Should America's Constitution undergo an update for the 21st century?

You are correct with the Amendment portion. I was speaking in terms of a major revision. Your point of living in a time where "extremes are the way of the day" is spot on. With that in mind, I wouldn't be for a major revision right now if it ever came up. I was using Democracy/Democratic as an umbrella term. I should have used the specific terminology, so that's on me.

Literally any part of the constitution can be changed by amendment. Which is why you can vote for senator. Article 1 section 3 paragraph 1 was superseded by the 17th amendment which took the vote for senator away from the state legislature.

I wish that the original Constitution came with a "reboot" button - so that it could go back to the original, erasing all of the "interpretations" made by activist judges over the years.

SGT(P) (Join to see) - Well Sgt, I was talking to a lady today (just after you posed your question actually) and honestly, we came up with 2 actually simple things that the Govt can do, Remove itself completely from the health care system (with the obvious exception of the VA) and MAYBE a few other small exceptions, and 2 is commonly called TORT Reform, which is effectively removing the state to state purchase restrictions (a person can shop for insurance in NC while they are sitting at home in AZ. The market was asking for that all the way back to the 60s or 70s. She would not tell me which company she works for, other than say they were a big one, and they talk about this a lot in her office, they are prepared to step back up and offer the same services they had pre ACA. For the preexisting condition, those people would go into a high risk pool which is yes, higher than regular, but not by more than 2 - 3 times regular prices (just as it was before Obama) Insurance companies are now competing for your money, (just like anyone else BK vs McD). After that, the only thing that the Govt needs to do is to step in and put limits on the Medicine companies and push THEIR prices down to realistic (ie comparable to prices in Canada) or better, let people buy from Canada (same exact meds, at half price or less). The problem with actually getting this done is how many Politicians are lining their pockets from the Medical community (among others), but that is the solution in a nutshell. The basic premise is what we lived with for probably 70 years or more. Oh, and getting rid of the buerocrats out of the hospital will help tremendously as well.

SGT(P) (Join to see) - In my opinion There are a couple of threads that lead us to our current debacle on healthcare.

Prior to the Nixon administration, most people did not have healthcare insurance, and it was not the norm for employers to provide it. Then to control runaway inflation, Congress and President Nixon instituted wage and price freezes. At he same time the economy had after burners kicked in and companies were competing HARD for talented employees. Since they couldn't offer increased wages, the stared offering benefits, and health insurance became the norm. This took the consumer out of the equation. Collective buying agreements and cost sharing through insurance "collectives" meant there were large pools of money and bills got larger.

Next Congress passed a law that said any medical care provider, and medical facility, that accepted Medicare/Medicaid could no longer require proof of the ability to pay, as a prerequisite to medical care. This meant that many people received care, but never paid their bills. As an example Keno Hospital in Tucson, Arizona, one of two hospitals serving the area had to shut down. Keno had several years in a row where the medical care provided and NOT paid was in excess of $300 MILLION dollars greater than the medical care provided and paid. I do not have a credible source, but I have been told that many emergency rooms receive payment for less than 30% of the care they provide. They medical facilities make up the difference by "overcharging" 3-10 times the actual cost, to make up the shortfall.

The simple fact is that if you want to bring the costs down you only need to do three things. 1) Increase the number of medical care providers, significantly. 2) Make people pay their bills. 3) Do not allow healthcare insurance and collectivization that takes the consumer out of the cost decision. IN many cases now you have medical tourism because it is cheaper to fly to Costa Rico, Stay in a Resort, and get treated by physicians that were trained in the US, than to let insurance with deductibles and cost sharing send you to an American facility where you will be treated by healthcare providers trained in foreign medical schools.

SGT(P) (Join to see) - Their are many things beside healthcare that allow us "... to live as a free and healthy individual." and "...to live as long as we can so that we can contribute to society..." Should we guarantee a healthy diet, adequate shelter, graduate level education, an automobile, a cell phone, a computer, etc. etc. etc. It is no longer a right if you must take from one to allow another.

SFC Kelly Fuerhoff - One has to ask the reason for the question anyway and the underling intent. Is it to strengthen the Constitution or is it to weaken the Constitution.

I don't know, but maybe something along the lines of making it mandatory for public service to country be it military or other. For abled bodied people that is.

SGT (Join to see) - If everyone had to serve in the military or in public service, they might have more of an appreciation for our country.