There are three ways to change the Constitution of the United States. Two of them are spelled out in the Constitution itself but many do not know that there is actually a third way. The Constitution itself is considered the highest law of the land but there is in fact a higher authority and that authority can change or even abolish the Constitution. That authority is the same authority that empowers the Constitution in the first place. Naturally, it is the people. The citizens of this nation empower the Constitution, the congress, the President, and the judicial system. A popular amendment is a change of one of those things by the people. The idea is taken from the framework of the Constitution itself and one of the original framers, James Wilson stated that no positive government would attempt to deny the people this right. This suggests that the reason the framers did not list this method in the body of Constitution is that it is self-evident and implied by the theories that support the Constitution and does not need to be explicitly stated.

Amend because we can no longer trust our government. The principles and ideas behind our nation are good and just but they have never been applied correctly. The most powerful roles in our government are held by an elite class and reserved to that class. Our senators and presidents are all part of an old aristocracy that in some cases traces back to the founders of our nation. They have slowly centralized power that was meant to be distributed. They have allowed special interests and corporate sponsors to gain influence they should never have had. They add so much pork to bills that what could be said in ten pages is expanded to a thousand and none of that pork is in the interest of the people. This is not even a conspiracy, the system is established in such a way that immense sums of money are required to campaign and attain office and this limits campaigning to those who have money and influence.

In short, changes and reform are needed and those changes run contrary to the interests of those in power. For a long time it looked like the only way those changes could come about was an armed revolution that cast aside the corrupt elements in our society. But most people in our nation do not wish to see bloodshed. In fact, forcing bloodshed upon us is no small part of the crimes that those in power have committed. That is the basis for a popular amendment. It is a way to bring about radical change without having to resort to violence, a way to make the voice of the people heard clearly and with resounding power.