The People should pen new Constitution
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I trust the good people of Alabama.
I believe that if they are presented with choices, and fully informed about those choices, they will make the right
decisions.
That is why I believe Gov. Don Siegelman is right in his preference that we should call a convention to rewrite
Alabama's constitution, rather than leaving it up to the Legislature. The fundamental framework for this state's
future needs to be built by the people, not by the professional politicians.
Attorney General Bill Pryor, on the other hand, said he is wary of a constitutional convention. "I'm concerned
that we would bring up issues like church-state, or the right to a trial by jury or the lottery that really are
settled and don't need to be part of the discussion," he said.
Pryor's concerns are legitimate. Any rewrite of the constitution could go awry. The special interests who enjoy
so much power in this state could find ways to pervert and poison the process.
The way to combat that, though, is not to limit participation in the endeavor. The best antidote to the influence
of the special interests is to involve the people, and restore them to their rightful place as the masters of our
democracy.
If we believe in democracy, we have to trust democracy to work.
The Legislature has already shown itself to be a tool of the special interests. The legislators have had scores
of opportunities to address the real problems facing Alabama, and they have failed. They are the wrong group to
rewrite the constitution.
Neither should that task be given to some other closed group or appointed commission. As Siegelman said, the voice
of the people must be heard. "This is their constitution," the governor said, and it can't be handed
down from a "group of elites."
That is why the people should choose delegates specifically for the purpose of rewriting the constitution. They
should be chosen in open and well-publicized elections, so that voters will get the representatives they want rather
than representatives of the special interests.
It will then be the responsibility of this newspaper and others in the state to keep a close eye on the debates
and deliberations of the convention, so that we can tell voters exactly what is going into the proposed document
and what is being left out.
In the end, it will be up to the voters to decide whether they like the final product of the convention. It is
entirely possible that we at The Birmingham News, and other supporters of constitutional reform, could find ourselves
in the somewhat awkward position of opposing ratification of the new constitution. It is hard to imagine that the
convention could come up with something worse than the demeaning and debilitating document that now handcuffs our
state. If that happens, though, it will be our duty to tell you that has happened.
The best way to avoid that unlikely outcome is through the open and lively debate of honest, committed citizens
chosen by the people to lay the foundation of Alabama's future.
We, and our leaders, should trust the good people of Alabama to pick those people carefully, and to judge wisely
and responsibly the new constitution they will propose.
Tom Scarritt is editor of The News. His e-mail address is [email protected]
© The Birmingham News
