It's Supposed to be Difficult

There are times when I've been frustrated at how difficult it is to amend the US Constitution. Aside from the ten amendments that were ratified shortly after the original Constitution was adopted, the document has been amended only seventeen times in over 220 years, a rate of only one amendment every thirteen years. (And one of those amendments was actually part of the original twelve initially submitted to the states as part of the First Congress' constitutional clean-up, the "Rip Van Winkle" Amendment.) But today is not one of those times. In light of yesterday's ruling declaring California's Anti-Gay Marriage Proposition 8 unconstitutional, and the anticipated long fight heading up to the US Supreme Court several years from now, I have read people declaring with great certainty that there will be a Marriage Amendment to the US Constitution Real Soon Now that will guarantee that marriage = one man + one woman.

( Cut so you can easily skip yet another Gay Marriage/Prop 8/Court Decision post if you like )