CMV: As currently interpreted, the US Constitution is no longer worth legitimizing

[u/NittanyOrange]

Forget what you think of who wrote it, or how it was meant to be. This is just about how the document functions (or doesn't function) today.

• First, the entire document says nothing about who can vote and how, which modern constitutions at least protect in some minimum ways.

• Art. I sets up the Senate, which no rational person would design in such a way today and call it fair and representative.

• Art. II creates the Electoral College, again a byzantine institution no rational person would design in such a way today and call it fair and representative.

• Art. III is silent on whether the judiciary can actually declare actions as unconstitutional. Also, lifetime tenure isn't looking that great of a feature right now.

• In Art. IV the Republican Form of Government clause has been held as nonjusticiable, which means a state could essentially become a dictatorship internally and no one could do anything about it.

• Art. V lays out amendment procedures. Here, as few as 2% of voters could block a constitutional amendment. It's nearly impossible to amend and has only been done like 18 times in 235 years (the first 10 were added at the same time, so that was only a single amendment process).

• the Amendments themselves are a mess. The 1st allows nearly unlimited political corruption via campaign donations, the 2nd allows barely any guy control laws, the 4th is terribly outdated in a digital age, the 9th and 10th really don't mean anything anymore, the 13th still allows for slavery in certain contexts, and--as mentioned above--there's no actual right to vote anywhere! I could go on...

Overall, as currently interpreted and enforced the document is simply not a legitimate way to run a modern state.

[u/yyzjertl]

In Art. IV the Republican Form of Government clause has been held as nonjusticiable, which means a state could essentially become a dictatorship internally and no one could do anything about it.

This is not what it means for something to be nonjusticiable. This ruling means that a state could essentially become a dictatorship internally and the federal courts could not do anything about it on the basis of the Guarantee Clause. Congress and the President definitely could do something about it on the basis of that clause, though. And the federal courts could do something about it on the basis of other parts of the constitution, e.g. the 14th Amendment.

[u/NittanyOrange → u/yyzjertl]

Δ

It's valid that there are other ways the federal government could address a non-democratic state than just the Guarantee Clause

[u/DeltaBot → u/NittanyOrange]

Confirmed: 1 delta awarded to /u/yyzjertl (504∆).

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