If there be sense in this dogma, I am unable to see why it is not equally just that a minority of the Supreme Court should not be empowered to annul laws. Why does the Supreme Court cling to the inconsistent theory that its majority possesses as much wisdom as its minority?
In a series of articles which I am now preparing, I am attempting to discuss certain of these questions with as much frankness as I possess; but the purpose of this paper, and the one which preceded it, is to call attention to “the unopened door in the Constitution”—the one which Washington repeatedly referred to in the passages from which I have quoted. It is a difficult matter to arouse public attention to any single amendment, no matter how important the subject may be. There is a reason for this.
The people instinctively know that no one amendment can redress the ills which now exist. They do not know how to go about a crusade for constitutional reform, and most of them probably imagine that there is no way in which it can be done. There is a way, a simple, practical and legal way, and the political party which takes advantage of it and conducts an intelligent campaign in its behalf will sweep all before it.
Here is “The Open Door of the Constitution of the United States,” as contained in Article V of that document:
The Congress, whenever two-thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on the application of the legislatures of two-thirds of the several states, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several states, or by conventions in three-fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress; provided that no amendment which may be made prior to the year 1808 shall in any manner affect the first and fourth clauses of the Ninth Section of the First Article; and that no state, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate.
There is a door as wide as that of a church. It is the most liberal and democratic feature of a document filled with restrictions, and Washington and others were justified in assuming that we would have the sense to walk through it, rather than to attempt to get in by scaling the walls and crawling through a steeple window.
Our alleged progressive political platforms are of no value without a demand for the revision of the Constitution of the United States along some such lines as I have attempted to outline. It is idle to expect the people to rally to the support of any reform, however badly needed, so long as they have valid reasons to believe there is likelihood that a bill in its behalf will meet the fate of the lamented income tax law. Why ask them to shoot in the air when so broad a target is before them?
The wise thing to do is to attack boldly the unfair provisions of the Constitution, and attack it with a fair weapon fashioned by the Constitution. Such a campaign possesses all the elements of strength and strategy. You are safe from the attacks of those who ever hide behind the alleged sanctity of that document. You can turn their own weapons against them. You are standing on the Constitution. You are following to the letter the advice and wishes of Washington and others of his day.
The bulls and excommunications of the courts need not dismay you. Are not they the creatures of the Constitution? Does anyone deny that there is a possibility that the courts have gone beyond their constitutional powers? Is it not within the province of the free people to amend a constitution by constitutional means?