this post was submitted on 19 Jul 2023
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You're right. I never signed a contract with the USA agreeing the current system is the best. We have our ancestors to thank for that, and even then, most of them had no control over the situation.
What's the best way forward here? Constitutional renewal every generation?
Yes, especially considering that was the original intent of the document. Whether or not that's the most realistic, or even a possible way forward at this point is another question entirely, and I don't like what I think the answer is.
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."
As a non-USA-Citizen, this is what always gets me about the originalists at SCOTUS: the idea of changing the constitution to reflect what the majority of US citizen believes is simply not possible anymore, because of outrageous distortions of the process. Given how unequal voters are distributed across states and the effective veto power of very small states, there is no way for the majority of people to do what the originalists demand: adapting the law so that no interpretation is necessary.
What makes originalism and those that represent it so incredible stupid is THAT THEY ADMIT THIS. Scalia used to chuckle in interviews when this was pointed out to him.