2y ago

I never understood why Americans treat their Constitution like some holy book

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Why? Because a lot of their ideas were good. Creating a system of government that is immune or even resilient to corruption is very difficult, but the US has done pretty good all things considered.
- One of their ideas I personally think would be amazing: allegedly, Thomas Jefferson predicted the Construction would only last less than twenty years before we would completely overhaul our core document of governance. I believe rebuilding the specific details every couple decades would've helped tremendously....
- Yeah but a lot were also bad which is why it’s stupid when people act like the opinions of the founding fathers should matter more than the opinions of contemporary Americans when the same founding fathers were smart enough to realize the constitution should be a living document and not a holy totem to use as a club to stifle any progress.
  
  I think there were only a couple bad ideas, which have been mostly fixed by amendments. It is a living document, it has changed over time. You could argue that it should be easier to change, but there would be consequences for that too.
- It has done a horrible job of it all things considered. Basically all the fabled checks and balances have turned out to be based on nothing but good faith. The founders refused to consider that partisanship would evolve at all, let alone to the extremes it has turned into today.
  Lots of other Western democracies are doing a lot better job at it, not least because they have been allowed to evolve and change with the times, while the core of the US political system has petrified in all its archaism.
- Creating a system of government that is immune or even resilient to corruption is very difficult, but the US has done pretty good all things considered.
  What cave were you living in between 2016 and 2020?
  
  I think it's honestly a testament to the system's resilience that it managed to hold up for 4 years and not completely crumble.
  Our institutions held on for 4 years. I don't think they'll hold on for another 4 though.
  
  Cool, so about the other 98% of US history
- Creating a system of government that is immune or even resilient to corruption is very difficult, but the US has done pretty good all things considered.
  Really? You think so, even tho we are essentially an Oligarchy with a huge amount of corruption, especially in the Supreme Court
  
  Okay, but consider the fact that you are able to write that, and even take to the streets vocally demand change. Things might be bad, but you truly have no idea what it means to live in fear of your government.
  
  You must not be a minority.
  
  I mean you easily have 50 countries in the world where that’s possible. So it’s a pretty low bar you’ve set there.
- We made it less than a century before the first civil war. That's an epic failure in my book.
  
  Is your book a picture book?

245 comments