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They wrote the document defining the currently longest running continuous government in the world. Is the Constitution perfect? No. But it's still fair to ca

They wrote the document defining the currently longest running continuous government in the world. Is the Constitution perfect? No. But it's still fair to call them geniuses for what they accomplished. Also, you are arguing the Founders interpretation of the Constitution is the same as the current Supreme Court. I'm not sure they would agree, but there's no way we can ever know.

buildbot 2y ago
> They wrote the document defining the currently longest running continuous government in the world. This is untrue: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outline_of_San_Marino https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outline_of_San_Marino
rich_sasha 2y ago
Surely, the UK government predates the US, dating back to at least Cromwell, so 17th century, and tenuously as far as Magna Carta (and even Alfred tbe Great if you like, so deep deep medieval).
almostdeadguy 2y ago
It's not even clear what "longest running continuous government" means or how it would be defined.
asdff 2y ago
By that logic we drop everything and adopt the government of ancient rome because its one thats good for at least a thousand years by precedent
blibble 2y ago
> the currently longest running continuous government in the world. the Isle of Man goes back to 1000 or so the current UK system is essentially identical to that of 1689 and has legal governmental continuity since 1066
- janalsncm 2y ago
  If anything that is more impressive given the tiny size of the UK, few natural resources, and miserable weather.
  - mrcartmeneses 2y ago
    Hey! The weather is perfect for working all year round and never doing anything nice!
skadamou 2y ago
I think you mean that the US has the longest continuous running democracy - not just government [1] I think this true and I agree with you that the while the constitution is not perfect, it is still an incredibly impressive document. [1] https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/08/countries-are-the-worlds-oldest-democracies/ https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/08/countries-are-the-wor...
- Novosell 2y ago
  I find that list very questionable. I'm Swedish and while yes, we sorta got general voting rights for men in 1911, we didn't get truly general voting rights for men until 1918 and women 1919. However, before that you could vote if you had enough captial. Is that democracy? That list says it isn't whilst saying that America, in which minorities and women could not vote, is a democracy. That seems like a line draw specifically to be able to say America is the oldest democracy, very disingenuous. If you consider minorities and women to be people then America didn't become a true democracy until 1965.
lesuorac 2y ago
Founding Fathers didn't write the constitution. They wrote the Articles of Confederation which failed leading to the Framers writing the Constitution.
jmyeet 2y ago
The Founding Fathers created a government that: - Led to a bloody civil war that was the most deadly war in human history (until WWI), over 600,000 Americans dead, just ~75 years later; - Largely wiped out the indigenous people of North America; - Enshrined chattel slavery; - Denied the right to vote to women (and in fact all non-white people); and - Has been involved in, responsible for and/or complicit with many coups in the rest of the world [1]. Maybe it's not the best thing to celebrate. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvement_in_regime_change https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvement_in_r...
- Novosell 2y ago
  The Taiping rebellion started before the American civil war and lead to far more deaths. On wikipedia the estimate is 20-30 million. Outside of that, just going to the wikipedia page for deadly wars will find many that dwarf the American civil war.
- lesuorac 2y ago
  > - Denied the right to vote to women (and in fact all non-white people); and It was up to the states to decide who could vote. So depending on the state you had woman voters [1]. [1]: https://www.nps.gov/articles/voting-rights-in-nj-before-the-15th-and-19th.htm https://www.nps.gov/articles/voting-rights-in-nj-before-the-...
metabagel 2y ago
Don't forget that we had a civil war.

buildbot 2y ago

> They wrote the document defining the currently longest running continuous government in the world. This is untrue: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outline_of_San_Marino https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outline_of_San_Marino

rich_sasha 2y ago

Surely, the UK government predates the US, dating back to at least Cromwell, so 17th century, and tenuously as far as Magna Carta (and even Alfred tbe Great if you like, so deep deep medieval).

almostdeadguy 2y ago

It's not even clear what "longest running continuous government" means or how it would be defined.

asdff 2y ago

By that logic we drop everything and adopt the government of ancient rome because its one thats good for at least a thousand years by precedent

blibble 2y ago

> the currently longest running continuous government in the world. the Isle of Man goes back to 1000 or so the current UK system is essentially identical to that of 1689 and has legal governmental continuity since 1066

janalsncm 2y ago
If anything that is more impressive given the tiny size of the UK, few natural resources, and miserable weather.
- mrcartmeneses 2y ago
  Hey! The weather is perfect for working all year round and never doing anything nice!

skadamou 2y ago

I think you mean that the US has the longest continuous running democracy - not just government [1] I think this true and I agree with you that the while the constitution is not perfect, it is still an incredibly impressive document. [1] https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/08/countries-are-the-worlds-oldest-democracies/ https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/08/countries-are-the-wor...

Novosell 2y ago
I find that list very questionable. I'm Swedish and while yes, we sorta got general voting rights for men in 1911, we didn't get truly general voting rights for men until 1918 and women 1919. However, before that you could vote if you had enough captial. Is that democracy? That list says it isn't whilst saying that America, in which minorities and women could not vote, is a democracy. That seems like a line draw specifically to be able to say America is the oldest democracy, very disingenuous. If you consider minorities and women to be people then America didn't become a true democracy until 1965.

lesuorac 2y ago

Founding Fathers didn't write the constitution. They wrote the Articles of Confederation which failed leading to the Framers writing the Constitution.

jmyeet 2y ago

The Founding Fathers created a government that: - Led to a bloody civil war that was the most deadly war in human history (until WWI), over 600,000 Americans dead, just ~75 years later; - Largely wiped out the indigenous people of North America; - Enshrined chattel slavery; - Denied the right to vote to women (and in fact all non-white people); and - Has been involved in, responsible for and/or complicit with many coups in the rest of the world [1]. Maybe it's not the best thing to celebrate. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvement_in_regime_change https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvement_in_r...

Novosell 2y ago
The Taiping rebellion started before the American civil war and lead to far more deaths. On wikipedia the estimate is 20-30 million. Outside of that, just going to the wikipedia page for deadly wars will find many that dwarf the American civil war.
lesuorac 2y ago
> - Denied the right to vote to women (and in fact all non-white people); and It was up to the states to decide who could vote. So depending on the state you had woman voters [1]. [1]: https://www.nps.gov/articles/voting-rights-in-nj-before-the-15th-and-19th.htm https://www.nps.gov/articles/voting-rights-in-nj-before-the-...

metabagel 2y ago

Don't forget that we had a civil war.