In: Economics
Provide an essay on why does the State Constitution matter and what are the major roles?
Answer) State constitutions are also important to evaluate because they often reflect important political, economic and social changes happening over time. As states have moved from revealing rural economies characterized principally by natural resource extraction in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries (mining, timber, fisheries and agriculture), to governing urbanizing industrial economies in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries (manufacturing), to delivering advice to post-industrial and knowledge-based economies in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, citizens and their political agents have made many revisions to their respective state constitutions – and even replaced them in their entirety when deemed crucial on rare occasion. Such adaptation to change is a key element in the growth of sustainability.
The use of constitutions in states reflects the development of what we call constitutional democracy at our national level of government. At its most fundamental level, the concept expresses the belief that government can and should be legally restricted in its powers, and that its rightful exercise of authority depends on observing these constraints. The government in a democratic country must be responsible to its citizens and operate within the thresholds placed on how and when governmental power is to be practised with respect to the rights and privileges of citizens. While most constitutions in the world, including that of the United States, are codified as single written documents, the idea of constitutionalism can also include multiple written documents and even some unwritten rules and procedures. In the case of Great Britain, for example, there are numerous written components of the constitution such as the Magna Carta (1215 AD) and various statutes enacted by Parliament, but there are also some unwritten parts including principles derived from Common Law and Royal Prerogative.
It matters because its functions are numerous:-
1) To determine the general objectives and ideals of the several states, including the strength of the common good of citizens
2) To organize republican and responsible forms of government, with legal thresholds on the powers of government entities and their instruments
3) To furnish a framework for governmental structures, including the extent of authority, mechanisms for exerting authority, and techniques for the passage and modification of state laws, local ordinances, and administrative laws and regulations. This framework encompasses the executive, legislative and judicial departments of state and local government
4) To give for an autonomous judiciary that authorizes citizens to seek court-ordered treatments for unlawful actions of government as well as a method to challenge laws they understand to be unconstitutional
5) To furnish legal definitions of key concepts and specify a process for creating basic political rights such as standing for public office and voting
6) To stabilize and define the powers of local governments, comprising cities, townships
7) To define the requirements for gripping elective and appointed officials, as well as forming the terms of office for elected officials
8) To provide for a procedure of expulsion of incompetent and corrupt elected or appointed officials, which can include recall and impeachment
9) To clarify responsibilities for important government departments and agencies, and the principal responsibilities of the individuals heading up those state and local governmental entities
10) To create a system of taxation and budgetary methods.
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