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I don't disagree with anything you've written there. But I also don't see the US constitutional amendment process as anything particularly praiseworthy either,
by PaulDavisThe1st 2y ago
I don't disagree with anything you've written there.
But I also don't see the US constitutional amendment process as anything particularly praiseworthy either, and do not think it is capable of being used as a way to rise to the occasion of, for example, the current president.
Of course, it goes beyond the amendment process to the wider US political and social culture, and we are currently living in the midst of an experiment to see just how much power can be simply taken by a president who wants to do so. As the line goes: it's not about who is going to let me, it's about who is going to stop me. The USA does not appear to have particularly robust mechanisms in place to stop a power grab by the administration when there's something roughly approximating a majority in Congress who do no oppose it.
- saghm 1y agoI don't disagree with your views on the amendment process either, honestly. In a lot of ways, it feels like the inertia in the amendment process is responsible for why the envelope has gotten pushed so much in other ways; when the system is too rigid to be able to provide changes that people have a desire for, the motivation for finding ways outside the system increases. It's hard not to worry whether we're approaching a point we can't come back from, and while there have undoubtedly been crises before that the US constitutional system has weathered, the only reason we can even have a conversation about these concerns is survivorship bias; a system only needs to break down once to stop being around to worry about anymore.