The Importance of the "Second Constitution" to the Coming Celebrations.

Writing about the United States Constitution is a growth industry. Produc tion of books about the ideas, people, and events of its history has never flagged. This is natural in a country where politi cal, economic, and social disputes invariably become judicial questions. With a 200th birthday celebration imminent in 1987, pens, typewriters, and word-processors have been especially busy. The bull market will run until 1991, the 200th anniversary of the Bill of Rights. Books and magazine articles for children and adults, for lay readers and professionals, for students and teachers, are all well along the pipeline. Non-readers are not going to be neglected. Broadcasters will offer monologues, dialogues, dramas, and documentaries. Competition between the networks and non-profit outlets is promised, "this Constitution" a joint effort of American His torical and Political Science Associations, has announced a striking number of projects in the initial planning stage. Our writers, publishers, and even producers, are sufficiently independent and cantankerous to withstand the guidance of a Federal Commission includ ing Phyllis Schlafly that came into being under the Reagan Administration. So far, the commission has kept a low profile, save for its Chair, Former Chief Justice Warren Burger, who has been giving interviews on and off the record. In these, he has shown that his interest is focused on our law's horse-and-buggy days. Consistent with his outlook is a provocative phrase that has gained acceptance in ultra conservative circles: "the unamended Constitution." Originated by a rightist think tank expert (or rather borrowed from Alexander Hamilton as a term of respect, it was given extra currency by an encomium published over the by-line "Ronald Reagan" which declared that the "unamended constitution is itself a bill of rights." This statement appeared in a 1984 special pre Bicentennial issue of National Forum, a quarterly published by Phi Kappa Phi, a society of collegians and alumni. Some angels from the world of commerce and industry joined the National Endowment for the Humanities in subsidizing the unusually wide distri bution. The consensus of contributors was that the Constitution had endured unchanged for two centuries and its survival is its principal proof of merit. Will the rest of the material now being produced