The Republican's Long Game Revealed

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It sounds like the Radical Right wants to rewrite the US Constitution.

Representative Jodey Arrington, a conservative Texas Republican, believes it is well past time for something the nation has not experienced for more than two centuries: a debate over rewriting the Constitution.

“I think the states are due a convention,” said Mr. Arrington, who in July introduced legislation to direct the archivist of the United States to tally applications for a convention from state legislatures and compel Congress to schedule a gathering when enough states have petitioned for one. “It is time to rally the states and rein in Washington responsibly.”

To Russ Feingold, the former Democratic senator from Wisconsin and president of the American Constitution Society, a liberal judicial group, that is a terrible idea. Mr. Feingold sees the prospect of a constitutional convention as an exceptionally dangerous threat from the right and suggests it is closer to reality than most people realize as Republicans push to retake control of Congress in November’s midterm elections.

“We are very concerned that the Congress, if it becomes Republican, will call a convention,” said Mr. Feingold, the co-author of a new book warning of the risks of a convention called “The Constitution in Jeopardy.”

“This could gut our Constitution,” Mr. Feingold said in an interview. “There needs to be real concern and attention about what they might do. We are putting out the alert.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/04/us/politics/constitutional-convention...

Over on the main Q board you see "We have a president and an army, we don't need the Constitution".

This cult is not going anywhere and if you don't think we are at war you are already behind.

The Hungarian PM at CPAC?  More of the same.

Bannon speaks at fascist gatherings in Europe regularly.

Haste seimpre, guerillas.

Our civil war hasn't shifted to a hot war yet, unless you count folks like Kyle Rittenhouse and that whackadoodle in Cincinnati who attacked the FBI office with a nail gun. And If it does shift to active military hostilities, how long before Nato, China, Russia, and other nations get involved? How long before we blow the whole thing up?

Life on the edge is where people have always lived, but these days seem quite a bit edgier than the shit we've been through before.

Blowing the whole thing up is what is needed.

 

"Sign me up as a diplomat; my only office is the park." 

Paul Kantner

^The control over the 'who and how' that may get accomplished is the real battle. I am a fan of leaving it all alone if/until cooler, non-hyperpartisan heads may prevail, if at all. There are already enough really vague parts left "open to interpretation" by The Founders. Sadly, even the clearly stated parts are being left to the wind.

Compared to the rest of the republics around the world, isn't the US Constitution the most in need of a "version update"?

"Blowing the whole thing up is what is needed"

I don't spend enough time here to know anyones politics, nor do I care. I'm friends with people of all persuasions. But this statement, "Blowing the whole thing up is what is needed", is the mindset of many I know who favor extreme populist candidates. I know literal people who wanted Bernie Sanders to win and then switched to Donald Trump. That made no sense to me until I realized they really just would prefer to be entertained by destroying institutions they feel powerless to affect.

I used to think that mindset were people who had nothing to lose. Now I'm convinced its more the mindset of people who are bored and materialism have failed to satisfy them and they project all their anger at the government and its institutions because they need something to project their dissatisfaction onto, along with their boredom.

These people are just lazy.

It's much easier to break than to build.

Surfdead is wise.

> Compared to the rest of the republics around the world, isn't the US Constitution the most in need of a "version update"?

I've said this for years. France got their first constitution not long after the US Constitution was adopted, and they're on their fifth constitution now, while we cling to our original one with a few amendments, and none of them very recent. The language of the Second Amendment, which is word salad for the most part, needs a major rewrite, as one example.

Also, things that don't change die, or are already dead, right? But I don't want a Q nut rewriting ours.

> "Blowing the whole thing up is what is needed"

That sounds like me in my 20s, and I meant it then too. Not so much anymore, which brings me back to Surfdead's wisdom: "It's much easier to break than to build."

...which all seems to lead back to who/which groups (ie special interests) do you want doing any such re-writing or "updating"? This is part of the importance of voting and voting locally in particular as party control over state legislatures is a key component to having significant control over the process and initiatives over any such Constitutional Convention and/or how its priorities get set and steered into motion and policy. Dems could get tricked into bad deals by have them ultra-prioritizing abortion, for example, only to get smoked on, say, mass expansion of 2A. I still think the partisan tensions are way too high right now to even entertain any changes. Voter turnout remains much too low so improving that should be a priority. By the way, higher turnout helps Dem candidates (hence the voter suppression efforts from GOP) and in essence any voter block could vastly improve their power by simply helping to 'get out the vote' as we are currently seeing with women registration and voting numbers on abortion, for example. The predicted Red Wave is tumbling even though GOP is still predicted to take the lead in the House albeit with likely less seats gained than previously forecast. The last two and most serious/consequential months to go and GOP is really low on funds so hopefully they get their asses handed to them in Nov!

> Compared to the rest of the republics around the world, isn't the US Constitution the most in need of a "version update"?

I've said this for years. France got their first constitution not long after the US Constitution was adopted, and they're on their fifth constitution now, while we cling to our original one with a few amendments, and none of them very recent. The language of the Second Amendment, which is word salad for the most part, needs a major rewrite, as one example.

Also, things that don't change die, or are already dead, right? But I don't want a Q nut rewriting ours.<<<

Yep, it's taken enormous social upheaval - if not outright convulsions - to affect any significant change to our Constitution; and only then, a handful of updates.  I believe most nations have followed similarly with France in terms of more frequent meaningful updates.

I'm not sure that it's "dead", but it's clearly stagnated to the point where it's being "gamed" by players seeking to advance their own myopic interests. 

I don't want Q writing it either, although might be open to an "open source" platform that would ultimately shine the light of day on their extreme views if enough thoughtful people participated in a non-partisan fashion.    Think threads on a message board such as the zone + review / ratings that fork off into sub threads (re-writes)

Have been pushing for a re-write for a while now, but recently came across this episode of the Thomas Jefferson Hour:

https://jeffersonhour.bandcamp.com/track/1509-a-constitution-for-the-liv...