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Transformative constitutionalism
Change in society
Change in society
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Introduction:
In a speech that Archbishop Desmond Tutu presented in 2011, he raised an argument that the white people of South Africa should pay a special tax to symbolically serve to acknowledge and to compensate for the benefits they enjoyed in the past, in the Apartheid system. In accordance with the Transformative Constitution and the South African Constitution, it would be unjust to put these taxes in place for white people to pay, as a policy of our government. This Constitution’s goal is to transform our country into a non-prejudicial, equal society. By implementing such a law, it would contradict what our Constitution is trying to achieve. We should question whether this possible argument would be justifiable or not in order to fix our past and make up for what the black people lost and what effects it would have on the future generations of South Africa.
What is Transformative Constitutionalism?
Transformative Constitutionalism has many different understandings and no single definition. To break it up and look it at simply, the Oxford English Dictionary is a source of reference here.to ‘transform’ means to “completely change the appearance or character of something, especially so that it is better”.¹Therefore in this case, transformative constitutionalism means that the constitution must change its character for the better. To collectively describe it, the Constitution of South Africa has one goal for our country and that is to “heal the wounds of the past and guide us to a better future.”² To explain this further, our past of inequality, strife and injustice must be understood and left behind by fixing our now known mistakes. This will then lead us to the better future characterised by an equal, democratic society in whi...
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...ld be quite piffling, maybe 1 percent of their stock exchange holdings. It’s nothing. But it could have helped... maybe building new homes, and that would have been an extraordinary symbol of their readiness.”9
Conclusion:
In conclusion I do not agree with the statement that Archbishop Tutu made in his speech (Stellenbosch University, August 2011) that the white people of South Africa should pay a special tax to acknowledge and to compensate for the benefits they enjoyed during the Apartheid era. As discussed above, it is unconstitutional to implement such a law as it is unfair discrimination on the grounds of race and colour. Therefore the wealth tax should not be imposed on the white population of our country. Instead, we should use transformative constitutionalism to make change in the country for the better and to step away from inequality and discrimination.
After the Revolution, the country was left in an economic crisis and struggling for a cohesive path moving forward. The remaining financial obligations left some Founding Fathers searching for ways to create a stronger more centralized government to address concerns on a national level. The thought was that with a more centralized, concentrated governing body, the more efficient tensions and fiscal responsibilities could be addressed. With a central government manning these responsibilities, instead of the individual colonies, they would obtain consistent governing policies. However, as with many things in life, it was a difficult path with a lot of conflicting ideas and opponents. Much of the population was divided choosing either the
Ta-Nehisi Coates, author of the article “The Case for Reparations” presents a powerful argument for reparations to black African American for a long time of horrendous injustice as slavery plus discrimination, violence, hosing policies, family incomes, hard work, education, and more took a place in black African American’s lives. He argues that paying such a right arrears is not only a matter of justice; however, it is important for American people to express how they treated black African Americans.
Larry J. Sabato offered some good notions as to what should be revised in the Constitution. Some of his thoughts were very well thought out, and helped me think much more about how the government should be amended. I agreed with essentially every idea he presented, except holding another Constitutional Convention—that proposal doesn’t seem necessary, since most of ideas could be implemented using the “elastic clause” (which Congress so frequently uses). Some more proposals that I did not agree with were expanding the senate to 136 members to add more representation, allowing non-U.S. citizens to run for president after they have lived in the states for 20 years, expanding the Supreme Court from nine to twelve members, and finally, giving states with a higher population more Electoral College electors. Those are just some of his thoughts that I had a disagreement with, but mostly I agreed with his ideas.
The worries of yesterday Eventually, we will have a tyranny without a strong, trustworthy constitution. We do not want to recreate exactly what the colonists were trying to avoid and escape from, which was tyranny. Tyranny refers to when a person has a lot of power, and has a lot on their hands, having complete control, and total control. In 1787 a group of delegates from 12 of the 13 states goes together to try to better the country.
The purpose of a revolution is to bring forth change in government and political standing. There has been revolutions happening throughout the course of history. The opposite of a revolution is a counter-revolution. A counter-revolution is revolution against a government recently established by a previous revolution. One particular culprit to the counter revolution is the United States' Constitution. This document is debated to be counter-revolutionary while still keeping the fundamental principles of the American Revolution alive. There is definitely proof for both arguments. Therefore, the U.S. Constitution was both a counter-revolutionary document and an extension to the American Revolution.
In this excerpt from Democracy in America Alexis Tocqueville expresses his sentiments about the United States democratic government. Tocqueville believes the government's nature exists in the absolute supremacy of the majority, meaning that those citizens of the United States who are of legal age control legislation passed by the government. However, the power of the majority can exceed its limits. Tocqueville believed that the United States was a land of equality, liberty, and political wisdom. He considered it be a land where the government only served as the voice of the its citizens. He compares the government of the US to that of European systems. To him, European governments were still constricted by aristocratic privilege, the people had no hand in the formation of their government, let alone, there every day lives. He held up the American system as a successful model of what aristocratic European systems would inevitably become, systems of democracy and social equality. Although he held the American democratic system in high regards, he did have his concerns about the systems shortcomings. Tocqueville feared that the virtues he honored, such as creativity, freedom, civic participation, and taste, would be endangered by "the tyranny of the majority." In the United States the majority rules, but whose their to rule the majority. Tocqueville believed that the majority, with its unlimited power, would unavoidably turn into a tyranny. He felt that the moral beliefs of the majority would interfere with the quality of the elected legislators. The idea was that in a great number of men there was more intelligence, than in one individual, thus lacking quality in legislation. Another disadvantage of the majority was that the interests of the majority always were preferred to that of the minority. Therefore, giving the minority no chance to voice concerns.
The Articles of Confederation was the first government of the United States. The Articles had created a very weak national government. At the time the Articles were approved, they had served the will of the people. Americans had just fought a war to get freedom from a great national authority--King George III (Patterson 34). But after this government was put to use, it was evident that it was not going to keep peace between the states. The conflicts got so frequent and malicious that George Washington wondered if the “United” States should be called a Union (Patterson 35). Shays’ Rebellion finally made it evident to the public that the government needed a change.
The scenes in creation being intellectual, the put together of constitutional democracy was very empirical. The Constitutional Convention was convened to formulate the constitution. What had to be clear was that the only way to assure a functioning constitutional democracy was the public's discussion. In philadelphia the delegates compromised. The outcome was to integrate states with large populations and states with small populations with a bicameral legislative branch. Also compromises that guaranteed say from both slave owning states and non-slave states could be listened to. The Bill of Rights
Upon the opening words of the Constitution, "We the People do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America," one must ask, who are these people? While the American Constitution provided its citizens with individual rights, many members were excluded. Elite framers manipulated the idea of a constitution in order to protect their economic interests and the interests of their fellow white land and slave owning men' by restricting the voices of women, slaves, indentured servants and others. Therefore, the Constitution cannot truly be considered a "democratic document." However, because it is a live document, malleable and controllably changeable according to the interest of congress, it has enabled us to make reforms overtime. Such reforms that have greatly impacted America, making us the free, independent nation that we are today.
The Constitution of the United States of America (US) is the bedrock of the political and judicial system of a country which at the time founded represented a new direction of governance not practiced for nearly two millenniums. The US became the first democratic republic in modern history with a Constitution that came into force in 1789, deriving more ideals from the Romans or the Greek Mini-States that from any political system in place around the world at the time. It is undeniable, even by the strictest constructionist or originalists that the U.S. Constitution borrowed concepts not only from famous ancient philosophers like Aristotle or Cicero but also from modern political thinkers like Locke, Montesquieu
The Constitution of the United States is an intricate document, that has influenced and shaped many newly formed Democratic nations. Many people believe that the ideas in the American Constitution are all novel and original, but that is untrue. The roots of American Constitutionalism are found in the historical paradigms of Western tradition. The fact is, constitutional doctrines were long developed and put into use long before the birth of America. The Greeks, the Romans, the English, and even the Colonialist in the New World all formed constitutional doctrines that would later influence the Founding Fathers of the American Constitution.
The Constitution is the greatest document in American history. It has pushed for progressiveness and equality. The Constitution is basically the supreme law of the United States. The Constitution was written to organize a strong national government for the American states. Before the Constitution, the nation's leaders had established a national government under the Articles of Confederation. The Articles gave independence to each state; the states lacked authority, the ability to work together, and to solve national problems. The U.S. Constitution established America's national government and fundamental laws, and guaranteed certain basic rights for its citizens using five big ideas and this shaped today's America.
South Africa really began to suffer when apartheid was written into the law. Apartheid was first introduced in the 1948 election that the Afrikaner National Party won. The plan was to take the already existing segregation and expand it (Wright, 60). Apartheid was a system that segregated South Africa’s population racially and considered non-whites inferior (“History of South Africa in the apartheid era”). Apartheid was designed to make it legal for Europeans to dominate economics and politics (“History of South Africa in the apartheid era”).
... African government, but there are still discreet forms of inequality out there. Ishaan Tharoor states “ Protesters at the University of Cape Town, one of Africa 's most prestigious universities, dropped a bucket of human excrement on a statue of Cecil Rhodes, the swaggering 19th-century British business magnate” (2015). This article that is most recent shows how black students still feel unwelcomed at the university, because of the racial identity. The statue represents when the British colonized South Africa, which further lead to the apartheid. By black students standing up for themselves reveals they are tired of seeing this statue of a man who is some-what responsible for encouraging apartheid. However, the racial barriers black students face in South Africa will continue to influence a change for equal educational opportunities, and maybe some day they will.
In conclusion, If this wealth tax is done fairly and logically then it would be a incredibly good solution to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor as well as creating a climate for social reconciliation and substantive equality.