culture

9 Women on Whether They Would Abolish the Constitution

Photo: Jane Drinkard

In her lauded play What the Constitution Means to Me, playwright and star Heidi Schreck debates the merits of our nation’s 229-year-old founding document. But the play, which completes its Broadway runs on August 24, is far from an esoteric lecture. Rather, the Pulitzer Prize finalist recounts her personal journey from a starry-eyed 15-year-old enamored with the Constitution to an adult woman grappling with its strictures and inconsistencies. The story that unfolds describes how the lives of the women in Schreck’s family were shaped by the Constitution and its limitations. She likens the living document to a person, asking, “Are human beings perfect? No. Are we capable of perfection? No. But that doesn’t mean we are not valuable.”

At the end of the show, Schreck brings a high-school student — Thursday Williams or Rosdely Ciprian, depending on the night — on stage to debate whether or not to abolish the Constitution, and then puts it to an audience vote. In favor of abolition, the show argues that the Constitution is working “exactly as it was designed” to “protect the interests of a small number of rich, white men.” On the other hand, discarding the Constitution “doesn’t throw out sexism or racism,” and we could end up with something worse. This past Saturday, we asked women leaving the theater whether they think we should abolish the constitution.

Photo: Jane Drinkard

Ashley Escobar, 25, Texas

“I’d vote to abolish. It’s 2019 and we’re still trying to fight for an Equal Rights Amendment. I’ve seen the show nine times, and it’s a different experience each time. The first time I saw the show, I wasn’t sure. You’re getting a lot of information, so I was like, Where do I fall within this? Am I even represented? The color of my skin is different than the people who wrote this! Then, after listening and processing, I thought, How are we still living according to this document that doesn’t truly include everyone? I have friends who are non-binary and trans. How can I support a document that doesn’t protect them?”

Photo: Jane Drinkard

Donna Bissette, 58, North Carolina

“I would vote to keep it at this point. We just need to have people in office that are able to interpret it in a way that represents who we are now, not 200+ years ago. I don’t want to think of the Constitution as being stagnant. I’d like to think of it as being vibrant and active. I think it’s time for some non-old white men to be in charge. People of color. Women. Younger people. People who aren’t afraid. People who are willing to step out and make some decisions that aren’t attractive to everyone.”

Photo: Jane Drinkard

Miriam Davie, 51, North Carolina

“Doing things because we’ve always done it that way is never a good decision and that’s kind of how we’ve been going along. It’s time to shake it up. But I don’t think I would vote to abolish the Constitution yet. There were a lot of good arguments to do it but I’m concerned about where we would go from there, particularly in the current political climate. I don’t want the people making decisions right now to decide what the Constitution or what the replacement of the Constitution would look like, because I don’t trust our leadership.”

Photo: Jane Drinkard

Michelle Dudley, 21, California

“The arguments for keeping the Constitution seemed more powerful to me. Logistically, it wouldn’t work to abolish the Constitution and not have anything else in place. It makes sense ideologically that we wouldn’t want to have something from 200+ years ago as the standard today, but it doesn’t make much sense to try to make a Constitution within the current frameworks of power. There would have to be a very radical shift for a new Constitution to be any different or better than the one that we had before.”

Photo: Jane Drinkard

Celia Dudley, 54, California

“I guess I’m old school. I would say no to abolishing. The amendment process takes a long time and people are getting impatient, which I can totally understand. But there are ways to work within the system that we have and not just throw the entire system out. So that’s why I’m like, No, you keep it but you keep on changin’ it. Let the future decide how to amend it and change it to make it better. A major shift should take some time. You don’t want whiplash.”

Photo: Jane Drinkard

Simone Jaroslaw, 20, New York

“I would not abolish the constitution. I agree with what Thursday Williams was saying: It’s a lot easier to continue from where we’re already at and build upon what we have, rather than starting from nothing. Personally, I don’t trust the people in power to write a better constitution.”

Photo: Jane Drinkard

Ilene Jaroslaw, 56, New York

“I wouldn’t vote to abolish. One of the brilliant moves of the Founding Fathers is the ability to amend the constitution, which is one reason it’s lasted so long. I think that’s the route to go now to make this a more perfect union. We have very little consensus today and the Constitution is pretty much the only thing we’ve got that’s as close to a consensus as possible.”

Joey Lee Dobbs, 78, Texas

Photo: Jane Drinkard

“Although I think it’s a very flawed document, especially regarding women’s rights, I think abolishing the Constitution would mean that you’d have no government at all. I don’t know that we have, at the present time, the thinkers and doers and philosophers who could put together a better document. Even though I’ve been a political activist my whole life, we haven’t moved the needle far enough at all. It’s very disappointing.”

Photo: Jane Drinkard

Marion Chong, 24, New York

“If there were no repercussions, I would vote to abolish. Watching the show really opened my eyes. There’s a document that is supposed to protect us, but not everyone is protected under it. It excludes people. So it’s sort of an empty promise. If you don’t start now, when are you going to change anything?”

9 Women on Whether They Would Abolish the Constitution