America Is Due for a Deep Clean

Examining Constitutional Promises and Historical Efforts to Expand Rights

This country faces ongoing debates about whether its founding documents have delivered equal protection under law for all citizens.

The minister and reformer Graham Taylor, shown here addressing a crowd in Chicago in 1924, was one of many activists who sought to advance specific policy changes in areas such as labor conditions and social services. (Chicago Historical Society, ICHi-018401)

Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II has expressed affection for the United States as his birthplace and has described its founding documents as containing language on rights that later generations have interpreted differently. He has noted that the Declaration of Independence and Constitution used terms such as freedom and justice while also including provisions like the three-fifths clause regarding enslaved persons and omitting explicit guarantees for voting rights or public education at the federal level.

Langston Hughes wrote in 1935, “America never was America to me, / And yet I swear this oath— / America will be!” At the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the nation continues to operate under a Constitution ratified in 1788 and amended 27 times, with courts and legislatures interpreting its clauses on rights in varying ways across different eras.

250 Years of Constitutional Interpretation and Amendments

The Declaration of Independence stated that governments derive powers from the consent of the governed and listed grievances against British rule. The Constitution established a federal structure with enumerated powers and a Bill of Rights ratified in 1791. The three-fifths clause in Article I, Section 2 counted enslaved persons as three-fifths of a person for apportionment purposes until the 14th Amendment. Women were not guaranteed voting rights nationally until the 19th Amendment in 1920, and public education remains primarily a state and local matter under the 10th Amendment.

Historians have documented multiple periods in which groups advocated for changes through legislation, litigation, and constitutional amendments. Abolitionists supported the 13th Amendment ratified in 1865, which abolished slavery except as punishment for crime; the 14th Amendment ratified in 1868, which addressed citizenship and equal protection; and the 15th Amendment ratified in 1870, which prohibited denial of voting rights on account of race. These amendments were followed by Reconstruction-era enforcement acts and later by Jim Crow laws in southern states until federal legislation in the 1960s.

The labor movement secured laws such as the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 establishing minimum wages and maximum hours for certain workers. The women’s suffrage movement culminated in the 19th Amendment. Later efforts addressed immigration through statutes such as the Immigration and Nationality Act amendments and sought expansions in areas including same-sex marriage via the Supreme Court’s 2015 Obergefell decision. Proposals for a national living wage, expanded healthcare coverage, and climate-related regulations have been advanced in Congress and state legislatures with varying degrees of enactment.

These efforts have produced statutes and court rulings that remain subject to legislative revision, judicial review, and electoral outcomes. The 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause, for example, has been cited both to strike down segregation in Brown v. Board of Education (1954) and to uphold or limit affirmative action programs in later cases. Corporate personhood under the 14th Amendment was addressed in Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad (1886) and subsequent campaign finance decisions such as Citizens United v. FEC (2010), which permitted certain independent expenditures by corporations and unions.

Policy Debates Over Implementation

Barber has argued that certain policy areas remain incompletely addressed. He has pointed to voting access measures, including state-level identification requirements enacted after the Supreme Court’s 2013 Shelby County v. Holder decision, which invalidated the coverage formula of the Voting Rights Act’s preclearance provision. Supporters of such requirements cite fraud prevention; opponents cite reduced turnout data from some studies. Birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment’s citizenship clause has been debated in proposals for statutory or constitutional changes, though no amendment has altered it since ratification.

Healthcare policy includes the Medicaid program created in 1965 and expanded under the Affordable Care Act of 2010, with some states opting out of expansion. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program provides benefits subject to annual appropriations and eligibility rules. Minimum wage statutes exist at federal and state levels, with the federal rate last increased in 2009; debates continue over raising it and its employment effects according to economic studies.

Presidential war powers have been exercised under authorizations such as the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force and the 2002 Iraq resolution, with periodic congressional debates over limits. Campaign finance rules post-Citizens United allow unlimited independent spending by certain entities, while contribution limits to candidates remain in place.

Barber advocates policies including a national living wage indexed to inflation, single-payer or expanded public healthcare options, fully funded public schools with federal supplements, rent control or housing subsidies in high-cost areas, green infrastructure jobs, pathways to citizenship for certain immigrants, and reduced military spending. These positions align with platforms advanced by some Democratic candidates and advocacy groups. Alternative approaches emphasize state flexibility, market-based incentives, originalist constitutional interpretation limiting federal power, and fiscal restraint, as advanced by other elected officials and legal scholars.

Historical Movements and Electoral Context

Barber has called for a “Third Reconstruction” involving coalition efforts to enact the listed policies. Previous periods labeled Reconstruction (1865–1877), the New Deal era, and the 1960s civil rights legislation each produced specific statutes later modified by courts or subsequent Congresses. Voter turnout in federal elections has ranged from approximately 50 percent to 66 percent of the voting-eligible population in recent decades, with roughly 90 million eligible adults not participating in the 2020 election according to Census Bureau data.

Barber has urged participation by young, low-income, and minority voters through organized movements. He has referenced a hymn associated with the Social Gospel period of the early 20th century that uses imagery of revival and sweeping change. The Social Gospel movement, active roughly 1880–1920, influenced some Progressive Era reforms such as child labor laws and workers’ compensation statutes.

Reasonable observers differ on whether the Constitution’s text and history require or permit particular modern policies. Originalist approaches, articulated by justices such as Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, prioritize historical meaning at ratification or amendment. Living constitutionalist approaches, associated with justices such as William Brennan, treat the document as adaptable to contemporary conditions. Both frameworks have produced majority opinions across Supreme Court terms.

Barber’s statements appear in an opinion article published by The Nation on June 10, 2026. The piece links personal reflection on American history to advocacy for specific legislative priorities ahead of midterm elections. No biblical parable or reference to returning spirits appears in this neutral presentation of the underlying policy arguments.