The U.S. Constitution

1. Partisan politics and the lack of a unifying vision for the country would make the writing of constitution today impossible. It's important to remember that in the 1780s, we were less than 10 years after kicking England's ass and had been living under the Articles of Confederation. General consensus was that the country needed a stronger Federal government than what was provided for under the articles; but some of our greatest Founding Fathers, such as Patrick Henry, were staunchly opposed. This is why the Constitution was written to limit federal authority- not grant it. There are very few people in politics today who would be invited to a Constitutional Convention that would go with the intent to limit government.

There are a number of changes we could/should make. But I'll state one that shouldn't be that controversial: we should get rid of the electoral college and do elections by national popular vote. Even better: national ranked choice voting!

The data I've seen on this shows the EC sometimes favors dems, sometimes the GOP. The unfortunate side effect it has is giving inordinate power to a few swing states.

The EC only made sense when you were actually electing electors. It was a barrier to prevent a populist demagogue from taking power. Now that electors are legally bound, that barrier no longer exists and the system is just plain weird.

^Fucking up the Constitution and changing the entire history of the country would only be non-controversial if one were a totally blind to history and current events. The entire Constitution is predicated on the idea that we are fifty different states with ideals and beliefs that are local. We have joined together on some issues as a nation and the remaining issues which are not specifically written in the Constitution remain with the states. It is why we have 2 Senators from each state, denoting equality, and a different number of representatives, denoting population. The electoral college prevents the larger states from easily banding together and controlling the rest of us. We would end up failing the failed European model, because unlike our pretend allies in Europe, we would have no large capitalistic land to protect us and to steal from as the Europeans have now.
I would consider an attempt to do this as a declaration of war and would respond to it as such. The idea I am going to let New York California, Jersey and Illinois run my life is a fucking non-starter.

I wouldn't favor a rewrite, but there are some amendments I think should be considered.

Cap Presidential candidates age limit to 68 years of age to run for office, even if it is a second term. If you are too old to be a General or Admiral, you are too old to be Commander in Chief.

Change the stupid House/Senate picks President/V.P. if no one hits 270 electoral college votes. I am still hoping for a viable third party.

Better define corporate personhood.

Give people autonomy over their bodies, making prostitution, abortion, and euthanasia protected rights.

In 1789, between 80 and 90 percent of US wealth was in real estate and slaves. Both were solidly protected. The slavery part is pretty much gone, but we still assume that your address is a complete description of your interests.
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Ski and I live in the same state, but we probably have exactly opposite views of our senators. My friends and I have enough votes to zero him out of legislative power, and I admit it's unfair.
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Second issue: Article I gives Congress powers like setting tariffs and declaring wars. We should amend these to add the words, "and we mean it."

^ I don't see it as unfair. No system is perfect. Unlesss you think Elizabeth Warren is the epitome of everything wrong with politics we are opposite. Ed Markey is the only person I hate less than Bernie Sanders. As far as being out of legislative power? I am fine with it. I used to care. I worked on Bill Weld's first campaign against Francis X. Bellotti, I worked to support Bush 1, Dole and Bush 2. After Bush refused to replace Dan Quayle, a bunch of us quit and now, except to vote I have zero interests in politics other than fighting about it.
45 years ago I read a scary article likening the USA to a freight train out west. The basis of the article was that we had already lost our global power and reason for existing, but that due to size and wealth, we would carry on based on momentum, in the same way a freight train out west starts to stop for the next station 10-15 miles out. America was created by immigration and subsequently murdered by it.

^Forgot to add that the article predicted we were 50 years away from total failure. I'll be 73 and all the end of the "world" means to me is no work Monday lol.

@londonguy as penance for inflicting this thread on us, you have to state your own opinions on the Constitution of the United Kingdom. Specifically, should you still have a monarchy?

I used to think the idea was a completely silly and wasteful thing. But now, I've come to see there is some value. The sovereign sucks a ton of the prestige and adoration out of the legitimate government and that's a good thing. Can you imagine if Trump had to bow to a Queen or King every week?

^Imagine if being senile was a disqualification. Trump would be in year 9.

@RonJax. Ha Ha ! OK, I'm a royalist by nature, so yes, I would rather have a monarchy than a republic. The thought of President Blair or someone like him from the Labour Party doesn't bear thinking about. A monarchy isn't perfect and in recent years some of them have brought shame on their family and country, but nothing is perfect. That said, King Charles has said things recently that pro-royals aren't best pleased with.

The Crown has no influence on Politics in the UK. Monarchs don't give their opinion on Politics. .

PM's do have an audience with the Monarch often but it's quite informal (not that I have ever been)

You may not know it but the UK is a tinder box at the moment.

The constitution undergoes changes when amendments are added. Then supreme court rulings help interpret said amendments in practice.

I dont like what if scenarios.

Probable changes would be passing the equal rights amendment. The constitution as us doesn't guarantee men and women equal rights. Which us why we see women's reproductive rights under attack.

Direct votes instead of the electoral college. The current system is a perversion of what the constitution laid out anyways.

Establish term limits for members of Congress.

There is no national gun registration in the US, even though that is allowed under the 2nd Amendment. Some states have registration, but in those states, most of the guns used in crimes come from states that don't have registration. If the constitution says you can't run, weird to worry about that while you're still crawling rather than walking.

The US Constitution exists because George III was a shit king. He never even recommended that the Irish and the Americans should have seats in the Westminster Parliament. But, after Cromwell, Britain has kept calm and carried on when it had shit monarchs. Because the risks of dramatic change outweighed the (big) disadvantages of muddling on. Which is why we muddle on with our mediocre Democracy 1.0 system.

Unfortunately true democracy is predicated on intelligent, well-educated people making informed decisions and the Democrats managed to get rid of literacy tests, so they would get more votes, using taxpayer money to buy them. The United States Constitution is the single finest document created by humans in the history of the world. Kind of funny that Democrats bleat ad infinitum about the electoral college and yet not one of those sycophantic assholes has the stones to even start the process. Cowards and traitors.

@skibum
While you’re busy railing at the Democrats, RFK put on a show during a congressional hearing providing the most glaring evidence of stupidity in history of the US

1st and 2nd Amendment are the absolute most important.

Biggest thing that needs to be changed. If you are on government assistance. You are a net taker. (Not disabled, not retired) Yeah YOU ARE NOT VOTING. Too bad. The adults in the room will be deciding where this country goes, not these fucking lazy no good assholes. We are getting close to this. And btw I'm not gonna bust my ass at work all day so these fucks can open the border, put these fucking foreign gangbangers up in 5 star hotels while they rape, rob, murder innocent law abiding Americans. Uh yeah NOT FUCKING HAPPENING PAL.

You got three options. You can get a job. You can go to jail or you can GET THE FUCK OUTTA DA COUNTRY!!!!!!!!

25 Ia have said time and time again I despise RFK and whether you like it or not he is a lifelong Democrat. I find all anti-vaxxers to be morons and know more than few irl on both sides of the aisle politically. I have voted democrat, but that party disappeared long ago. Muslims? Trans? Illegals? Racism? No guns? No fucking way. I will take the Christian windbags over them.

^Thumbs up muddy!