Equal Rights Amendment

One of the brilliant features of the U.S. Constitution is that it is an amendable document.  Apparently, the framer's of the constitution knew that time marches on and with it the necessity for a living document that had the ability to change as the world changed.  Fortunately our world has changed in a progressive way.  Change is inevitable, but it could be regressive (as we may very well, soon, learn).  When the Constitution was written, there were many people that had no rights; slaves,women, native Americans.  If some of the framers were to have it their way, only those that owned land would have had the full protection of the law and full rights under the law.  Slaves and women had no voice, no right to own property and no access to the court system to redress wrongs. 

Our culture and our Constitution have progressed, but as is often the case, law lags behind reality.  Case in point is the Equal Rights Amendment.  Reality is, women do every thing men do.  Women serve in the military.  Women have the 'right' to serve on the battle field.  Women cannot be discriminated against (supposedly) in the job market or the work place.  BUT, one major area where equality has not been reached is that in many cases, women do not earn the same salary as men while performing the same exact jobs.  

The analogy I put forward is that of highway speed limits.  The posted speed limit on most of the interstate highways (at least in the Boston to Washington corridor) is 65 miles per hour [mph].  Now anyone that drives on these interstates knows that the defacto speed is between 75 and 80 miles per hour.  Because the law is 65 mph, police officers can still issue tickets to all or anyone they choose, who is driving the defacto speed.   I propose that what we have with reference to equality in our country is similar.  For the most part we treat women and other minorities equally, again for the most part, but we have not set this in 'stone'.  There is no overarching constitutional guarantee that women and in fact all human beings that are citizens of our country will receive the full protection of the law.  The constitution needs to guarantee the same treatment of ALL people, whether filthy rich or desperately poor, female or male, black or white (or whatever a person's skin tone is), handicapped or fully able, native American or ancestors of those that came to this continent and usurped this land for themselves. 

To guarantee equal treatment under the law would be the morally correct thing to do.  Esther Peterson, a Kennedy appointee, proposed that "specific bills for specific ills" should have been the legislative path to take.  I disagree and I also propose that a re-submission of the amendment be made with additions that reflect further progress in our culture since the original draft in 1923 and the subsequent re-write in 1943 to the wording that was not ratified by the requisite number of states to became law:

Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.

I believe an up to date re-work would keep sections 2 & 3 as shown above.  It is section 1 that I feel could be reworded to read:

Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State to any citizen of the United States of America including, but not limited to gender, race, religious practice, sexual orientation, and physical or mental disabilities.

This is the Equal Rights Amendment and needs to address equal rights for ALL of America's citizens.  Equal Rights are Human Rights.  Women's Rights are Human Rights.  In the current political climate, an amendment with this wording or with the original wording would most likely garner less support than it dd during the ratification process in the 1970s.  I feel like I'm on solid ground when I say that I doubt that either wording would even be adopted by the current Congress.. As the moral compass of our nation, we will need to work diligently to shift who is in Congress and who is in the White House.  Beyond this, on the national level, we will need to work to shift representation at the state level, the grass roots level, to have an Equal Rights Amendment passed and ratified.  This will be a slow process and may take a new generation to accomplish.  I am sad that I most likely will not be here to see this grand accomplishment take place, but I have faith that it will.  Our country is the greatest country on this planet and provides our world with a true moral compass.  Equal Rights for all human beings will start in the U.S. and spread from our country to all other counties, but it will be a slow process.