This is all Benjamin Franklin's Fault

[TLS Guy]

Benjamin Franklin was far too enamoured with the French. So we ended up with a lousy rigid constitution, which I no longer support. I have not stood or recited the Pledge of Allegiance for years, and now regard it as a lousy document.

Our current troubles can be laid right at the door of the American Constitution. ALL rigid constitutions fail, and the US constitution is about to. I hope it is not too violent. But judging by what is happening in the Twin Cities right now, I can be far from certain of that. There is a grave danger of Civil War I think, and it could well start here in Minnesota.

Parliamentary democracies are much more endring. Henry Plantagenet was a really smart man.

 

[Dude#1279435]

I imagine saying America is a Republic doesn't resonate the way saying it's a democracy does. It would be interesting to hear what the founders would have said about Trump. Might get some good philosophical takes.

 

[highfigh]

Benjamin Franklin was far too enamoured with the French. So we ended up with a lousy rigid constitution, which I no longer support. I have not stood or recited the Pledge of Allegiance for years, and now regard it as a lousy document.

Our current troubles can be laid right at the door of the American Constitution. ALL rigid constitutions fail, and the US constitution is about to. I hope it is not too violent. But judging by what is happening in the Twin Cities right now, I can be far from certain of that. There is a grave danger of Civil War I think, and it could well start here in Minnesota.

Parliamentary democracies are much more endring. Henry Plantagenet was a really smart man.

So the US should be like England right now? That looks far worse than the US, to me.

Franklin went to the French because the colonists needed a strong ally and since France & England were frequently fighting and because they were willing to loan money (at least), it was a good plan to strengthen the capabilities.

If a parlaimentary democracy is so good, why did you come to the US?

 

[3db]

The US Constitution has a couple of fatal flaws with it. The first one being, one cannot prosecute a person while they are the President. WTF?? Really? Why should a person regardless of position be exempt from prosecution from laws that they have broken. That creates an artificial divide or class if you will. Its clearly f?cked.

The second one being "We have a right to bear arms" . Its outdated and has become a joke in the eye's of the world, a much deserved target of ridicule for other nations. The current POS and his top echelon are tyrants, breaking international law, (see Venezuela), restricting the rights and freedoms of peoples that voted against the current federal leadership, and deporting veterans out of the US because of their ethnicity. The joke is that the only arms being raised is to rob and murder one another and have ICE agents kill innocent people and not to over throw a tyrannical government which is currently governing the US.

The US under Trump and the current Republicans has become a bad joke and a sour taste on the international stage. Internally, its becoming even more sour and I truly fear that a civil war breaks out in the US. I believe that its the only way for the US to change their constitution to prevent another Trump from happening again. I pray for the US to change the constitution peacefully but I'm afraid that will never happen and thus a lot of innocent people will lose their lives. The phrase in the constitution "we the people" has morphed to "we the people with money, power, and self serving agendas" .

 

[3db]

So the US should be like England right now? That looks far worse than the US, to me.

Franklin went to the French because the colonists needed a strong ally and since France & England were frequently fighting and because they were willing to loan money (at least), it was a good plan to strengthen the capabilities.

If a parlaimentary democracy is so good, why did you come to the US?

What's wrong with parliamentary democracy?

 

[3db]

Benjamin Franklin was far too enamoured with the French. So we ended up with a lousy rigid constitution, which I no longer support. I have not stood or recited the Pledge of Allegiance for years, and now regard it as a lousy document.

Our current troubles can be laid right at the door of the American Constitution. ALL rigid constitutions fail, and the US constitution is about to. I hope it is not too violent. But judging by what is happening in the Twin Cities right now, I can be far from certain of that. There is a grave danger of Civil War I think, and it could well start here in Minnesota.

Parliamentary democracies are much more endring. Henry Plantagenet was a really smart man.

No its not Ben's fault. Its the fault of the people that came afterwards with their greed and self serving agendas that are to blame.

 

[highfigh]

What's wrong with parliamentary democracy?

In theory, nothing but as it's being practiced in England, a lot.

 

[highfigh]

The US Constitution has a couple of fatal flaws with it. The first one being, one cannot prosecute a person while they are the President. WTF?? Really? Why should a person regardless of position be exempt from prosecution from laws that they have broken. That creates an artificial divide or class if you will. Its clearly f?cked.

The second one being "We have a right to bear arms" . Its outdated and has become a joke in the eye's of the world, a much deserved target of ridicule for other nations. The current POS and his top echelon are tyrants, breaking international law, (see Venezuela), restricting the rights and freedoms of peoples that voted against the current federal leadership, and deporting veterans out of the US because of their ethnicity. The joke is that the only arms being raised is to rob and murder one another and have ICE agents kill innocent people and not to over throw a tyrannical government which is currently governing the US.

The US under Trump and the current Republicans has become a bad joke and a sour taste on the international stage. Internally, its becoming even more sour and I truly fear that a civil war breaks out in the US. I believe that its the only way for the US to change their constitution to prevent another Trump from happening again. I pray for the US to change the constitution peacefully but I'm afraid that will never happen and thus a lot of innocent people will lose their lives. The phrase in the constitution "we the people" has morphed to "we the people with money, power, and self serving agendas" .

If the apathetic, ignorant and those who like to resort to violence physically stay out of the conversation, changes could happen but with the hoard of turds in Congress, it will take forever. How long since term limits were first mentioned and that still hasn't happened. Government position isn't supposed to be a career.

 

[ski2xblack]

The problem is not the Constitution. It's stupidity. "Against stupidity the very Gods fight in vain."

The checks and balances built into the constitution, the very things designed to keep tyranny at bay, have been undermined by one party rule. Among those in power we have an alarming proliferation of bandits with overtones of stupidity, and among those not in power an equally alarming growth in the number of helpless individuals. This change in composition of the non-stupid population invariably strengthens the destructive power of the stupid portion of society and makes decline a certainty.

This applies in parliamentary governments too. Look at the UK, where ill advised hate speech laws have been twisted into defacto blasphemy laws leading to people doing hard time for mean tweets. Utterly ridiculous. At least the US Constitution offers protection from such lunacy.

The ideals enshrined in the constitution will endure, if we let them. Secular liberalism is worth preserving and defending when necessary. Giving up because some MAGA Cromwells or revolutionary woke Robespierres make a temporary mess of things would be a tragic mistake.

I think I'm going to go crank up Guns of Brixton by the Clash and listen really loud, and you should too, Dr. Mark.

 

[TLS Guy]

In theory, nothing but as it's being practiced in England, a lot.

I disagree. I think it continuing to keep a civil society by and large and are in better shape then the US and especially the French, who have yet another constitutional crisis. Actually, I think the US does have a constitutional crisis which people are wilfully refusing to acknowledge. If you were in Minnesota right now, you would not disagree that there is a serious constitutional crisis right now. The schools have had to shut, and my grandchildren are terrified. This incident happened right outside one of my granddaughter's schools, and that was close to the Ascension school shooting, where one of her friends was shot. Don't be in denial, there are massive problems in the US right now, and our Constitution is a major root cause of it.