Evaluation

• Flexibility- The amendment process is made clear in article 5 . Rigidity can be a strength as it protects against political whims .

  E.g Right to life amendments
• Flexibility - amendments can occur if bipartisan support is secured , however only 13 states are needed to block amendment .
• Flexibility - Why can rigidity be a bad thing in the constitution?

  It may lead to an outdated constitution.
• Flexibility - Amendments often take decades to win state support e.g 6 waiting to be ratified now
• Flexibility - In practice, this has led to few successful amendments being passed due to the difficulty of obtaining broad consensus among states with diverse interests and priorities.
• Flexibility - Article V allows Congress to propose constitutional amendments by simple majority vote, but requires approval from three quarters of the states (38) to pass them into law.
• Democracy - New amendments extended democratic rights , however constitution not initially democratic with lack of womens rights and slavery . e.g takes until 1964 to remove clauses making African american votes difficult .
• Democracy - Why can the electoral college be seen as undemocratic?

  Trump lost the popular vote in 2016 but still becomes president
• Democracy - The Electoral College is criticised because it gives more weight to smaller states than larger ones, which could result in candidates winning the presidency without receiving the most votes nationwide . e.g Trump lost the popular vote to Clinton in 2016 , but wins key states like Florida
• Protection of rights / liberties - The 1st amendment protects freedom of speech
• Protection of rights / liberties - the Bill of rights has evolved to protect women , African Americans . However when initially drafted , initially failed to protect minorities .
• Protection of rights/liberties - Reliance on president and SCOTUS activism to defend rights can be seen as weakness as the constitution has initially failed .
• Effective govt - In which clauses is the separation of powers clearly laid out?

  Articles 1 , 2 , 3 . 4 also reserves state rights .
• Effective govt - Due to separation of power , bipartisanship is required , which there is very little of . However even with little bipartisanship legislation can be passed e.g Trumps inflation reduction act
• Effective govt - Separation of power is more like power sharing , which can lead to govt shutdown e.g Trump 2019 govt shutdown for 35 days .
• Effective govt - Only 2% of legislative proposals become laws , positive or negative