Ben: “Can we go to the dispensary again?”
Me: “Dude it’s been two hours. How are you out already?”
He might’ve been more interested in some antibiotics for syphillis lmao
Should probably grab some dentures for Washington
Oh and get him to tell Washington not to let doctors drain half his blood too
Everything in moderation
With Franklin probably being one of the few exceptions, most of the founding fathers would probably have an adrenaline overload seeing that the USA successfully evolved into the world power to protect its corporate interests. They wouldn’t even hesitate to host a billionaire rave party lol.
Now bring someone like FDR, Hugo Black, or JFK and they’d probably be horrified to find so much of their work undone and thrown down the trash.
The constitution is so weird lol.
At least you did not bring him back to McRib season
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“Tell me more about this ‘online granny porn’ my good sir.”
Wasn’t that already more or less proven by bill and ted?
Such a good documentary.
Guys, they’d be overjoyed their government the hammered out in overnight binge drinking sessions lasted 200+ years.
All the present problems are our problems. They gave us the amendment system for a reason.
They also wrote that system not expecting it to be able to be gummed up by as little as 2% of the population because of how stupid we were about drawing state borders
How? Assuming you’re talking about Wyoming we only have one vote in the house and two in the senate. We can hardly gum it up by our little lonesome.
Well for starters that’s a disproportionate 3 electoral votes for president
It takes as little as less than a fifth of the population to elect a president if they embark on a small states crusade.
As for constitutional amendments, it takes THREE QUARTERS of the states to approve an amendment, meaning that starting from the smallest states and working our way up, less than 7 million people can decide for the other 343 million that an amendment doesn’t pass.
And that’s all assuming state action reflects popular will within the states, which it often doesn’t.
And all that is working as intended, because the US is a gestalt entity created of 50 states cooperating in concert with each other. We have an electoral college to balance the power between the biggest and smallest states so that every state gets representation under a representational republic. Extrapolate out to other similar organizations like the European Union. Would Luxembourg join or remain in the EU if votes were done by direct democracy of the population of each member country and Germany alone nearly outnumbers the bottom half of the EU by population? Each member state deserves representation. The same is true for the US, where it’s illegal to leave the union after you’ve joined.
The House of Representatives are the voice of the actual people (unfairly restricted in size which needs to be fixed but that’s another story), the Senate is supposed to be the voice of the States (but we made them directly elected instead of appointed by the state governments making them just a super version of the House but that is yet another conversation), and the President to run the government and act as our figurehead. This is supposed to allow the vastly different needs of each state and for the differing needs between urban and rural areas to be represented. This is why yes, if your amendment cannot convince 75% of states that it’s a good amendment, it probably shouldn’t pass in the first place.
TL/DR: Direct democracy is practiced at the local and state level, then representationally at the federal level because we are a republic of cooperating states that each have their own needs and desires. We have fucked with/fucked up how that representation works in the republic for better or worse, and the system as designed allows the possibility for a tyranny of the minority because it was the only way to prevent permanent tyranny of the majority.
I like how that question about Luxembourg basically just outed your whole point, because the EU basically does work like that save issues like new members, and Luxembourg did join.
The mechanisms that right wing fucksticks like to argue are protection for small states and local autonomy are archaisms that collectively give a severe balance tilt to mid sized states that “swing” from election to election.
Not to mention how this fear of overbearing higher authority never seems to be respected within small states, like say whenever a local city decides it wants to do things differently and small states that bitch and moan about local rule whenever it’s about not being able to mow down 40 walmart patrons before they even know someone’s shooting, but then act like local autonomy is separatism when someone within their borders wants to build affordable housing or allow teachers to acknowledge that gay people exist.
Wow, been a while since I’ve seen strawman of such girth and density. You could thatch a mid size town with all this.
Go to any blue town in a red state and tell me more about how this supposed yearn for local autonomy being a farce is just a strawman.
You apparently believe that the enlightened EU apportions votes by equal proportionality based on population of member nations, but that isn’t true. Germany, with over 84x the population of Luxembourg does not get 84x the number of MEPs. Luxembourg’s population get 8x the MEP representation of Germany’s. It is a degressive proportion system just like the Electoral College, for exactly the reasons I stated.
Point two is literally just you saying you don’t like the way it works and trying to discredit it by calling it archaic, as if the concept of direct democracy isn’t just as old as representational republics. No one is arguing that it doesn’t create swing states and tilt the balance back towards the mid and small sized states, because that’s what it was designed to do: make it so the smaller states must be included.
Really not sure what your last paragraph is about as it’s not very clear, but within a state everything is direct democracy. This means that the large population centers do run the states like you want, which results in situations like parts of California trying to split off because they have no representation. Unless it violates the constitution or other applicable federal law, states get to set their own rules and laws.
If each state was as dominated by large population centers as you think the country as a whole would be muuuuuch farther to the left, except it isn’t because those little mini republics decided voting and human rights are also a states rights issue.
Also, those parts of California do have representation, just representation equal to their true size within the state, you know, power representative of their share of the population, and all those “small states” know it to, which is why state republican parties are now petitioning to make this country even less democratic by instituting state level electoral colleges
You fucking know it’s just a power fix, “states rights” is just a dogwhistle for pulling the democratic rug before the browns and queers get too many rights.
The United States is a republic of States. In it all states are equal in the union. That’s why the senate is locked at two senators per state and why all states have equal say on amendments.
I feel like that comment severely lacks nuance but I’m also not sure how best to state the problem in few words so I haven’t downvoted.
I would put it like this. The founding fathers did a decent job in writing the Constitution, but it is evident that they were humans that didn’t expect in having to handle how to actually make the system work with less than trustworthy people. The need for the 12th Amendment is a prime example.
However, we’ve kept it for the most part while changing base assumptions over time as the want to rewrite everything from the ground up disappeared.
Funny how you don’t see a connection between the establishment of the US and now.
Not universally. Jefferson would have been horrified that the same government he established was still trucking along. 50 years was the longest he wanted it to last, and called for dramatic change at that point
Do you honestly want to live in a country where the established foundations of government changed every 50 years? That kind of chaos and instability would be crushing. There are places like that right now, and first world countries they are not.
Can you imagine if that change happened during like 2018/19 when the government was full of people I liked slightly less than the people in their right now? That would have sucked.
Hmm… Sounds to me like someone understood the need to update a country’s systems with the cultural and technological progress of humanity.
You’re right, which is why it should be slowly and continuously changed along with the times and through the mechanisms in place to do so, not drastically and sweepingly every 50 years or so. You don’t throw out and replace the constitution or other foundations of law without massive societal upheaval, which is just as bad as permanent stagnation.
This has a Bill & Ted-vibe. Like Napoleon who just wants to go back on the waterslides again…
Kid me was like yeah water park! Adult me chuckles because of the Waterloo reference.
They would likely be most upset you can’t make your own liquor legally.
You can, just can’t sell it (at least in my state which is one of the stricter ones for alcohol)
Federal law strictly prohibits distilling at home.
Offenses under this section are felonies that are punishable by up to 5 years in prison, a fine of up to $10,000, or both, for each offense.
Edit: can we just talk for a second about how oppressive the law is for poor people? Do you have $10,000? Cool, give it to us and go home. Oh, you don’t have it? FIVE YEARS in a federal penetentary!
Did you not read the first sentence on that page?
While individuals of legal drinking age may produce wine or beer at home for personal or family use,
They quoted it!
While individuals of legal drinking age may produce wine or beer at home for personal or family use, **Federal law strictly prohibits individuals from producing distilled spirits at home **
Big difference (in safety) between homebrew and moonshine.
(Ehhhh not really, if you know what you’re doing and throw out the Methyl, which isn’t hard, the only “danger” becomes the same as cooking: fire. It’s kinda just some leftover prohibition era bullshit.)
Wine or beer isn’t liquor. Liquor is distilled spirits. It is against federal law to distill at home
Okay that’s fair I didn’t quite understand the statement, however you CAN distill as long as you REGISTER YOUR STILL for free via a permit application from the Tobacco and Alcohol Tax and Trade Bureau with the US Department of the treasury, because the above page specified
“5601(a)(1) – Possession of an unregistered still.”
and you also cannot set it up in certain locations
“5601(a)(6) – Distilling on a prohibited premises. (Under 26 U.S.C. 5178(a)(1)(B), a distilled spirits plant may not be located in a residence or in sheds, yards, or enclosures connected to a residence.)”
Just be careful not to produce, remove, or trade your registered still without authorization.
§ 29.55 Registry of stills and distilling apparatus. (a) General. Every person having possession, custody, or control of any still or distilling apparatus set up shall, immediately on its being set up, register the still or distilling apparatus, except that a still or distilling apparatus not used or intended for use in the distillation, redistillation, or recovery of distilled spirits is not required to be registered. Registration may be accomplished by describing the still or distilling apparatus on the registration or permit application prescribed in this chapter for qualification under 26 U.S.C. chapter 51 or, if qualification is not required under 26 U.S.C. chapter 51, on a letter application, and filing the application with the appropriate TTB officer. Approval of the application by the appropriate TTB officer will constitute registration of the still or distilling apparatus.
(b) When still is set up. A still will be regarded as set up and subject to registry when it is in position over a furnace, or connected with a boiler so that heat may be applied, irrespective of whether a condenser is in position. This rule is intended merely as an illustration and should not be construed as covering all types of stills or condensers requiring registration.
© Change in location or ownership. Where any distilling apparatus registered under this section is to be removed to another location, sold or otherwise disposed of, the registrant shall, prior to the removal or disposition, file a letter notice with the appropriate TTB officer. The letter notice will show the intended method of disposition (sale, destruction, or otherwise), the name and complete address of the person to whom disposition will be made, and the purpose for which the apparatus will be used. After removal, sale, or other disposal, the person having possession, custody, or control of any distilling apparatus intended for use in distilling shall immediately register the still or distilling apparatus on its being set up or, if already set up, immediately on obtaining possession, custody, or control. The registrant shall also comply with the procedures prescribed in this chapter for amendment of the registration or permit application.
(Approved by the Office of Management and Budget under control number 1512–0341) (Sec. 201, Pub. L. 85–859, 72 Stat. 1355, as amended (26 U.S.C. 5179)) [T.D. ATF–207, 50 FR 23682, June 5, 1985; 50 FR 28572, July 15, 1985; 50 FR 30821, July 30, 1985, as amended by T.D. ATF–439, 66 FR 8770, Feb. 2, 2001]
“You made hemp illegal?!”
Well you see brown people were using it to feel good…
“You made brown people legal!?”
Benny would be too distracted with Tinder to give a shit about McChickens
Only if there are GILFs on Tinder.
Oh they got plenty of GILFs on the other sites! Dated some bangers and just married one last Friday!
LOL, she’s 52, so we’ll see what happens in 8 years.
Pretty sure Ben Franklin is rated E for everyone
I agree of course but he did prefer his Congress to have experience.
I’ve never seen this. Thank you so much.
Nah they would mostly be angry and resentful that the US now has coloured citizens, would probably be too enraged at the 13th amendment to even look at the 1st or 2nd. In fact I give 70% odds that they denounce the modern US as “just as bad as British rule.”
People don’t seem to realize that all of the founding fathers were slave owners and very enthusiastically supported slavery and the denial of human rights to all but the whitest of the whites. Part of the reason for the independence war was the worry that Britan would outlaw slavery.
I love the Key and Peele skit on this
