American Constitution Losing Appeal

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Small government is the reason so many people on this forum don't have access to adequate health care, or any healthcare. It's the reason why so many people are undiagnosed with having these neurological problems. Small government is the reason NASA is floundering, the reason the Railroads barely work, and the Interstates are crumbling.

I'll take big government that functions properly over limited government that only acts a siphon to move wealth to the top, or simply doesn't step in to prevent private individuals from doing the same thing.


As far as I'm concerned, the Constitution is a good rough draft, but one that needs to be vigorously updated to account for 230 years worth of extremely rapid and unprecedented change.

How far up your rectum do you want Modern Government to stick itself?

ruveyn

Government has yet to inconvenience me except when small government people strip it of it's ability to function. It provides me with grants and low interest loans to go to school, assistance when I'm unemployed, roads I could Hypothetically drive on, a military to protect me, a typically functional court system, a post office so I can mail letters and packages and not worry about them not getting delivered because it isn't profitable to service Moose Knuckle Alaska, Medicare so that my mom can get her diabetic supplies (Though since you mentioned rectums I'll go ahead and say I wish we had a single payer healthcare system so that everyone could get routine medical checkups such as physicals, mammograms and prostate exams) an FDA to make sure my food is safe, a department of the interior to make sure paper companies and lumber companies don't cut down all the forests I enjoy exploring. I could continue, but I think it's not worth the trouble. You will believe whatever you want to believe, regardless of what I say.

I don't know or care what other countries have for constitutions because they are irrelevant to the constitution of the United States.
Our constitution itself is just fine. The problem is that the constitution is often ridden roughshod over by lawmakers and judges.

I can't see adopting some new constitution that can be changed to suit the flavor of the month.

For once, I believe we agree.

I'm not suggestion it be flavour of the month. I think the adoption of FDR's would be more than sufficient "Second bill of Rights" Most of them are things we already enjoy, they simply aren't "Rights" entombed forever in the constitution and are thus not provided the same protection as rights such as the 1st and 2nd amendments.

New Zealand is currently having a Constitutional Review.

We don't currently have a single constitutional document, but a sort of informal mishmash of the Treaty of Waitangi, the Bill of Rights and the Magna Carta. One of the issues being discussed is whether or not we should go for a US-style constitution. I definitely get the impression that it is not a fashionable option.

One of the problems with having a constitution in New Zealand is that our "founding document", the Treaty of Waitangi, is explicitly an agreement between two communities: the Maori and the settlers. Therefore, a constitution that stresses the rights of the individual doesn't seem to fit. It could easily be used as an excuse to ignore the collective obligations that we have under the Treaty.

Rights are not granted by the Constitution, they are inherent in the nature of our existence. That's what the founding fathers meant by "unalienable".

I'm sure this quote will not be popular among most of you, considering its source, but I'm gonna post it anyway.

I happened to come across that article two days ago when it was published. Its comments section is very insightful.

As far as I'm concerned.. anyone who quotes that disgusting b***h is instantly invalidated. It's especially rich considering she ended her life suckling at the government teat.

She, and libertarianism in general, fail to take a lot into account in many different areas.

"There are two novels which can change a bookish fourteen-year-old's life: The Lord of the Rings, and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its' unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world.

The other, of course, involves orcs."

LOL!

I, for one, would love if the United States decided to do a Constitutional Review, especially due to worthless components such as the Electoral College.

Yup, the electoral college is one thing that desperately has got to be fixed.. a good way to do that would be for states not to be 'Winner-take-all' which is grossly unfair to their citizens. Idealy I'd prefer to just get rid of it..


I also think it should be a mandatory minimum requirement to be a politician that you have to have a Masters Degree in an applicable field.. no more Pizza chain kings, podunk mayors, or real estate agents running for President.. treat it as you would any other high profile, high stress management position. Just try and get elected president of a company without an MBA...

Rabbits wrote:

First of we don’t have a small government; it’s anything but small.
It’s not the government’s job to be anyone’s nanny. Just because it ends up working that way anyway doesn’t mean it’s right or within the role of government.




NASA is where it is at the moment due to lack of national interest, mismanagement, and lack of uniformity. I could go on about that but I can see we would never come to an agreement. The interstates are already a government responsibility and they can’t even keep them in good repair.



The bigger government is the more cumbersome, expensive, and inefficient it is.



It was never meant to address every possible eventuality.
It serves as a baseline for the basics.



I don’t even know where to start with this tangle so I’ll just point this out: The reason ALL of the existing services are lacking is due to the fact that they ARE government. The more your give the government to do the more things it will have to mismanage.



If you mean FDR as in Franklin Delano Roosevelt then I’m already against it.

Good. Then we are decided we hate each other. Makes it nice and simple.