The Public Flogging Amendment

The United States is 248 years old, and our Constitution just celebrated its 236th birthday. Over the course of those two and a half centuries, Americans have seen fit to amend the Constitution a total of 27 times, most recently in 1992. That is an average of one amendment every nine years. However, since the first 10 amendments were adopted in one fell swoop as the Bill of Rights in 1791, the other 17 amendments were actually adopted over a period of 233 years or one every 14 years.

Conversely, Florida’s first constitution as a U.S. territory was written and implemented in 1838, seven years before Florida was admitted to the Union as the 27th state. In 1861, Florida adopted a new constitution that provided for succession. After the Civil War, an attempt to write a new constitution failed federal muster because it limited suffrage to white males. Finally, a new constitution that met federal parameters was adopted in 1868, but it was replaced after Reconstruction ended by yet another updated version in 1885 that codified segregation and established a poll tax. The current Constitution of Florida was ratified on November 5, 1968.

In case you’re counting, that’s five different constitutions – not counting the Spanish Constitution of 1812 – over the course of 186 years, or one every 31 years.

But wait, it gets worse…

If you want to print out the entire Constitution of the State of Florida, you had better open a new ream of paper because it is 57 pages long, not including a 21-page Index, a cover page, and an introductory page. By comparison, the Constitution of the United States is a relatively miniscule 14 pages, two of which are signatures.

Why such a glaring difference? There’s an easy answer to that: whereas the Constitution of the United States – the oldest and longest-standing written and codified national constitution in the world – has only been amended 27 times, Florida’s current constitution has a whopping 144 amendments… and no, that’s not a typo.

That’s 144 constitutional changes in just 56 years! Somewhere in Montpelier, Virginia, James Madison – the Father of the U.S. Constitution – is rolling over in his grave.

For the life of me, I cannot understand why it was necessary to amend Florida’s Constitution a dozen dozen times (and no, that’s not a typo either). From my perspective, we simply make it too easy to amend Florida’s Constitution and perhaps, too difficult to amend the Constitution of the United States. However, I would much rather it be too hard than too easy.

Simply put, the ease with which Florida’s Constitution can be amended is a timebomb that’s ready to explode… and explode it may if Amendments 3 and 4 are adopted this November. For those not paying much attention, Amendment 3 would legalize the recreational use of marijuana while Amendment 4 would repeal the current 6-week abortion ban and allow abortions-on-demand until birth.

All it will take is a simple 60% majority of voters and Florida’s Constitution will be amended for the 145th and 146th time. Of course, there are four other proposed amendments on the November ballot, but at this point, who’s really counting?

Folks, either we need to limit the number of proposed amendments allowed on the ballot in Florida (I suggest 2-3 every 10 years) or raise the threshold substantially (I suggest 75-80%). Florida did raise that threshold from 50% to 60% in 2006 via yet another constitutional amendment but, in my humble opinion, it didn’t go far enough.

According to the James Madison Institute, “Florida boasts the greatest number of ways to amend its constitution of any other state. There are five ways to get a proposed amendment on the statewide ballot: (1) joint resolution by the Florida Legislature; (2) Florida Constitution Revision Commission; (3) Citizens’ Initiative; (4) Constitutional Convention; and (5) Florida Taxation and Budget Reform Commission.”

Remember the 2000 election debacle where the entire nation waited for Florida to count its “hanging chads” before the Supreme Court of the United States finally stepped in and declared George W. Bush the winner? Since then, Florida has done a masterful job revising its election procedures and it is now a model for other states. However, our constitutional amendment process has the potential to make the Sunshine State the laughingstock of the country once again.

And so, I propose one final amendment under the Citizens’ Initiative clause: Be it hereby resolved that anyone proposing any future constitutional amendments be publicly flogged in the town square of every one of Florida’s 67 county seats.

Call it the “Public Flogging” Amendment… and I’ll bet you get a super majority of voters to approve it!