Our problems start with the Constitution

Here are some of the criticisms.

The Constitution created the undemocratic U.S. Senate that allots the same representation — two senators — to a state like Wyoming, which has fewer than 600,000 people, as it does to California, with nearly 40 million people.

It established the voting system that allows presidents to be elected who did not win the popular vote.

It’s got antiquated — and dangerous — provisions, such as the anachronistic “right to bear arms,” which reflects long-forgotten concerns dating to post-revolutionary America. Today, no countries protect gun rights in their constitution except the United States, Guatemala and Mexico.

What’s more, constitutional thinking has evolved since 1787. Today, most new constitutions include far more enumerated rights than ours, notes David Law. The right to education, for instance, and to privacy, food, healthcare and housing. Many modern constitutions protect reproductive rights, freedom of movement, the right to unionize and the rights of the disabled.