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Even that sounds easy compared to my country. In Australia a constitutional change requires a referendum, with a double majority condition to pass. Specifically
by AndrewDavis 1y ago
Even that sounds easy compared to my country. In Australia a constitutional change requires a referendum, with a double majority condition to pass. Specifically it requires the vote in over half the states to be in favour, in addition to the overall national vote in favour.
- klardotsh 1y agoThat described Dutch system also sounds relatively easy compared to the US model, which requires 2/3 votes in each chamber of Congress (meaning the people-based one and the land-based one), *then* 3/4 of the states (so another land-based check) have to ratify it. Functionally this means that in the modern political climate, the US Constitution is fully frozen with no hope of amendment really ever again.
- Aeolun 1y agoYeah, I wasn’t clear enough. The first vote (before the election) requires a simple majority vote. The second vote (after the election) requires a 2/3 in favor vote in both houses. I’m not sure if that’s worse than 3/4 states since the Netherlands isn’t so politically localized.
- JumpCrisscross 1y ago> this means that in the modern political climate, the US Constitution is fully frozen Would note that this is a very modern phenomenon, with Nixon having considered pushing for abolishing the electoral college in the 70s.