I love this idea, but I fear it's unworkable in practice.
In the first place, it's lawmakers at the end of the day who have to approve this thing (even if you manage to swing a constitutional convention, and that's scary all on its own) - and I think you'd be hard pressed to get the requisite number of someones to pass a law that can only make their own lives worse.
It would require a revolution, basically - the entrenched system (and my apologies for that eye-rolling cliché) would never allow it. It would take the same fresh look and honest forward thinking that led to the constitution's drafting in the first place
A Constitution with zero teeth is sure to be perpetually shat upon, which is our current reality.
That said, I agree that it's unworkable, for exactly the reasons you stated. Beyond that, the ship has sailed. With our current interpretations of the Constitution, there's hardly any law that could be presumed unconstitutional by any common man.
Any such fix would require either a revolution or a time machine.
In the first place, it's lawmakers at the end of the day who have to approve this thing (even if you manage to swing a constitutional convention, and that's scary all on its own) - and I think you'd be hard pressed to get the requisite number of someones to pass a law that can only make their own lives worse.
It would require a revolution, basically - the entrenched system (and my apologies for that eye-rolling cliché) would never allow it. It would take the same fresh look and honest forward thinking that led to the constitution's drafting in the first place