Another idiot from Berkley
-
The first sentence "democracy is in danger."
The first sentence "democracy is in danger."
As for the flaws in the Constitution, virtually every one can be fixed by amendment if there is the will to do so. Amending the Constitution is enormously difficult, but not impossible. Although amendments have been rare in recent decades, there have been times in American history when they have been more common. From 1913 to 1920, there were four amendments, which included authorizing an income tax, creating popular election of senators and providing women the right to vote.
Yeah, amending is hard. Did you ever consider why that is, professor?
So this will not be as hard?
And there is an alternative to a spate of separate amendments: starting fresh by passing a new Constitution. It does not take much reflection to see the absurdity of using a document written for a small, poor and relatively inconsequential nation in the late 18th century to govern a large country of immense wealth in the technological world of the 21st century.
Go back to Berkley where you might have an audience.
-
From a working standpoint...
In Louisiana, unlike any other state, we function under Napoleonic Code, not English Common Law. Because of that, everything gets spelled out rather than relying on an evolution of cases and precedent. Our State Constitution reflects much of that.
The document becomes byzantine with time.
Last time it was rewritten was 1973. It is now rapidly approaching unworkable and there are starting to be calls for a state constitutional convention. The last time was an absolute windfall for lobbyists and the subjects of their attentions. I had a friend on Sammy Nunez's staff during the last convention, who wrote part of the Constitution dealing with agriculture. Even being just a staffer, I don't think he paid for a restaurant meal or female companionship for a solid year.
Therefore, opening up the U.S. Constitution for a rewrite comes under the heading of it's a BAD IDEA.
Can anyone imagine the absolute, asinine silliness that could work its way into the new document, and the flying money and graft that would take place?The current Constitution is the oldest in the world (I think ) and is a shining example of KISS. Let's keep it that way.
-
Agree with the above comments. It is a dumb idea.
As @Mik said in another forum thread, the US constitution is the best in the world and has worked very well so far. No need to rewrite.
-
Bunch of lawyers discussing this proposal. Starts at about 1:00:03.
Link to videoIf you want to hear their take on Zuckerberg's letter, start at the beginning.
-
@jon-nyc said in Another idiot from Berkley:
Or maybe Wolly Berkeley.
No, it’s Holly Berkley https://boldjourney.com/meet-holly-berkley/
-
Wait until you see her without her shirt...
-
In the New York Times:
The Constitution Is Sacred. Is It Also Dangerous?
menace to the Constitution. But his presidency and the prospect of his re-election have also generated another, very different, argument: that Trump owes his political ascent to the Constitution, making him a beneficiary of a document that is essentially antidemocratic and, in this day and age, increasingly dysfunctional.
After all, Trump became president in 2016 after losing the popular vote but winning the Electoral College (Article II). He appointed three justices to the Supreme Court (Article III), two of whom were confirmed by senators representing just 44 percent of the population (Article I). Those three justices helped overturn Roe v. Wade, a reversal with which most Americans disagreed. The eminent legal scholar Erwin Chemerinsky, worried about opinion polls showing “a dramatic loss of faith in democracy,” writes in his new book, “No Democracy Lasts Forever”: “It is important for Americans to see that these failures stem from the Constitution itself.”
Back in 2018, Chemerinsky, the dean of Berkeley’s law school, still seemed to place considerable faith in the Constitution, pleading with fellow progressives in his book “We the People” “not to turn their back on the Constitution and the courts.” By contrast, “No Democracy Lasts Forever” is markedly pessimistic. Asserting that the Constitution, which is famously difficult to amend, has put the country “in grave danger,” Chemerinsky lays out what would need to happen for a new constitutional convention — and, in the book’s more somber moments, he entertains the possibility of secession. West Coast states might form a nation called “Pacifica.” Red states might form their own country. He hopes that any divorce, if it comes, will be peaceful.
The prospect of secession sounds extreme, but in suggesting that the Constitution could hasten the end of American democracy, Chemerinsky is far from alone. The argument that what ails the country’s politics isn’t simply the president, or Congress, or the Supreme Court, but the founding document that presides over all three, has been gaining traction, especially among liberals. Books and op-eds critiquing the Constitution have proliferated. Scholars are arguing that the Constitution has incentivized what Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt call a “Tyranny of the Minority.”
-
One of the biggest advantages for the right when the cultural/civil war goes hot? All these idiots like to live clustered together. We won’t need to use as many munitions.
