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There was a chance for the US Constitution to apply, in translated form of course, when West Germany was initially created. I'm really sorry that we didn't shar

by burfog 7y ago

There was a chance for the US Constitution to apply, in translated form of course, when West Germany was initially created. I'm really sorry that we didn't share. Freedom of speech is something worth fighting for. The fact that the people currently running your country can legally oppress the speech of their political opposition is terrible. Politics shouldn't include the possibility of prosecuting your opponents for campaign speeches.

Tomte 7y ago
Fair enough, and I don't understand why America never tried to export its Constitution and political model, they pretty much were happy with the economic model to conquer the world. Is that covert racism (although "racism" is the wrong word, since there is no ethnical US race – maybe "exceptionalism" as in "only our superior people can actually make it work")? I mean I understand when it comes to Germany. The de-nazification was heavily based on censorship. All newspapers were banned. They were later allowed to re-open, with a license by the military government. Freedom of speech was certainly not something that America wanted in post-war Germany. The same with Japan (whose civil law is so close to German civil law that there are multiple professorships in Germany in comparable Japano-German law studies). But elsewhere? All those nation-building instances that were not directly related to Nazi Germany? All those new eastern-European states, the Balkan states etc.? They draw heavily on European examples, but very rarely on America. I don't feel that geographic proximity alone could explain that.
- foogazi 7y ago
  Turning your comment around: why didn’t those other countries model their constitutions after the US? It certainly does not have a copyright Maybe those values were not part of the founding culture - nothing worse than throwing empty words into a foundational document In the US you see people fight to this day for the 1st (and 2nd) amendment, not because they were written down 200+ years ago, but because it’s part of the culture
  - Tomte 7y ago
    > why didn’t those other countries model their constitutions after the US? Fair point. I started my comment about nation-building efforts by America, where America was dominant and the country in question had virtually no way to decide otherwise (like with Germany). But when I was done editing and re-editing it I had extended it to all kinds of newer countries, and your point is well taken there.
Kbelicius 7y ago
> The fact that the people currently running your country can legally oppress the speech of their political opposition is terrible. And how could they do that?
- tom_mellior 7y ago
  Not sure if that's what the parent meant, but there was a somewhat recent case of a German far-right (NPD) politician sentenced for denying the Holocaust in a campaign speech. It made HN at the time: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21155849 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21155849

by burfog 7y ago

Tomte 7y ago

Fair enough, and I don't understand why America never tried to export its Constitution and political model, they pretty much were happy with the economic model to conquer the world. Is that covert racism (although "racism" is the wrong word, since there is no ethnical US race – maybe "exceptionalism" as in "only our superior people can actually make it work")? I mean I understand when it comes to Germany. The de-nazification was heavily based on censorship. All newspapers were banned. They were later allowed to re-open, with a license by the military government. Freedom of speech was certainly not something that America wanted in post-war Germany. The same with Japan (whose civil law is so close to German civil law that there are multiple professorships in Germany in comparable Japano-German law studies). But elsewhere? All those nation-building instances that were not directly related to Nazi Germany? All those new eastern-European states, the Balkan states etc.? They draw heavily on European examples, but very rarely on America. I don't feel that geographic proximity alone could explain that.

foogazi 7y ago
Turning your comment around: why didn’t those other countries model their constitutions after the US? It certainly does not have a copyright Maybe those values were not part of the founding culture - nothing worse than throwing empty words into a foundational document In the US you see people fight to this day for the 1st (and 2nd) amendment, not because they were written down 200+ years ago, but because it’s part of the culture
- Tomte 7y ago
  > why didn’t those other countries model their constitutions after the US? Fair point. I started my comment about nation-building efforts by America, where America was dominant and the country in question had virtually no way to decide otherwise (like with Germany). But when I was done editing and re-editing it I had extended it to all kinds of newer countries, and your point is well taken there.

Kbelicius 7y ago

> The fact that the people currently running your country can legally oppress the speech of their political opposition is terrible. And how could they do that?

tom_mellior 7y ago
Not sure if that's what the parent meant, but there was a somewhat recent case of a German far-right (NPD) politician sentenced for denying the Holocaust in a campaign speech. It made HN at the time: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21155849 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21155849