| Abstract: | The Great Discoveries, which began with Columbus, created a frontier that both eased European population pressures and poured enormous wealth into the Metropolis (Western Europe). A feudalistic, authoritarian society gradually gave way to a more open democratic set of nations. Familiar institutions were born: representative democracy and private-enterprise capitalism. Individualism flowered. During the twentieth century, that 400-year “boom” has come to an end. Population pressures on resources are now roughly similar, or worse, than those of pre-Columbian times. Humankind thus faces a “climacteric”—a coalescence of crises. The “ecological trap”, which imprisoned humans prior to the Great Discoveries, is once more closing. The questions this developed include: 1) is another frontier of comparable significance to the Great Discoveries in the offing? and 2) do the familiar politico-economic institutions of the era of the “400-year boom” require reexamination? The answers given are: 1) science and technology provide the only hope for a new frontier; but while advancing technology has brought many material benefits, it alone cannot do the necessary job; 2) the institutions of the American constitutional order should be reexamined to determine if they are suitable for the time of troubles that lies dead ahead. Several constitutional changes are suggested, to be brought about by a constitutional convention. In sum, a new social paradigm is required. |
