Iceland Elects Assembly Made Up of Ordinary People to Write New Constitution

[Joanne98]

The small country of Iceland, having weathered an economic collapse two years ago, has decided to make a fresh start by rewriting its constitution. The twist is that the new Icelandic constitution will literally be a
product of the popular will.

According to AP:

"The constitutional assembly will be made up of 25 to 31 delegates, the final number to be determined by a gender and equality ratio. It will be made up of regular citizens elected by direct personal voting. Anyone is eligible to stand for election, with the exceptions of the president, lawmakers and the committee appointed to organize the assembly.

"The assembly will draft a proposed new constitution next year. They will use material from another extraordinary project earlier this year in which 1,000 randomly chosen Icelanders — aged 18-89 — offered their views on what should be in the constitution.

"Now the race is on to be among the charter's authors, with 523 people in the running. Truck drivers, university professors, lawyers, journalists and computer geeks are all among the candidates. All have been given equal air time on Icelandic radio to make their platforms known."

The idea of a national constitution being written by a group of ordinary people in which the ruling elite is specifically excluded is an intriguing one. It will be interesting what kind of product the people of Iceland, known for their independence since Viking times, produces.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/6060430/iceland_elects_assembly_made_up_of.html?cat=9

[bemildred]

1. You gotta wonder if they are really going to be allowed to do this. nt

[Joanne98]

2. I hope so.

[yurbud]

3. that was my thought. But Iceland is a small country that has no assets that I'm aware of...

so it might slip under the radar.

However, if they do anything too good, they will quickly find themselves treated like the next Haiti.

[bemildred]

5. Agreed.

And there are other uprisings that need suppressing too, quite a few.

[Sam1]

10. Actually, since Icelanders are

not black and haven't staged a successful revolution against white colonial Europeans they may get away with it.

[yurbud]

11. During the Bush administration, ALL Americans who were less than wealthy were treated like we were

black.

I'm not sure what our status is under Obama.

[Tesha]

8. Of course they'll be allowed to do this.

Unlike America, all of the Nordic countries have
fully-functioning democracies.

Tesha

[yurbud]

9. how do they manage to avoid the soulless, sociopathic corruption of our politicians?

[seafan]

4. Good for Iceland!

More from the article:

Iceland Elects Assembly Made Up of Ordinary People to Write New Constitution

By Mark Whittington
November 27, 2010

.....

Could such a thing happen in the United States? The idea of ordinary people banding together to change how the government works would be as catnip for members of the Tea Party movement. The US Constitution was first written by the elites of the late 18th Century, by men like John Adams and Ben Franklin. But these were men who were steeped in the ideas of the Enlightenment, of John Locke, Adam Smith, and the legacy of Athenian Democracy and Republican Rome.

The elites of our time are just as likely to take their inspiration from Karl Marx or the Progressives of the early 20th Century, people who would not exactly have been approved of in Philadelphia of 1787. Therefore
they wouldn't be trusted to write a new Constitution, even if such a thing was desirable.

The US Constitution can be amended. Usually this has taken place when the Congress proposes an amendment by a two third vote and the amendment is ratified by three fourths of the states. However there is an alternate way of amending the Constitution; a provision that allows for a new Constitutional Convention.

One supposes that a Second Constitutional Convention could be set up in the Icelandic way—no elected officials need apply. A Constitutional Convention made up of truck drivers, computer geeks, housewives, and even Internet commentators might come up with some interesting amendments.

A Balanced Budget and Line Item Veto amendments are oldies but goodies that keep being stymied in the Congress, but might pass muster in a citizen's constitutional convention. My favorite would be an amendment that would define exactly what "interstate commerce" is so that the Congress can't claim it to be anything it wants, therefore do anything it wants.

On the other hand, if enough liberals get elected to a citizen's constitutional convention, all sorts of mischief might make its way into the Constitution. How about an amendment defining health care as a "right?"

.....

Unfortunately, the author derailed his piece with that last statement.


That's not "mischief", Mr. Whittington. Health care for everyone is called a basic human right. Just like clean air, water and food, public education and a safe environment. You remember, the commons.

In addition, I'd like to see these ideas offered in a new convention:

.....

This Republic had its beginning, and grew to its present strength, under the protection of certain inalienable political rights—among them the right of free speech, free press, free worship, trial by jury, freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures. They were our rights to life and liberty.

As our Nation has grown in size and stature, however—as our industrial economy expanded—these political rights proved inadequate to assure us equality in the pursuit of happiness.

We have come to a clear realization of the fact that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. "Necessitous men are not free men." People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.

In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all regardless of station, race, or creed.

Among these are:

The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the Nation;

The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;

The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;

The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;

The right of every family to a decent home;

The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;

The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;

The right to a good education.

All of these rights spell security. And after this war is won we must be prepared to move forward, in the implementation of these rights, to new goals of human happiness and well-being.

America's own rightful place in the world depends in large part upon how fully these and similar rights have been carried into practice for our citizens. For unless there is security here at home there cannot be lasting peace in the world.

.....

----Franklin D. Roosevelt
State of the Union Message to Congress
January 11, 1944

The only people who will effect these changes are the people themselves.

[provis99]

6. the author sounds like a libertarian dickhead.

For all their blathering about freedom and rights, they are sure opposed to expanding the definition of freedom and rights. Libertarians are crypto-fascists.

[sabrina 1]

7. Iceland was the first country to fall and is, imo, a microcosm of

the problems that exist throughout Europe and here.

Before the rest of the European problems become news, people saw Iceland as a preview of things to come. And that turned out to be the case.

I am hoping now that what they have done since, throw out their government, nationalize their banks, elect a new government which is well aware they won't last very long if they get tempted to go the way of the last government, will become the model of the rest of Europe.

They are now starting prosecutions of their leaders who actually caused the problems, and refusing to make the people pay for the corruption wherever possible.

The have introduced a bill forgiving all debt and refusing to throw people who were in foreclosure, out of their homes. They blame the banks for those foreclosures and intend to make them pay.

I hope Iceland once again will lead the way for other countries to drag their countries out of the clutches of Global Runaway Capitalism and that soon, after the their next elections, France eg will follow their example, restoring the retirement age eg, to where it was and where the people wanted it to stay.

I also hope that the EU is dismantled. That ship helped sink everyone who was on board. Time to jump the Capitalist luxury liner, the profits are only for those who have a first class ticket, and all that the rest get is to be forced to pay for their first class cruise. Kudos to Iceland so far.