another socialist utopia on earth.

As if folks of his ilk aren't already making far too much progress towards that misbegotten end anyway.

This huy, IMHO, and his Phd are just more of that "Piled Higher and Deeper" definition.

[NavVet]

That new constitution every week thing has sure worked well for France.

(Subtext of this lefty's article is that what we need is, "a constitution that we can easily shape to our ever leftward leaning progressive notions of what's acceptable or desirable, such as abortion, gay marriage etc. What Mr. Lefty PHD doesn't understand is a constitution with the rigdidity of a piece of warm play dough, could just as easily take away everything he probably holds dear, such as wealth redistribution, abortion on demand etc.)

[Egon]

As Yale political scientist Robert Dahl has pointed out, the Constitution is grossly undemocratic. Since Wyoming, with fewer than 500,000 inhabitants, has the same clout in the Senate as California, with almost 34 million, each Wyomingite counts 68 times as much as each Californian. The Constitution is also responsible for burdening us with the Electoral College, a body designed to purposely undermine popular sovereignty. The 2000 election, when Al Gore outpolled George Bush but was denied the presidency by the Electoral College (with an assist by the Supreme Court), is the most recent example of 18th-century oligarchy trampling 21st-century democracy.

Holy crap. Nice to see what kind of PhDs the history program is turning out.

The balancing body is called the House of Representatives. Learn about it.

The Electoral College is a further check and balance against the inbreeding of the intellectual elite in their small caves called "Major Cities". Learn about it.

And by the way, Mr. Mankoff, you represent the oligarchy-- so to call this a victory is kinda misleading.

[uncitizen]

Take the Second Amendment, which mentions the need for a well-regulated militia and conferring the right to bear arms.

It depends on what the meaning of "right" is.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

The Constitution in particular needs to be stripped of much of the mystic awe surrounding it, since it continues to shape American political life, yet suffers from serious flaws. Many of these flaws (in the Constitution) could be corrected by wise legislation, if only legislators, and the public, were not so deeply attached to the Constitution that they cringe before any attempt to substantively alter it.

Wow!

And he has the nerve to call "Constitution worshipers" sanctimonious?

[yooling]

This guy has a PhD? The second amendment is as clear as day when one takes the time to read the contemporary literature that came along with it. Ditto the rest of the Constitution. Has this moron no knowledge of the "Great Compromise"? Every single word in our Constitution was heavily contemplated prior to ending up in the final draft.

People need to start looking past the end of their noses when they review history. .

[GrandEagle]

and conferring the right to bear arms.

This writer is suffering very much from the socialist agenda.
The Constitution does not grant the people any rights. It is the document where "we the people" grant the Federal Government its rights.
Several very important "rights" are called out in that the Constitution requires the Federal government to protect them, or in cases, forbids the Federal government from infringing on them, but it does not grant the people anything.

GE

[rattrap]

He has a Doctorate in history and he thinks the USA is a democracy?

[marktwain]

The Constitution was clearly a product of its time, and of compromise. One of its basic functions was to limit government power.

The author of this article clearly does not understand this, and he thinks that it is undesirable. He seems to worship at the altar of "Democracy".

There is a clear means of altering the Constitution by means of amendment. In view of the overwhelming success of the Constitution in creating the wealthiest, most powerful and most free country in the world, it is up to those who wish to alter the basic contract of our country to make that case that such change is necessary and desirable.

IMHO, the author failed miserably in making any such case.

[jb6]

God forbid college kids might have to learn about the bedstone of this nation.

[cripplecreek]

Well that's just plain sad.

[Question_Assumptions]

Another idiot with an axe to grind about the Senate and the Electoral College. It's the left's inability to recognize the genius of that system that will ultimately doom attempts to combine states into a nati,on like the EU, to failure.

[Adrastus]

Ah, yes. A sixth year PHD student. I'm sure his extensive experience in the real world gives him sufficient background to critique a document that gives him the right to be as arrogant and assuming of intellectual superiority as he is.

Another pissant exposes himself. Do you think another six years of acadamecia will cure it? I think not.

[tgusa]

Yale - your tax $$ at work. YGTBSM.

[Adrastus]

Ah, yes. A sixth year PHD student. I'm sure his extensive experience in the real world gives him sufficient background to critique a document that gives him the right to be as arrogant and assuming of intellectual superiority as he is.

Another pissant exposes himself. Do you think another six years of acadamecia will cure it? I think not.

[mo]

this says more about the utility of the Ivy League to the USA than anything else.....sheesh...this moron PAID for this education???!!!!!