4 ms·

because in the midst of all the ancient stuff that is very destablising in the Constitution (electoral college, 2 parties, a head of state which resembles an el

because in the midst of all the ancient stuff that is very destablising in the Constitution (electoral college, 2 parties, a head of state which resembles an elected king etc) there is something that is amazingly well structured: Elections every 2 years (the most frequent in the world) + term limits 22 Months from the date the POTUS takes the oath until the midterms which are always a win for the party not in power , when the POTUS gets a second term effectively 22 months from the moment the POTUS takes the oath until the 'lame duck' period In this way the damage can always be contained by the sheer lack of time to do anything drastic (although Trump is trying)

Tadpole9181 9mo ago
He's talking about cancelling elections, kidnapped a foreign head of state, pardoned thousands of people including the head of one of the largest drug trafficking operations in human history, destroyed countless trade partnerships and is now threatening war with NATO while deploying a gestapo publicly. Meanwhile, if every single Senate seat in 2026 went to a Democrat, they could still not impeach him. And that's after he gets a full doubling of the time it took for him to do all of the above. Then, no matter what, the SCOTUS is now fully stacked with his cronies who have lifetime appointments, the executive has been purged, institutions have been destroyed, and government work is now poisoned so recovering them is doomed. And unless we fundamentally restructure the entire model of our national governance, we are at risk of it just happening again every 4 years with increasing escalation now that the actual Nazis know just how easy it is. Even worse than that, the US people have only gotten worse. They aren't openly going against this and unifying against a dictator. A third of the population is openly calling for dictatorship. So there's absolutely zero sign of this being reversed. I don't exactly see how this is "amazingly well structured".
- deeg 9mo ago
  >They aren't openly going against this and unifying against a dictator. I'll push back on this some. There are demonstrations (the No Kings was the largest political demonstration in US history) and some open defiance, like currently in Minneapolis. But it's not enough. Not yet. The opposition party (Democrats) is led by some feckless weaklings who don't act like they understand the severity of the situation. Polls seem to indicate that unrest is growing so maybe something will change. Sadly I can't say it any stronger than that.
SilverElfin 9mo ago
I don’t disagree, but I am also worried that Trump and many members of his administration view our political process and constitution as something to be discarded or worked around. He literally said the other day that we shouldn’t even have midterm elections. And the main guy behind Project 2025 believes in pivoting to a ‘post constitutional’ America, whatever that means. I have a genuine fear that all the stability that comes from the Constitution and process that America has, is about to be thrown away. But even if it isn’t, I think other countries view it as not as protective as they previously thought.
- jacquesm 9mo ago
  They gamified politics to the point where the state of the country doesn't matter at all as long as they get to have their way. This can't hold long term but it will do immense damage to the USA and the rest of the world until the inevitable correction. I try not to think too hard about how bad this could get but it is hard not to lie awake at night.
jleyank 9mo ago
Yes, but in the US system, gridlock can prevent a budget being passed for a year or more. In the Parliamentary system, failing to pass a budget results in an election. Also, in a multi-party Parliamentary system, majority governments are less common, fostering compromise rather than dogmatism.
jacquesm 9mo ago
There are a lot of implicit assumptions here. But I hope you're right. And if you're wrong I hope then realize that it is those assumptions that will end up costing all of us - including those that can not vote in US elections - dearly but that it is up to all Americans to fix it.

Tadpole9181 9mo ago

He's talking about cancelling elections, kidnapped a foreign head of state, pardoned thousands of people including the head of one of the largest drug trafficking operations in human history, destroyed countless trade partnerships and is now threatening war with NATO while deploying a gestapo publicly. Meanwhile, if every single Senate seat in 2026 went to a Democrat, they could still not impeach him. And that's after he gets a full doubling of the time it took for him to do all of the above. Then, no matter what, the SCOTUS is now fully stacked with his cronies who have lifetime appointments, the executive has been purged, institutions have been destroyed, and government work is now poisoned so recovering them is doomed. And unless we fundamentally restructure the entire model of our national governance, we are at risk of it just happening again every 4 years with increasing escalation now that the actual Nazis know just how easy it is. Even worse than that, the US people have only gotten worse. They aren't openly going against this and unifying against a dictator. A third of the population is openly calling for dictatorship. So there's absolutely zero sign of this being reversed. I don't exactly see how this is "amazingly well structured".

deeg 9mo ago
>They aren't openly going against this and unifying against a dictator. I'll push back on this some. There are demonstrations (the No Kings was the largest political demonstration in US history) and some open defiance, like currently in Minneapolis. But it's not enough. Not yet. The opposition party (Democrats) is led by some feckless weaklings who don't act like they understand the severity of the situation. Polls seem to indicate that unrest is growing so maybe something will change. Sadly I can't say it any stronger than that.

SilverElfin 9mo ago

I don’t disagree, but I am also worried that Trump and many members of his administration view our political process and constitution as something to be discarded or worked around. He literally said the other day that we shouldn’t even have midterm elections. And the main guy behind Project 2025 believes in pivoting to a ‘post constitutional’ America, whatever that means. I have a genuine fear that all the stability that comes from the Constitution and process that America has, is about to be thrown away. But even if it isn’t, I think other countries view it as not as protective as they previously thought.

jacquesm 9mo ago
They gamified politics to the point where the state of the country doesn't matter at all as long as they get to have their way. This can't hold long term but it will do immense damage to the USA and the rest of the world until the inevitable correction. I try not to think too hard about how bad this could get but it is hard not to lie awake at night.

jleyank 9mo ago

Yes, but in the US system, gridlock can prevent a budget being passed for a year or more. In the Parliamentary system, failing to pass a budget results in an election. Also, in a multi-party Parliamentary system, majority governments are less common, fostering compromise rather than dogmatism.

jacquesm 9mo ago

There are a lot of implicit assumptions here. But I hope you're right. And if you're wrong I hope then realize that it is those assumptions that will end up costing all of us - including those that can not vote in US elections - dearly but that it is up to all Americans to fix it.