Fixing the USA without using guns

[Menard_K]

If the existing constitution is not being honored by the government, what makes you think that an amended one would be?

Perception is everything ... ( I forgot what they were selling but yes it from a commercial )
anyhow, NOTHING will get done as long as the majority of AMERICANS think that everything
is under control & that the Government will fix whatever it is needs fixing. Just elect a different "leader" if there is a Donkey in office right now, next time select the Elephant...

Think about this, if you Brother or Sister were hospitalized & needed very expensive treatment
& had no heath insurance, would you give up the luxuries that you indulge in to divert $ to
save your sibling? This is where it is right now, UNCLE SAM is in deep do-do and WE THE PEOPLE
can make changes, but it will mean taking action and making sacrifices. for some, cutting out
beer & cigarettes, whatever it is, WE can fight back at an economic level but it will take a significant
number of people getting involved in order for this to be effective.

BOYCOTT BLACK FRIDAY, BOYCOTT the Wholly Daze!
Really "Santa" hates your guts and wants you enslaved by a fascist dictatorship.

 

[Paschendale]

If the existing constitution is not being honored by the government, what makes you think that an amended one would be?

The constitution is being honored. It is also being skirted in ways that it should not be, which amendments would serve to curb. Getting money out of elections, for example. Tighter constraints on when military force can be used, for another.

 

[Thoreau72]

Perception is everything ... ( I forgot what they were selling but yes it from a commercial )
anyhow, NOTHING will get done as long as the majority of AMERICANS think that everything
is under control & that the Government will fix whatever it is needs fixing. Just elect a different "leader" if there is a Donkey in office right now, next time select the Elephant...

Think about this, if you Brother or Sister were hospitalized & needed very expensive treatment
& had no heath insurance, would you give up the luxuries that you indulge in to divert $ to
save your sibling? This is where it is right now, UNCLE SAM is in deep do-do and WE THE PEOPLE
can make changes, but it will mean taking action and making sacrifices. for some, cutting out
beer & cigarettes, whatever it is, WE can fight back at an economic level but it will take a significant
number of people getting involved in order for this to be effective.

BOYCOTT BLACK FRIDAY, BOYCOTT the Wholly Daze!
Really "Santa" hates your guts and wants you enslaved by a fascist dictatorship.

I love everything you say, but I'm not convinced that amending a document that is currently being ignored, is very high in the potential efficacy department. I don't find it particularly compelling argument.

But I agree with everything else you said!

 

[Thoreau72]

The constitution is being honored. It is also being skirted in ways that it should not be, which amendments would serve to curb. Getting money out of elections, for example. Tighter constraints on when military force can be used, for another.

Getting money out of elections can be done by statute. Similar in spirit to what Glass Steagall accomplished.

So too can tighter constraints on military can also be controlled by statute. Big thing is, the law must be obeyed, whether it is the Supreme Law or something lower. The law must be enforced.

Glass Steagall made the game more honest, and it served us well. We need good laws, debated laws, to be enforced. It is the failure to enforce the law AGAINST the government, and in many cases against Wall Street too, that harms us. We don't need new laws necessarily, but we need strict enforcement of existing laws. Consider Madow--the SEC was informed years before, and did nothing.

 

[michijo]

How would using guns fix the government? Rednecks against predator drones and unmanned tanks? Gut gluck. Last time I checked, Ruby Ridge was a failed standoff, and the militia movement never really stood a chance. The most the gun owning rednecks can hope for is a Nuclear War that wipes out the governments, so they can drive around in trucks like in The Road by Cormac McCarthy, resorting to cannibalism or whatever else pleases them. No wonder they are so into the apocalypse scenario.

The people arming themselves against apocalypse thuggery are no less than the thugs themselves preparing for the big one.

 

[haymarket]

How would using guns fix the government? Rednecks against predator drones and unmanned tanks? Gut gluck. Last time I checked, Ruby Ridge was a failed standoff, and the militia movement never really stood a chance. The most the gun owning rednecks can hope for is a Nuclear War that wipes out the governments, so they can drive around in trucks like in The Road by Cormac McCarthy, resorting to cannibalism or whatever else pleases them. No wonder they are so into the apocalypse scenario.

The people arming themselves against apocalypse thuggery are no less than the thugs themselves preparing for the big one.

Well said. There is a fringe group of right extremists who seem to face the reality that America will never agree to their ideas about government so they have these wet dream fantasies about armed revolt and murdering fellow Americans who simply disagree with them. They insist on preparing for this glorious day of right wing insurrection when the blood of their political enemies will run like rivers in the streets. They actually believe that their pretended superiority with weapons and their stash of them is going to allow them to defeat the US government in this conflict and that they will emerge victorious and end up at the top of the heap in some post-disaster world. Its really sad and borders on mental illness.

 

[Thoreau72]

Well said. There is a fringe group of right extremists who seem to face the reality that America will never agree to their ideas about government so they have these wet dream fantasies about armed revolt and murdering fellow Americans who simply disagree with them. They insist on preparing for this glorious day of right wing insurrection when the blood of their political enemies will run like rivers in the streets. They actually believe that their pretended superiority with weapons and their stash of them is going to allow them to defeat the US government in this conflict and that they will emerge victorious and end up at the top of the heap in some post-disaster world. Its really sad and borders on mental illness.

Would you expect anything else from a country raised on biblical christianity?

 

[tjelen]

The states could call a constitutional convention. There are states that have called for a convention over a balanced budget amendment. If one more state signs on there will be a convention. Precedent is that the convention can do what ever they want. The constitution doesn't specify that the states can limit what the convention does. The only one we had wrote a new constitution. A convention could write a new constitution if one were to be called. I am for a Semi Presidential system as an alternative to our current system. The House would be made larger and Congress would control the cabinet and each cabinet secretary would still be a member of congress. There would be a Prime Minister and depending on what is decided the Prime Minister would be appointed by the President or elected by Congress. The relationship between the federal government and the states wouldn't have to change if the structure of government changes. Also the House should be elected by multi-member districts or proportional representation.

Rednecks thinking they can over throw the government. I even know one person who thinks the military would turn on the government if it came down to it. I countered by pointing out that the troops didn't support the south, except the ones that were from the south. More people support the government then don't. Even with the dysfunction, people will tend to stick with the devil they know so long as it isn't to oppressive. Just because they have guns doesn't mean they can over throw a government with tanks and heat seeking missiles. Plenty of governments can change peacefully. France started the current Fifth Republic without a civil war, Poland won its freedom without having a revolution, and South Korea and Chile returned to democratic government as well without a civil war. Just because we had to fight a war once does't mean we will have to again. Gandhi led India to independence without firing a shot.