All americans? damn! I guess I missed the american memo from the big american group chat.
guys apparently we're treating the constitution as a holy book now. some random guy on the internet posted an image of text so it must be true.
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All americans? damn! I guess I missed the american memo from the big american group chat.
guys apparently we're treating the constitution as a holy book now. some random guy on the internet posted an image of text so it must be true.
Are you saying that people never read it, and follow those that only grabbed what is of their interest and ignored the rest?
Because the Founders are easy stakeholders to appeal to. Their words are old and numerous and vague enough to modern ears that you can attribute any reasonable (and many unreasonable) viewpoints you might hold to them; they're all dead, so you can assume they're all happy with you (and equivalently spinning in their graves about ~~the liberals~~ the other side); most people never really learned about the document they wrote in any depth, so you can say it says anything; and everyone is indoctrinated from a young age to deify both the document (making the thought of crossing or "stomping on" it unthinkable) and the Founders themselves. "Ben Franklin smote the ground and out sprang George Washington; fully grown, and on his horse. Franklin then electrified him with his miraculous lightning rod, and the three of them—Franklin, Washington, and the horse—conducted the entire American Revolution all by themselves."
Terribly convenient, really; for those who have no scruples.
The US constitution has helped a lot of people out against the government (think of the police as part of the government as well). Other countries can't talk shit about the people in power or get arrested for speaking their mind, discord gets crushed, and leaders become dictators with ease. The alternatives don't seem better so why not prop up the constitution that gives the people the power to wield against the government.
Unfortunately the people who think it shouldn't be a "living" document that changes over time are usually idiots.
Except you know all the times it hasn't you know like the sedition acts, Japanese internment upheld by the supreme court, native displacement, jim crow laws and ongoing system racism, the list goes own.
The protections it provides are on a contingency basis subject to be withdrawn when convenient, it isn't some magic shield against tyranny.
You are correct, it isn't a magic shield and that's why it needs to be protected and propped up to some degree. Like any real shield it won't stop everything but the less people believe in it the easier it is to take away. I don't agree with majority rules because that leads to bad things happening so it needs to be balanced out and in a lot of ways what you had gave as examples are when majority ruled. As for sedition, well the US' foundation was started with sedition.
I would rather take something that works most of the time than none of the time.
Take a closer look at any part of the lawbook. Every single change has likely a few regressions. Treat it as sourcecode.