"Any candidate for elected national office shall, in addition to the requirements identified in Articles I and II of this Constitution, be required to pass a written test about the Constitution. The tests and the answers each candidate provides for each question shall be released to the public no later than 60 days prior to the general election. Congress shall make all laws necessary and proper for carrying out this provision."
Then we need the laws governing the testing:
- Test questions shall not be released, either to the public or to candidates, in advance.
- Tests will be written by the Attorney General, and will be approved by both the majority and minority leaders in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. The test must be approved by February 1st of each calendar year.
- Tests shall be different each year, no more than 10 of the 25 questions can be the same in two consecutive years, and no more than 12 of the questions can be the same in any three consecutive years.
- The test should be written at what is generally understood to be the level of an undergraduate constitutional law course.
- Candidates will take the test at a location that will allow for the administration to be viewed by the public. Candidates will give the public 5 days' notice of the time and location they will take the test.
- No resource materials are allowed by the candidate during the administration of the test.
- No specific score is required for passing. The judgement of the voters will determine if a particular candidate is knowledgeable enough to represent them.
I know you can't legislate away stupid politicians, but wouldn't it be nice if a few of them were at least cognizant of the Constitution?
9 comments:
i wonder what it would take to actually put this into motion
Anyone know the initiative process for starting this? Problem is, I am guessing none of the politicians would want to agree for fear of being embarrassed. I personally LOVE the idea. Good job Mr. ROTLC!!
Over and over, I see these congresscritters being asked by CNS about their constitutional authority to do some of this insane crap they pass, and their reactions are always equal parts indignation, amusement, and bafflement.
It pains me to think there are people holding public office that are really either that stupid or crooked.
Absolutely in favor of that!
I'm pretty sure that most of them are familiar with the Constitution; a large plurality if not an outright majority of politicians are, after all, lawyers, and contrary to what you'd think based on their behavior most of them are not actually stupid. Burris is an aberration.
The worrying thing isn't that they're unfamiliar with the Constitution; it's that they *are* familiar with it, but just don't *care* what it says.
Sorry, but the Congress critters can't read the Constitution any more--they've already used it for toilet paper.
I've always thought that ordinary voters should also have to pass a test about the Constitution, and perhaps some other questions such as "who is your Congressperson?" before they would be allowed to vote.
chicopanther
even if they are familiar with the constitution, it would be nice to see them take this test and learn how they interpret some sections of the it. it would definitely make it easier to know which candidate's views were closest to your own.
Being a lawyer doesn't mean as much as you think regarding knowledge of the Constitution. I have a friend who is a lawyer, and she told me that very little is taught about the Constitution. Most of what they are taught is case law and precedent.
Since the point of the Constitution is to be a strait jacket for those congresscritters you can understand why there's a certain amount of antipathy.
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