The Biggest Mistake The Framers Made

 I have always said and shall forever maintain that the framers of the US Constitution were history's bravest and most brilliant men.  I have always said and shall forever maintain that the US Constitution is the most ingenious document of governance ever penned.

However, they were not without faults and fallacies.  It is not without mistakes and misconceptions.  Most of these are minor, even miniscule, perhaps, in that better wording could have been utilized to express basically identical ideas and to prevent the prostitution of language, linguistics and verbiage.  For instance, the "general welfare" clause found in the Preamble would have been and would definitely be better in these modern times as the "overall prosperity" clause.   

Adjudications over the centuries have seen many more split decisions by the courts than unanimous decisions.  Differing opinions between judges and justices can be primarily pinpointed to the vagueness within and throughout the Constitution.  Nowhere is this more apparent than in the first amendment's free press section.  

Despite their insight and foresight, the framers could not envision or imagine such things as radio, television or the world wide web.. 

They could not fathom the fallaciousness of their future fellow man pulled and pushed by the partisan spirit of party, of which President George Washington so vehemently warned in his Farewell Address.

Being one of only two professional institutions to be provided specific Constitutionally protected rights, it should have also been governed with specific Constitutional responsibilities. As written, the Constitution states "Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of the press."  Subsequent Supreme Court rulings have extended that federal protection to the states and lesser governing jurisdictions.  Here is perhaps the epitomical example that a mere eleven words need to be more.  To protect and promote journalistic integrity and to protect the people from believable lies, it should read: "The freedom of the press to report and disseminate news accurately, even-handedly, honestly and objectively, factually answering the six basic one word questions of who, what, when where, how and why, with minimal use of adjectives, adverbs, adjective and adverbial phrases, and to openly opine and admittedly editorialize shall not be abridged. 

 

Platforms, physical and virtual, created and constructed to share information shall do so without bias, favoritism or censorship.  Said platform owner/operators shall not be held liable or responsible for content placed upon said platforms by users unaffiliated or unassociated with the platform or its owner/operator, except that as a user.  Platform owner/operators shall be responsible to report to authorities any messaging being unlawful or advocating unlawfulness. 

Any member of the media or any information platform owner/operator adjudicated to be guilty of violating this section, or purposely perpetrating prevarications pursuant to slander and libel laws, shall be concurrently guilty of breech and betrayal of the public trust.  Absence of malice shall not be a defense."  

If such had been codified in the 18th century, I don't think that we'd have the derisive divisiveness we're experiencing in 21st century America, that has been largely fomented by a largely progressive, prevaricating and propagandist press.  

Of course, a Constitutional prohibition of political parties would have been helpful, as well.

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