[roryirvine]

It's part of the dismal/pathetic form of American exceptionalism that's taken root in the last decade.

"We mustn't consider dealing with problem x because it wasn't considered important by our founding fathers"

"China are catching up, so we need to cower behind a tariff wall rather than risk losing an open competition"

"Other countries with similar legal systems have successfully reformed their supreme courts, but there's nothing we can learn from them"

"We shouldn't constrain rogue leaders because of, er, something to do with King George III"

...and now "we can't push back against the regime, because they'll shoot us if we do".

It's so weird - a huge shift in such a short period of time. As an outsider who wishes America well, it's really sad to see.

[graemep]

None of this is entirely new. Americans have always fetishised their constitution or founding fathers. While there has been an era of free trade, that is over, and I think the west in general is in a difficult position (ultimately as a result of believing the "end of history" BS).

As for getting shot, while the chance of getting shot in the US for opposing the government is much higher than in similar circumstances in somewhere like the UK (which is far from perfect - but rarely actually shoots people), its also much, much lower than in Iran or China or Saudi Arabia.

Pushing back against the US government is a lot safer than taking part in something like the 2022 protests that ousted the Sri Lankan government, and lots of normally apolitical people took part in that (which was why it succeeded).

[fdsjgfklsfd]

The Constitution and Founding Fathers are pretty great compared to what we have now.

"At this point, Elbridge Gerry objected to Butler’s earlier-raised proposition that the clause be shifted to a presidential power. Gerry remarked that he never expected to hear in a republic a motion to empower the Executive alone to declare war."

"What is called a republic is not any particular form of government. It is wholly characteristical of the purport, matter or object for which government ought to be instituted, and on which it is to be employed … in this sense it is naturally opposed to the word monarchy, which … means arbitrary power in an individual person; in the exercise of which, himself, and not the res-publica, is the object."

[murphyslaw]

I believe that the biggest problem in the US is the constitution. It's next to impossible to change so the only way to fix it is replacing it entirely with a new one. But good luck with that...

[fdsjgfklsfd]

The current biggest problem in the US is that the President is violating the Constitution with impunity