Chile is updating its constitution. The US should follow its lead David Adler
Aug 05, 2022
3 minutes
‘Every constitution,” Thomas Jefferson wrote in a 1789 letter to James Madison, “naturally expires at the end of 19 years.” Two centuries after its expiration date, citizens of the United States are suffering the consequences of a constitution drafted by 55 men who owned hundreds of enslaved people, thousands of hectares in landed estates and millions of dollars in inherited wealth. Fundamental rights denied, foundational institutions paralysed and existential crises ignored: these are side-effects of a legal framework that has not been meaningfully amended in over a half-century.
Scores of constitutions around the
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