Wednesday, June 3, 2020 - Constitution Study Group - Executive, Judicial, & Amendments AddressingRace

Video Subtitles:

hello Internet happy Wednesday June 3rd
today is the 3rd installment of our
Constitution study group thank you so
much for being here today it's gonna be
a good one I'm really excited about it I
have put together today's program very
much in alignment with what we're
dealing with
especially with addressing the elephant
in the room which is this silent racism
that people are now starting to identify
and address and really confused about
you know how we can move forward from it
and not to say that I have any of those
answers but I'm going to focus towards
the end of today's session looking at
all the places in the Constitution where
race is addressed and where I believe
the activists that are you know working
to address these looking to address this
issue could actually use the
Constitution and protecting not only
protecting but supporting the rights and
and just in general a culture that needs
to be formed around discrimination and
the way that we treat people so again
today is gonna be a very good session
last session I went over the first
article the Constitution which is
dealing with Congress now I'm going to
move on hi Gabby good to see you how are
you happy Wednesday
happy hot day here in Vegas we are on
full full-on hot now it's okay well
we'll survive it so yeah I was I was I
was saying last time I went over article
one and this time I'm going to continue
with articles two
and three which do outline the the the
three main branches of the government
so cover article two is about the
executive or the president article three
is about the judicial branch and then
I'm going to jump into some of the
amendments so the structure of these
classes is not following the
Constitution section by section rather
trying to find a flow of pieces that we
can read from and pull from and study
especially keeping the conversation
relevant to what we're dealing with
right now in the world so please feel
free to throw your questions in a lot of
today I will be just reading you know
articles 2 & 3 which is quite a bit of
text so even if I'm in the middle of
reading and feel free to text in your
question and I will see it and be able
to address it I am also going to throw
up the link it's there in the and the
online videos on on the Facebook and
YouTube videos if you want to jump into
the live conversation to either correct
me on something which I would love to
have or you know to ask some more
detailed questions or just to give your
viewpoint or perspective on what's being
talked about you are more than welcome
to do so so you click this link up here
and it will send you to a waiting room
for a zoom room so definitely not going
to give you the ability to jump right in
and start trolling my my time here
that's definitely not what I want to
encourage but I do want to encourage
conversation and collaboration this is a
colle learning experience I have not
read or thought about the Constitution
since I was in high school that was a
very long time ago coming up to 20 years
ago so you know it is a good time for us
to all come learn together so no matter
what age you are what background you
have this is just an activity for us to
build our identity around being a
kradic community regardless if it's here
in the United States or anywhere else in
the world you know the the Constitution
is the longest-standing you know
democratic governments documents so I
think there's a lot to be learned from
it so with no further ado I'm going to
move on article 2 section 1 the
executive power shall be vested in a
president of the United States of
America
he shall hold office during the term of
four years and together with the vice
president chosen for the same term be
elected as follows each state shall
point in such manner as a less
legislature thereof may direct a number
of electors equal to the whole number of
Senators and Representatives to which
the state may be entitled in the
Congress but no senator or
representative or person holding an
office of trust or profit under the
United States shall be appointed an
elector the electors shall meet in their
respective states and vote by ballot for
two persons of whom one at least shall
not be an inhabitant of the same state
with themselves and they shall make a
list of all the persons voted for and
the number of votes for each which list
they shall sign and certify and transmit
sealed to the seat of the governor
government of the United States directed
to the president of the Senate the
president of the Senate shall in the
presence of the Senate and House of
Representatives open all the
certificates and the votes shall be
counted the person having the greatest
number of votes she'll be presidents if
such number be a majority of the whole
number of electors appointed appointed
and if there be more than one who have
such majority and have an equal number
of votes in the House of Representatives
shall immediately choose by ballot one
of them for president and if no person
have a majority then from the five
highest on the list
the said house shall in like manner
choose the presidents but in choosing
the president the votes shall be taken
by States the representatives from each
state having one vote a quorum for this
purpose shall
consists of a member of my or members
from 2/3 of the states and a majority of
all the states shall be necessary to a
choice in every case after the choice of
the president and the person having the
greatest number of votes of the electors
shall be the vice president but if there
should remain two or more who have equal
votes the Senate shall choose from them
by ballot the vice president so yeah
that was something that confused me I
had read this before going live here and
yeah I guess I was quite ignorant on the
election process I did understand about
these electors the Electoral College and
you know how the the vote is technical
the technical votes is not necessarily a
popular vote like we usually think of
voting
but it's the votes of these electors but
what confuses me here that didn't know
about was about the whole vice-president
in every election and every seat that
I've ever seen filled since I've been
alive the Vice President you know came
in a package with with the president
right here it says you know the next
after the choice of the president the
person having the greatest number of
votes of the electors shall be the vice
president
so yeah that's confusing so I'm gonna
have to research that more and this
could be a contextual thing so something
that I've been seeing as I started
reading this document is that the
language is very different I mean even
for example the choose the way the word
choose is written is very interesting
I'm actually gonna lick that up real
quick just to see the origin of that
word it is spelt chus e it's a verb
it's just choose like the word choose we
knew you know just written a different
way seems that it's from like 18th
century English so yeah so sometimes
there's like literal words like that
that are you know misunderstanding and
then of course with the evolution of
time and with the events which I haven't
gone through all the amendments now
there easily could have been some
adjustments to the rules through the
amendments so I have to go all the way
through that to really understand what
this means but as far as the tie so this
long-winded thing I just said just
described a tie
within the electoral college if there's
a tie and those votes then the vote does
go to the House of Representatives and
so this DesPlaines all of that and I had
never seen that but in the show veep
that happens with the the election that
the main characters go through there's a
tie and so the Congress Congress people
have to vote and they make the choice so
move on the Congress may determine the
time to go start over the Congress may
determine the time of choosing the
electors and the day on which they shall
give their votes which day shall be the
same throughout the United States no
person except a natural-born citizen or
a citizen of the United States at the
time of the adoption of this
constitution shall be eligible to the
office of President neither shall any
person be eligible to that office who
shall not have attained to the age of 35
years and then 14 years of resident
within the United States so yeah those
those are the guidelines to be president
in case of the removal the president
from office or of his death resignation
or inability to discharge the powers and
duties of the said office the same shall
devolve on the vice president and the
Congress made by
provide for the case of removal death
resignation or inability both of the
president and vice president declaring
what office shall then act as president
and such officers shall act accordingly
until the disability be removed or
president shall be elected I don't make
sense the president shall at stated
times receive for his services a
compensation which shall neither be
increased nor diminished during the
period for which he shall have been
elected and he shall not receive within
that period any other a moment from the
United States
or any of them before he enters on the
execution of his office he shall take
the following oath or affirmation so
this is what every president has to make
a otha when they take their office
including our current president I do
solemnly swear or affirm that I will
faithfully execute the office of
President of the United States and will
to the best of my ability preserve
protect and defend the Constitution of
the United States simple as that it's a
pretty simple job people say it's hard
to be president but that's all you got
to do I don't know I'm just kidding all
right section two we're still on the
executive the President shall be
commander in chief of the Army and Navy
of the United States and of the militia
of the several states when called into
the actual service of the United States
he may require the opinion in writing of
the principal officer in each of the
executive departments upon any subject
relating to the duties of their
respective offices and he shall have the
power to
we need and we should put myself on
silent sorry about that
and he shall have power to grant
reprieves and pardons of offenses
against the United States in except in
cases of impeachment he shall have power
by and with the advice and consent of
the Senate to make treaties provided
two-thirds of the Senators present
concur and he shall nominate and by with
the advice and consent of the Senate
shall appoint ambassadors other public
ministers and consuls judges of the
Supreme Court and all other officers of
the United States whose appointments are
not here and otherwise provided for and
which shall be established by law but
the Congress made by law that's the
appointment of such inferior officers as
they think proper and the president
alone and the courts of law and in the
heads of departments the President shall
have power to fill up all vacancies that
may happen during the recess of the
Senate by granting Commission's which
shall expire at the end of their next
season session so this part is important
you know because it lists off all the
different people that the president can
appoint different positions a you know
especially in military and I was kind of
like reading a little outside of this to
understand why this is so important that
it's written in the Constitution this
way not just for a logistical
perspective of how logistical er we
going to fill all these seats but by
giving the responsibility to the
president for these particular seats it
does allow the president to bear the
full responsibility of these things so
for instance if if the military behaves
badly or members of the military behaves
badly because of this statement here
this
section stating it's the president's
duty to fill these seats and commissions
that it's ultimately the president's
responsibility of those behaviors of
those folks so you know I think this
this brings up a little bit about stuff
that I've questioned in the past of
mostly around military right because
military does have a lot of power does
have a lot of responsibility and is is
often criticized for you know making
wrong decisions or making unethical
decisions in actions and that's
ultimately we we can put our president
you know at fault of even their
individual actions because ultimately
all of the orders and all of the
executions and and everything is all
that responsibility does fall back on to
the executive the president and yeah
because I always thought about like what
is that ethical dilemma that an
active-duty military member may have
are you guys I'm gonna turn my phone off
I'm still trying to call me right now
I'm not answering that active-duty
military would have that moral dilemma
of this is the order that I'm given if I
do a good job which is what I want to do
I'm going to follow this order but my
personal value base is is telling me not
to follow that order and how do you
reconcile that that dilemma and and do a
good job at the same time while standing
up for what you believe is your job
because yes the military also takes that
same oath that the president takes that
they will protect the Constitution that
will protect this document but
ultimately if it's the president's
responsibility it's the president's
responsibility so that's something I
don't think I don't think about too much
there was a little bit of confusion
about what is treason right because then
that could be called treason if you go
against the order of the executive or of
your superiors that could be interpreted
as treason you know so interesting
dilemma but ultimately it falls back on
the president so you know let's hold our
president accountable for the job he's
supposed to be doing and you know this
job that he's doing is not meant to be
it's it's not like an entrepreneur right
so like an entrepreneur that's running a
business I was running a large
organization and and probably has a lot
of the same duties and responsibilities
that are written right here about the
president's but when you are
entrepreneur you are running your own
organization you're creating your own
culture and the job of building your
team and leading your team
as a very it's much more autonomous than
than what's written here in the
Constitution and as an entrepreneur as
you're building your team there there
could be enjoyment there can be autonomy
there can be independence and and yeah
just this positivity like enjoyment that
this is a privilege that we get to build
our teams and build our culture and our
company the way we want to versus the
president is working within a lot less
autonomy in that sense that the
president is working within a context
that is much older than the president as
a human being as a living human being is
and in even overarching than that is is
working within a context that's gonna
survive hopefully much longer than that
person is in office so it's almost as if
these jobs these duties are our
obligations and our you know not not a
privilege but a duty and I think at the
president saw it that way and behaved
that way of course especially if there
was accountability of like the behaviors
of these are there folks that you
appointed their behavior is directly
gonna come fall back on you which that
does happen in business as well with an
entrepreneur every entrepreneur knows
that if you invite somebody into your
team that doesn't perform and doesn't
live up to what you anticipated for them
to have when they join your team you
know like you can blame that person all
day long for their lack of productivity
and their poor you know teamwork or
whatever you want to you want to focus
on of why they failed but ultimately
it's
it's the managers fault you know when
you move on and figure it out but in the
case of the president I mean we're
dealing with decisions that affect
millions and millions of people and so
yeah these these jobs that the president
have are not privileges as they are real
duties serious duties that they're an
immense amount of responsibility so
there's that again if you guys disagree
or are confused don't know please feel
free to type in a question or you know
come to this link over here I'd be happy
to talk with you about it moving on he
shall have power by and with the advice
and consent of I'm already read that I'm
sorry
section 3 he shall from time to time
give the Congress information on the
State of the Union and recommend to the
to their consideration such measures as
he shall judge necessary and expedient
he may on extraordinary occasions
convene both houses or either of them
and in case of disagreement between them
with respect to the time of adjournment
he may adjourn them to such time as he
shall think proper you shall receive
ambassadors and other public ministers
he shall take care that the laws be
faithfully executed and shall commission
all the officers of the United States so
this just kind of reiterating the the
responsibilities or duties you know of
his office
definitely not privileges duties section
for the president vice president and all
civil officers of the United States
shall be removed from office on a peach
mint for and conviction of treason
bribery bribery or other high crimes and
misdemeanors well it's kind of cool you
know drain them all out
so yeah that's the executive that's all
the president's job and duties nothing
glamorous there and if you do a bad job
the president does a bad job and convict
and convicted of doing a bad job within
something that's been deemed illegal
illegal here convicted of treason
bribery or other high crimes and
misdemeanors your whole organization is
going to go with you not just the
president all right
section 3 article 3 section 1 the
judicial power the United States shall
be vested in one Supreme Court and in
such inferior courts as the Congress
made from time to time ordain and
establish the judges both of the Supreme
Court and inferior courts shall hold
their offices during good behavior and
shall at stated times received for from
their for their services a compensation
which shall not be diminished during
their continuance of off in office
section 2 the judicial power shall
extend to all cases in law and equity
arising under this constitution the laws
of the United States and treaties made
or which shall be made under their
authority to all cases affecting
ambassadors other public ministers and
consuls to all cases in Admiralty and
maritime jurisdiction to controversies
to which the United States shall be a
party to controversies between two or
more states between a state and citizens
of other states between citizens of
different states between citizens of the
same state claiming lands under grants
of different states and between the
state or the citizens thereof and
foreign States citizens or subjects okay
this is very wordy but just highlighting
when this this the judiciary power will
come in
in all cases affecting ambassadors other
public wait thanks Andrew I'm just
trying to help us all find some
connection there's not much I can do but
there's a lot of power and knowing what
our autonomy is you know I think that's
a very powerful word for us to hold on
to as we navigate this road of finding
love of finding prosperity of finding
resilience especially related to the
pandemic and all the chaos that we're
dealing with that so yeah I think the
Constitution is a great document for us
to study even though the language as
you're hearing now is a bit fluffy and
difficult to follow but you know I feel
like if I put myself out vulnerable like
this and and can kind of bring these
words into a context that's more
relatable and of course with teeth we
can get through this the Constitution is
actually not that complex
you know once you get over all the
language and all of that it's a very
short document in fact you can get you
can get ones that are like pocket-sized
just have them with you all the time I
thought I've been funny to make face
masks out of like pocket sized
constitutions anyway moving on thank you
Andrew for saying that and for being a
part of this
in all cases affecting ambassadors other
public ministers and consuls and those
in which a state shall be party the
Supreme Court shall have original
jurisdiction in all other cases before
mentioned the Supreme Court shall have
appellate jurisdiction both as to law
and fact in such exceptions and under
such regulations as the Congress shall
make so it seems that the Congress has a
lot of power in and and setting up the
judicial system and how the judicial
system is
to process something the trial of all
crimes except in cases of impeachment
shall be by jury and such trials shall
be held in the state where the said
crimes shall have been committed but
when not committed within any state the
trial shall be at such place or places
as the Congress made by law have
directed section 3 treason against the
United States shall consist only in
levying war against them or in adhering
to their enemies giving them aid and
comfort no person shall be convicted of
treason unless on the testimony of two
witnesses to the same overt act or on a
confession in open court the Congress
shall have power to declare the
punishment of treason but no attainder
of treason shall work corruption of
blood or forfeiture except during the
life of the person attained so yes
treason big deal
making more against our own people it's
a tricky thing it's a lot to unpack
right there
so yes let's not commit treason be
peaceful
don't be levying war against ourselves
make sense so so yeah that's it
that's pretty much I've laid out all
three branches of the government now you
understand those things and actually all
the articles I've gone through them
already because four five and six I went
through with you all in the first
meeting where we talked about the rights
of the state and the rights of the
federal government that's that's where
though it's all laid out and then I did
go through the Bill of Rights which are
the first ten minute amendments but now
I wanted to jump to an amendment that is
current right now something we're
dealing with right now which excuse me
the 15th amendment I wanted to choose
one that is in relation to to race so
there is one amendment that does address
race in the in the Constitution and it's
around the same time of the First
Amendment's very powerful amendment that
abolished slavery just a 13th amendment
and the 13th amendment was 1865 1865 is
when it was passed so I mean this is a
while back in slavery you know that was
when slavery became legal and just to
read that word for it for you so section
1 amendments 13 says neither slavery nor
involuntary servitude except as a
punishment for crime whereof the party
shall have been duly convicted shall
exist within the United States or any
place subject to their jurisdiction
section 2 Congress shall have power to
enforce this article by appropriate
legislation so that's it that was the
abolishment of slavery but just kind of
interesting that there is an exception
that if it's for a crime so if you'd
punished a crime then we can we can
definitely have slaves but no but so and
this doesn't address race it just
addressed the action of slavery of
holding slaves and involuntary servitude
which is great amazing blessing that we
have that it's like duh you know but
then five years later this other
amendment was passed and and there was
another one passed in between - which is
also very important which I had
addressed in the last talk in regards to
individual rights versus state rights
and so when the 14th amendment it's very
long I'm not going to read all of it
right now but the 14th amendment just
basically says you know if you were born
or if you're now
our lives in the United States you're a
citizen in the United States you were
entitled to all the same rights that
everybody else is entitled to including
Public Safety and public health and so
that's where you know in the last talk I
kind of highlighted the specifics of of
why the states or even federal
government would have the right to make
an order such as wearing a masks such as
having stay at home order if it's having
to do with Public Safety we all have the
right to public safety and so then you
know that order would then be protecting
that right versus impeding on our rights
of Independence and our right of doing
what we want to do so in any other case
we would be able to but when there's the
issue of Public Safety it's a very
different situation
and then the 15th amendment goes on
further to talk about race or other
forms of discrimination and it goes like
this section 1 the right of citizens of
the United States shall votes mr. Tovar
again section 1 the right of citizens of
the United States to vote shall not be
denied or abridged by the United States
or by any State on account of race color
or previous condition of servitude
section 2 the Congress shall have the
power to enforce this article by
appropriate legislation so this is in
regards to voting but our right to vote
is our ultimately is our only power
within the Constitution but it's a big
power and you know a lot of times we do
kind of dismiss that that that rights
and like to focus on our other rights
that you know ultimately in the
Constitution they're not really
protected again just in the case if
there's a special case that it's
involving public safety or
you know emergency or crisis you know
our powers are reduced quite a bit but
our power to vote is never reduced that
is our core power and so that why that's
why it is very important that you vote
if you don't vote you are not even
tapping into that power one little bit
so it is really important to vote and
then also to maintain communication and
connection with those represent
representatives that you do vote because
that's how you can influence them and
their actions so our representatives
have power they give power to our
government be that through the Congress
through you know the Senate or the House
of Representatives
or who we vote for the executive who we
just saw when I wrote out all of Article
two that the president the executive has
a very large reach of I'm not going to
use the word power because power in that
context could seem like privilege its
responsibility which is I think an
important to differentiate in my mind
it's important I don't know if you guys
have a different perspective you can go
ahead and and shout out and tell me that
you think it doesn't make a difference
if you use the word privilege or power
or responsibility or duty I just feel
like it makes a lot of difference so we
have that power to influence those
things through our voting and through
our communications with those
representatives so the fact that article
15 is addressing race color or previous
condition of servitude which is really
not too cool you want but that that
those things be are related to the power
to vote is very powerful and like this
could be used and defending any type of
discriminatory communication right now
be it black lives matter or any other
initiative there's a lot of
discrimination going on particularly
with black lives matter though it's a
special one because there are rights
rights to safety rights too I'm gonna
read amendment 14 which was the powerful
amendment that explained the rights of
citizens which regardless of race or you
know past condition of servitude we are
all citizens and we all are the right to
votes and we should never be deprived
life liberty or property without due
process of law or denied any person
within its jurisdiction the equal
protection of the laws so that is the
premise that we are all working on that
like we all have those same rights and
in the case of black communities time
and time again it has been seen as a
generality that those rights are not
extended at the same level that they're
extended to other folks and not to say
that white people don't experience in in
in cases similar discriminations of not
being extended those rights or deprived
of life liberty or property but the
black community does experience at a far
higher rate and there's so many other
like little little things that may seem
petty or small compared to being
deprived of life liberty or property
such as discrimination at work or
discrimination business or
discrimination among your peers and your
friends and even if it's just subtle
it's just like a subtle small thing it
all plays into this you know it's really
important that we we do work within this
context of understanding it inside I
save
for those that are having this
conversation and a lot of people are and
it's great it's so good that this
conversation is being had you know my
personal wishes is that those
conversations remain open-hearted and
open-minded and full love and full of
understanding from both sides from all
sides but you can't reference the
Constitution in this case we totally can
100% constitution fighters use the
fourteenth and fifteenth amendment to
support the claim yeah we are all we are
all do for for these rights now
something else I wanted to go over
[Music]
within the the police brutality protests
going on and the conversation going on
around the subject I've heard different
calls of actions and one of them that I
thought was interesting was a new
amendment a new amendment that would
address the the responsibilities and
restrictions of a police force and and
really to be honest nowhere else in the
Constitution have I seen police force
address the military is addressed at
certain points and mostly it bears all
responsibilities bears back on the
President as I read earlier in article 2
so there is some talk about
responsibilities and military but there
is no talk about responsibility of
policing other than it is the state's
responsibility to figure that out the
state has the power to protect our
Liberty you know it would be a police
horse or among other things that the
state could have in place to protect our
liberties but the police force tends to
be a very significant part of that
initiative but there's nothing in here
that says what kind of restrictions are
what kind of duties the police force has
so I you know the call of action that I
saw did not have a specific
recommendation of an amendment made
other than that there should be some
accountability which I totally believe
in I think that's incredible yeah that's
let's highlight let's further highlight
what responsibilities and powers you
know each one of us as as guardians and
protectors of the Constitution what are
each of our roles you know we definite
at this point like we know the citizens
role my role is to vote that's it
vote and communicate with your
representatives which petitioning for
this amendment is definitely part of
that right of that responsibility in
duty so then I research to find out you
know of course in an article 4 it does
explain how amendments are made and how
they get voted on and passed but
so then something interesting I saw is
of all the 20 cent
yeah all the 27 amendments that have
been passed and the last one was passed
in 1992 so it's been some time it's
about time you know we freshen things up
all of them have been passed through
vote and the and the Congress which is
good very democratic but there's another
option of how to make an amendment and
this option has never been used in the
past and what I would like to throw out
for the world is is perhaps maybe it's
time now for us to do that like history
is being made all around us like right
now in this moment is crazy how much
history and change is happening so fast
like now is the time to embrace you know
the alternate path you know the path was
chosen and that's through a
constitutional convention so yeah I mean
that's an actual gathering that's and we
haven't had a constitutional convention
since the Constitution was was written
and passed
Constitutional Convention so I tried to
look up like what would a constitutional
convention look like who would be there
what would happen and there's not really
a whole lot of answers here so if you
guys know about this and I'm gonna ask
I'm gonna ask some friends that are that
are knowledgeable and so maybe next time
around
next week I'll go into more detail about
that but it seems like something like
this
could it be interesting because it's
like there could potentially be other
amendments that would be very important
to address a lot of important things to
address just like an overall just like a
refresh of not the Constitution of
itself but of our connection and
identity with the Constitution
especially from our elected officials
and and and and folks that have taken an
oath of protecting the Constitution and
yeah so I just think that'd be so cool
how cool would that be 2020 the United
States first constitutional convention I
mean of course we had the original one
but this would be like the first one and
it's it's written in in the Constitution
that that's how amendments could get
passed they could either get passed
through votes or they could get passed
through a convention which two-thirds
let me read it exactly
I'm gonna read article thigh begin I've
read it before about ready to give the
Congress whatever two-thirds of both
houses shall deem it necessary shall
propose amendments to this Constitution
or on the application of the
Legislature's of two-thirds of the
several states shall call a convention
for proposed amendments which in either
case shall be valid to all intents and
purposes as part of this constitution
when ratified by the Legislature's of
three-fourths of the several states or
by conventions and 3/4 thereof as the
one or the other mode of ratification
may be proposed by the Congress provided
that no amendment may be made prior to
year 1800 any age shall in any manner
affect the first and fourth clauses of
the ninth section of the first article
and that no state without its consent
shall be deprived of its equal suffrage
in the Senate so basically all the
states just have to call it and with how
information struggling with now how
things are happening no I don't think it
would be to that that hard to have
something like this created shit let's
make it let's make it a virtual thing
where everybody can participate and
maybe not participate but everybody
could be part of that conversation and
know what's being said and know what's
being created and have an opportunity to
vote and to have your say in to what's
and what's happening and bringing up the
conversation of you know the powers and
privileges of police force and
reiterated I mean this is this doesn't
mean we don't have to make amendments
about equal rights and about racism
we don't it's already made that was made
in 1869
that amendment was made that that
highlighted the importance and equal
rights regardless of your race so you
know we just need a refresher and we
need to find the points in the system
that are not respecting those rights and
that's a big one that's like that's a
big thing to try
proposed in a single vote right so
there's two methods of getting an
amendment passed a new amendment pass
one is the votes in both you know House
and Senate 2/3 vote and both how you
know that gets written the law gets
written or the amendment gets written
these are pretty heavy topics and
there's even more topics on top of it
that could be addressed through a
convention you know maybe maybe it'd be
cool that is so cool see that happen
right now and we have the power like as
individuals we have power to like make
shit like that happen we do I think we
do I mean of course there is some
oppressive powers that are gonna be very
effective and in holding and oppressing
the power that we have as individuals
but our power as individuals really if
we really look at it and really bring it
together is by far more powerful than
any corporation or anything really the
problem is the divide right and I think
having a constitutional convention is
like it's a bipartisan thing it's an
opportunity for all of you points to
come together and talk about what's
going on and yeah I mean this is not
something I've thought deeply about I
really was just doing a little reading
before going live here just to make sure
I was understanding everything and then
learning that a convention has never
happened since the very first one and
this Constitution was written over 200
years ago we haven't had another one
it's it's it's about friggin time you
know so yeah I just think that's a cool
idea some of you'll see me start
organizing ways that we we can reach out
to our representatives that we vote for
regardless if you voted for them or not
they're still your representative and we
have the power to communicate with them
and influence them of what we want we
say what we want a conversate
to open up and we don't want this
conversation just to happen at the state
level like a lot of these systemic
changes that we want to see done have to
come from the federal level right
because the even though the state level
has more power than the federal level
the federal level can delegate to the
states the culture in which they want
them to execute their power and I think
that's what's needed right now I think
we need a and we have an American
identity we have identity with this
Constitution you know we can we can pull
that together to fix these systemic
problems that have become so bad they're
affecting all of us all of our
communities right now are you know
they're they're energized you know
there's some good there's some bad but
they're energized and I feel like like
now is the time like let's harness that
energy to yeah to make some changes and
feel good you know feel good about our
Constitution feel good about our
neighbors feel good about our
politicians and the trust that we have
around us so that's uh that's just my
personal opinion come in and at the end
but I think I'm gonna sign out soon it's
been fun today
not too much engagement but that's okay
all of these videos get replayed on our
blog all the videos are posted with the
transcripts of the videos so it will be
easy to find specific things if you're
looking for specific things afterwards
and so this has been the third video I
look forward to making a fourth video
perhaps on the fourth video I will
finish the rest of the amendments which
now there's only going to be 14
amendments left and then I don't know
after that I I hope I have some more
engagements and we can we can have more
discussion around this but yeah any I
like I know that that was probably the
most
provocative thing that I offered today
was the thought of calling a
constitutional convention I don't know I
think that'd be kind of cool would that
look like I build the virtual space for
that I should just do it I should just
like build the virtual space like make
it like a really awesome place to go
that everybody's gonna want to go to
that's just like filled with information
and filled with opportunities for people
to co-create information and co-create
art and and all this great stuff and we
can all be a part of it every American
citizen you know should be our right to
be engaged with this process and to know
what's going on you know of course in a
sexy environment is always important for
increasing engagement and that's what's
needed right now so oh yeah vote Modi
it's happening primaries are happening
right now a lot of you know more local
positions need to be filled right now
and so that's one area that you can
execute your power from the Constitution
so please go research voting I think
that there's still time to register to
vote if you never registered before a
lot of places are doing Mellon ballots
and online voting so research all of
that but definitely by November we'll
have been doing this for several weeks
now and I had hoped that you have a lot
of pride in identity in this Democratic
community that we are a part of and will
want to be a part of the voting process
in November that's a big one because
we're voting on our executive and
several different you know
representatives in the House and Senate
so but the executive is most important
because he bears all the responsibility
he or she you know she now but soon
let's just start calling the president
sheet regardless of who it is I'm just
gonna do that I mean I'm gonna change
the sex on it cool guys well I'm gonna
sign out thank you so much for listening
today for being my friend for
encouraging me for engaging with this I
love and appreciate all you