To the Editor:
Webster’s 1828 Dictionary defines a constitution as a “system of fundamental principles for the government of rational and social beings.” The U.S. Constitution has always met that definition, but Ohio’s Constitution can no longer be described that way. Too much “legislation” has been crammed into our constitution because that was “easier” to do than to get laws passed in Ohio. Because of the enduring nature of fundamental principles, it should be harder to amend our constitution than to pass a law. Our founding fathers knew that, but Ohio has somehow lost its way! Let’s look at some evidence:
The U.S. Constitution has been amended 17 times since the Bill of Rights was ratified in 1791. The Ohio Constitution has been amended 172 times in 60 fewer years. Ohio’s Constitution has become over 1,000 percent more volatile than the U.S. Constitution.
The U.S. Constitution started with 4,543 words (including signatures) and has grown to 7,591 words. Ohio’s Constitution started with just over 6,000 words and has grown to nearly 54,000 words. Put another way, the U.S. Constitution has grown 67% in 232 years while the Ohio Constitution has grown 800% in 60 fewer years.
In 2011, Ohio Supreme Court Justice Paul E. Pfeifer described Ohio’s Constitution as “a mess” because of things like the 2009 casino amendment and livestock standards that had been added to our constitution. No matter how you feel about those two issues, I hope you’ll agree that the parcel number of a casino is not an enduring “fundamental principle” that belongs in our state constitution.
Issues like that should be handled with “legislation” not with “constitutional amendments.” The casino amendment alone expanded Article XV, section 6, of the constitution from 125 words to 2,533 words representing a 1,925 percent increase in size for something that should have been passed by the Ohio House and the Ohio Senate and signed into law by the Governor.
Deep-pocketed, out-of-state, interests have found it much easier to amend our constitution than to get laws passed in Ohio. That’s why our constitution has grown over 800% in size, is riddled with legislative matters, and no longer even meets the true definition of a constitution. We need to recover our constitution, and make it a “system of fundamental principles for the government of rational and social beings” that we can be proud of!
Dan Cecil – [email protected]
Sidney
