Constitution

NAIROBI, Kenya -- Although long under the thumb of their rulers, Kenyan voters rebelled against their president in election results released yesterday, handing him a stinging defeat in a referendum on revamping the constitution. President Mwai Kibaki had staked his reputation on the plebiscite held Monday, and the rejection of it by a margin of 57 percent to 43 percent was widely seen as a vote of no confidence in his three-year-old administration. "The people have triumphed," said Uhuru Kenyatta, an opposition leader who had campaigned against Kibaki's proposal.

WASHINGTON -- Let us all now be grateful to President Clinton for saving the Constitution for us. You probably weren't aware he did it, but he informed the American Society of Newspaper Editors of the fact here last week at its annual convention. The revelation came in response to a question about whether his presidential library would have a "wing" dealing with his impeachment. Regarding that late unpleasantness, he said, "I am proud of what we did here because I think we saved the Constitution of the United States."

I DON'T know many Americans who tolerate anyone treading on our Constitution. Yet those individuals the recording industry recently sued for wanton copyright violations on the Internet, if found guilty, did exactly that. Every time someone downloads a commercial book, song, film or software program that they ought to pay for, they're not just committing a crime, they're spitting on our Constitution and devaluing the American way of life. The Constitution is the blueprint that defines who and what we are as a country.

The presidential candidates are offering prescriptions for everything from Iraq to health care, but listen closely: Their fixes are situational and incremental. Meanwhile, the underlying structural problems in American politics and government are systemic and prevent us from solving our most intractable challenges. If we really want to make progress and achieve greater fairness as a society, it is time for elemental change. And we should start by looking at the Constitution, with the goal of holding a new Constitutional Convention.

WASHINGTON -- Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas put one constitutional issue -- abortion -- totally out of bounds yesterday as he discussed with senators his views on a lengthening list of disputes that now rage among the justices.In a day of sometimes tense sparring with both Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee, federal appeals Judge Thomas took positions on the kind of privacy that the Constitution protects most, on the way to protect religion from government interference, on the way to judge inequality under the Constitution and on the court's power to overrule civil rights rulings.

Dear Baltimore public school students: Today's lesson, young people, is about the Constitution. It's the foundation for the country's law and establishes the freedoms and rights we all cherish, as I'm sure your teachers in social studies classes tell you. But your teachers' bosses - the ones who run things from that building on North Avenue - obviously have a different view of the Constitution. They view it as that nettlesome document that makes all that fuss about unimportant matters such as freedom of speech and of the press.

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Because governing America in peace and prosperity seems like child's play, the children -- Donald Trump, Pat Buchanan and others -- have come out to play, using the Reform Party as their sandbox. But Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura, that party's foremost contribution to American governance, is doing something serious.He is campaigning to get the legislature to submit to referendum a constitutional amendment to establish a unicameral legislature. This is not a good idea, but it is a better idea than most of Mr. Buchanan's and is one more idea than Mr. Trump has revealed.

ARGUMENTS FOR: The present constitution is not a basic, fundamental document like the U.S. Constitution. It is long and complex, approximately 10 times as long as the U.S. Constitution, with over 200 changes.Legislators have adopted the expedient of amending the Constitution to assure the legality of almost every major piece of legislation, so that the Constitution tends to resemble an only slightly shortened version of the annotated code. It should be rewritten as a clear and simple statement of the structure and functions of government and the rights of citizens.

In its efforts to write a charter for Carroll, the county charter board hasn't put a single word on paper.But while trying to developa framework for the draft charter, the nine-member board has an oft-tested and well-known document to help guide it: the U.S. Constitution.During a work session last night at the Ag Center, board members referred to characteristics of the Constitution."The genius of a good constitution is that it is a general constitution instead of a particular constitution," said Charles O. Fisher Sr., a Westminster attorney and board member.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- The wide-eyed enthusiasm that Paul Caiola brings to the job of constitution writing seems at odds with the American image of founding fathers gathering somberly to ponder the fate of a nation.Mr. Caiola is a third-year University of Maryland law student from Silver Spring and now, indirectly, a constitution writer himself."What is so exciting about South Africa is that almost overnight it is going from one of the most backward countries in terms of human rights to one of the most progressive," Mr. Caiola says.