Evolution and Constitutions

Yesterday was Darwin Day (along with Lincoln's birthday) and in view of that, Wayne at Niches posted a link to this video from Seed Magazine. It portrays the 4.6 billion years of our planet in 60 seconds. Things really get cranking at the end, when evolution was facilitating changes from things like blue-green algaes and eukaryotic cell organisms to the first vertebrates and finally (don't blink) Homo erectus and Homo sapiens and domesticated dogs and writing (stop the video close to the end and look at what is going on). It only lasts a minute, worth watching.

We, and all our ancestors, are significant only in the last teeny bit of earth history.

It was during that teeny bit of time that the 1901 Alabama Constitution was passed. It's odd, when you think about it, that a milliblip in time could hold so much suffering and despair as was caused by that document. And when one looks at the entire universe, and the entire expanse of time, is that suffering really significant in comparison?

You're damn right it is.



The 1901 Constitution was written, as the Choctaw Advocate wrote, "by white men, for white men." The paper also urged whites (men) to "stand together".

A lot has been said and written about the 1901 Constitution and how it unfairly burdened blacks and elevated whites, and how blacks were not "at the table" when the document was written.

Let's list the others who were not at the table. Women, poor whites, Native Americans.

It is often brought up that voter fraud is what allowed the 1901 Constitution to be passed. Vote totals for passage in several counties was greater than the total number of registered white voters in those counties.

So a suit has been filed to declare the 1901 constitution unratified and to order a new vote, or a constitutional convention to write a new constitution. Good idea.

If there was a re-vote and the current constitution failed to pass, would that mean we would be operating under the Constitution of 1875 until a new one was passed? That would be interesting.


1875 Constitutional Convention

To find out more about what is wrong with Alabama's constitution and what is being done about it (there is some good news) click here. And follow the suggestions to help us get out from under this burden.