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FAULT LINES IN THE CONSTITUTION by Cynthia Levinson

FAULT LINES IN THE CONSTITUTION

The Graphic Novel

by Cynthia Levinson & Sanford Levinson ; illustrated by Ally Shwed

Pub Date: Sept. 22nd, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-21161-3
Publisher: First Second

A thorough examination of the Constitution, its promises and problems, in the form of a graphic novel.

The latest entry in the publisher’s World Citizen Comics series isn’t a patriotic celebration but rather an engagingly readable and well-researched analysis of how the Constitution came about and what its decisions and compromises have meant for the U.S. ever since. Featuring text by the Levinsons, who collaborated on a children’s title of the same name in 2017, and illustrations by cartoonist Shwed, the book offers a “report card” for the Constitution, giving it a C overall (it fares better on defense and poorer on promoting the general welfare). If the Constitution aims to form “a more perfect union,” we might well need a more perfect document. This could be accomplished via a considerable revision of a document that has proven singularly difficult to amend or through the calling of a new Constitutional Convention, all in the effort to deal with issues that the framers couldn’t have foreseen in 1787 or problems that were inherent flaws in the original compromise at a time when the country seemed less like a truly united country and more like a confederation of independent states, to which citizens owed their first allegiance. Fears that more populous states would exert their will over smaller ones have resulted in processes that the authors suggest are undemocratic, including the Electoral College, the makeup of the Senate, the filibuster, gerrymandering, and all sorts of political finagling that runs counter to the wishes of the majority. They provide numerous examples of how issues we face now are the result of decisions made by the framers when the concerns were very different. Perhaps a better Constitution would inspire a better country.

A provocative illumination of the nooks and crannies of a document that citizens have come to take for granted.