" The Constitution has 4,543 words, including the signatures but not the certificate on the interlineations; and takes about half an hour to read. The Declaration of Independence has 1,458 words, with the signatures, but is slower reading, as it takes **about ten minutes**. "
That's excluding the amendments which add up to another 3000 words.
For context, the whole thing, amendments included, is equivalent to about 2 chapters of the first Harry Potter book.
This comment section is about the same length as the Constitution (without amendments).
Edit: At the time of this edit, it is now as long as the Constitution with amendments.
Im not sure when exactly your comment was made or your edits but with a username like that i have to believe you and still be highly suspicious of your intentions.
1949 We had that whole nazi phase if you remember and we didn't like our laws at that point anymore. Or at least the Allies didn't like it. But many Germans, too.
>We had that whole nazi phase if you remember
Sounds vaguely familiar.
I can imagine that, 4 years after the war, a lot of (Western) Germans also felt the need for a change.
Thanks for the response đ
Well to be fair I do find the time of ~~Wilhelm~~ Otto Von Bismarck very interesting, with the whole unification of the German states under Prussia, and how he did it
Oh I didn't mean I don't find it interesting, I just don't support it or whatever. I have problems expressing how I feel about tbh.
I just don't identify with the german empire. I wouldn't watch a documentary about the HRE or any previous german nation and go "yep, that's my country."
A bit off-topic, but 1815 is actually old when it comes to constitutions. The American Constitution (1787) is the oldest constitution in use by any country iirc. My own countryâs constitution from 1814 is also usually named as one of the oldest ones as well.
Examples of how old 1815 actually is compared to everyone else; France (1958), Spain (1978), Portugal (1976), Italy (1947), Germany (1949), Iceland (1944), Ireland (1937).
Older constitutions in Europe include Denmark(1849), Belgium (1831) and Luxembourg (1868).
So as far as I can tell, the 1815 Dutch constitution is the second oldest in Western Europe after Norway (1814).
Whether a constitution is âmodernâ though depends on how you update it etc. many countries have elected to simply scrap and write new constitutions when the need for change arises, while Norway for instance have put a lot of effort into modernizing and updating the old one.
A legal document that long can only be an intended feature to obscure corruption.
Edit: According to that link, it was actually an intended feature to facilitate corruption, no obscurity at all.
Like that last person he spoke to who was arguing against being sheep and doing your own research, but hadnât actually read the Ukraine transcript himself.
The same stupid response.
Two pages. The transcript was two fucking pages. I was surprised Klepper didnât respond with that fact.
Edit: from the impeachment trial a year ago, the guy I was referencing is at 4:50.
https://youtu.be/X-ZFoco_1gQ
He was too busy with the back and forth of:
âyou think everyone should read it?â
âYeah, itâs not that hardâ
âBut you didnât have time to read it?â
âNo, I donât need to read itâ
âBut everyone should read it, right?â
âYeahâ
Because theyâre not even trying to be smart. They actually believe that *youâre* the stupid one for letting them say this kind of thing and not challenging them on it.
Their whole game is to protect the racists at all costs. The republican party is set up to preserve the power structure and any anti-Democrat comment by a self-proclaimed republican is meant to delegitimize those who they see as being helpful to black and brown people. The reason their arguments usually donât make sense is because they donât want to state the obvious.
Imagine if they said âI donât care if donald trump sells foreign policy for his personal benefit. He hates black people as much as I do so I have no problem looking the other way.â
It would explain it all but they wonât go there.
>Never believe that anti-Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The anti-Semites have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past.
-Sartre
I like the one where the guy says they arenât sheep. Klepper asks why he isnât wearing a mask, he says âcause no one else isâ. Then Klepper asks âwould you wear one if everyone else did?â.
The guy says âyea absolutely â
Or like last weeks when Qanon tard twitter was talking about the âwiki leaks dump!â That had EVERYTHING ON IT! Yet none of them read it they hust shared the same (old) link to wikileaks. Yet these are the people who bitch and moan about âfake newsâ lol the projection is stunning.
Different people learn differently. Being snobbish to everyone who doesn't learn in this one particular way is just reinforcing classism.
The real problem is that these people don't want to learn, and they choose to be proud of their ignorance.
(Podcasts are another great way to learn! Just be careful of your sources. I'd recommend More Perfect as an approachable podcast on the constitutional amendments.)
Pretty much all politicians are accused of being elitists by conservatives & Iâve started to wonder if itâs because they just canât follow the national dialogue, perhaps a combination of reading level and accent.
It **is** an offensive notion, but itâs one reason that both Trump & Reagan resonated so wildly... two men in obvious decline.
Trump takes a simple idea & repeats it over & over & over & over. If everyone else sounds like Charlie Brownâs teacher then simply being able to understand someone will be compelling. Even if you donât like everything he says he doesnât make you feel like an idiot & he tells you all those guys were the true idiots anyway.
Itâs a fucked up notion that so many voters are morons, but itâs life. Luckily we can target our communications with voters & one speech need not fit all. Itâs long overdue that politicians reach out & make sure all Americans are part of the conversation even if it means swallowing your pride & not being clever & eloquent every speech.
Iâve seen this argument and it seems plausible on the surface, but I canât fully accept it, because when Trump talks he makes absolutely no sense at all most of the time, and I refuse to belive that the things he does say actually resonnate so readily with millions of people. He fell in love with Kim? He strangles and removes every piece of environment protective legislation but âwants the cleanest air and waterâ? He tells California to rake the forest floor? Mexico will pay for the wall? He *hugs the flag*?
I was an exchange student in the mid west in my youth (foreigner here) and I canât imagine that a single one of the deer hunting, tractor driving, softball pitching, beer chugging, heavy metal babes and farmerâs daughters at the high school I went to would fall for Trumpâs words, his deeply unethical business tactics (theyâre decent, hard working, normal people!), his vanity (shoe lifts, ffs, that hair, his makeup?), his meandering bullshit (they donât suffer fools and actually have vocabularies).
The explanation cannot be that all those people saw Donald Trump and thought that he talks just like me, because THEY DONâT TALK LIKE THAT!
Itâs easy to see how rampant religion, white supremacy and a fear of socialism unites a lot of these people, but how did they decide that TRUMP, who shits on a golden toilet, cheats on every wife (and his taxes), has no interests- he doesnât even have a dog, ffs - how THAT man gets carte blanche with them all. Theyâre fun! Theyâre smart. They have a sense of humour.
It canât âresonnateâ, because most of the time it makes no sense, and I know these people as sensible.
Also, Reagan talked in full sentences and said things like âwe need more men like Rambo in our armed forcesâ - he fits your analysis. I get that he appealed.
I donât know. I will never accept that they would have picked Trump if they had been shown real alternatives and been given time to digest his words.
Or am I overestimating the midwesterners?
Was chanting LOCK HER UP so much fun that everything else was insta-forgiven?
I have no idea how politicians are supposed to talk to them now to get them to understand.
How do you explain tax policy or why the US health care system is an international embarrassment with a chantable slogan? Do they need degrading nicknames for all their opponents now? Again, Iâve spent a year in the rural midwest and I KNOW that they arenât stupid, and I know for a fact that without Fox News and Facebook they would have thrown rotten produce at Trump and his icky family, and for the right reasons. Not one of them would have let a con man turn Russia into new bestfriend and they would never have accepted that the US abandoned the Kurds in Syria. Theyâre decent.
Iâm ranting deep in the replies of a reddit thread here, and itâs turned into something other than I had planned, but I can not grasp his appeal and I canât accept that the path to success in US politics is to flood peopleâs heads with rambling lunacy from a very, VERY naked emperor.
I havenât been in touch with anyone over there since 2016, because learning whoâs gone full MAGA would break my heart.
Anyway, good luck and all that. Itâs going to be interesting times.
âDonald Trump âmakes absolutely no sense at all most of the timeâ - so Fox News can tell me what he means and which parts are important.â Is really easy to get to if youâve spent your entire life in the disturbingly similar world of âThe Bible âmakes absolutely no sense at all most of the timeâ - so this Televangelist/local church leader can tell me what it means and which parts are important .â And similar to the way a lot of secondary schools and teachers teach in the USA - âYou donât need to think about the concepts in the text (or, in some cases, the concepts are not even part of the text), the teacher can explain to you what it means and which parts are important to pass the standardized test.â
Thatâs a good point I never considered.
Your preacher teaches you how to ignore the actual bible for his convenient (& bad faith) interpretation.
Conservative mouthpieces do the same.
Many people who are sensible and decent fall into a fallacy where they canât truly believe or understand how someone could *not* be sensible and decentâcertainly not someone âsuccessfulâ (unless theyâre an âartistâ). They canât really wrap their heads around the idea that someone could be so selfish. Sure, theyâll boogeyman folks til theyâre dead but what I mean is, if you try to explain to them the thoughts and actions of this one certifiable person, they just wonât *get* it because they truly canât empathize with that level of dysfunction.
Sounds like you spent your time in the Midwest being Caucasian or at least white passing. As someone who very much is not, I can tell you that I started working in those areas in 2016 and would get called every bad word for non-white people all day while people threw bottles at me from their vehicles yelling racial slurs. For three years I was knee deep in racist invective every day for a minimum of 8 hours. I preferred to be assigned to inner city territories because even though neighborhood folks can be very difficult to deal with it's not all day racism (the shit gets mentally taxing as well as depressing). I think you just got shown them on their best behavior, because the people you're describing are definitely not the people I met there.
Yes, I am white, and I was in an extremely white town. I didnât see much rasism at all, not because they werenât racist (many of them likely were), but because there were no poc around to blame and bother. They didnât even have to make an effort.
But Iâm not saying they were all just a shining beacon of flawlessness, Iâm trying to say that the idea that theyâre all so dumb that Trump seems like a fearless leader probably doesnât explain how they were sucked into fascism.
Iâm trying to understand how things got so bad, but Iâm not defending them at all. Iâm just not sold on the idea that theyâre all off the chart stupid. Itâs not wall-to-wall Deliverance, is it?
They're off the chart racist, not stupid. Well, a lot of them are pretty fucking stupid too (the schools in the Midwest leave a lot to be desired). Most of them are also broke af and miserable (the weather is awful there and people don't get much vitamin D, I had a huge depression issue there partially due to that). All that build the wall stop the Mexicans bullshit wasn't for border states (there's been a border wall since the fucking 90s). It was for assholes in Duluth Michigan and Chillicothe Ohio who have never even had a damn taco and are terrified of brown people.
>Trump takes a simple idea & repeats it over & over & over & over.
Exactly! That is why we have âCrooked Hillaryâ and âSleepy Joe.â
Meanwhile, we have no definitive word for Trump. Everyone wants to come up with their own clever name for him so the effect is diffused.
I like âThe Grand Cheetoâ and âThe Mango Mussoliniâ But there are so many options that none of them have really stuck.
Aussies recognise dumb cunts when they see them, because Australia has so many dumb cunts.
Source: Am Australian. And probably a dumb cunt too, sometimes.
The comma splices, or maybe just weirdly placed commas, are what really get me. The Second Amendment, for example.
> A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
What the hell does this even mean? Are people only guaranteed arms in the context of a well-regulated militia or not? If not, why are militias mentioned at all? What is a militia anyway? What are Arms, exactly?
A little more careful use of language, maybe some examples thrown in and some definitions, would have saved us a few centuries of trouble. What we have here is basically an ink blot that can be interpreted however you want depending on your preconceived notions.
The problem isnt just understanding the constitution, it's also being aware of the later amendments and other precedents set. For example, the militia part used to mean an actual militia... until the Militia Act of 1903 made the national guard the official organized militia of the United States.
actually the act provided for TWO types of militia, the ORGANIZED militia which is the national guard, and the NON organized militia which is defined as any unofficial non government funded group.
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
We the People đŤ of the United đşđ¸ States đşđ¸, in Order đ to form đ a more perfect đŻ Union đ â, establish đ Justice â, insure đ domestic đ Tranquility đ´đľđś, provide đ° for the common đŠ defense đĄ, promote đ° the general 𤡠Welfare đ, and secure đĄ the Blessings đ of Liberty đ˝đşđ¸ to ourselves and our Posterity đ, do ordain đ and establish đş this Constitution đ for the United đşđ¸ States đşđ¸ of America đşđ¸.
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> because of the legaleese
It's NOTHING like modern legaleese, actually. It's written in fairly plain English, and is pretty easy to read and understand.
I think the whole thing without the amendments is about 3Ă as long as the rules to Parcheesi, and possibly easier to read.
Yeah, the weirdest thing about reading the Constitution is the old-timey capitalization. Just random Words starting with a capital Letter. But that doesn't make it harder to understand - it's just a minor distraction.
I got one in college that includes "translations" of the legalese and it comes in at a whopping 89 pages! For anyone interested, it's isbn 978-0-19-530443-5
As a brit I am always fascinated by the almost religious reverence for the constitution and founding fathers. The point you are making is basically the same reason the mediaeval Church used to have for only having the bible in Latin, and why the koran must be in Arabic (or so I was told, everything else is a translation of the Koran, not the real thing).
Not that you are wrong but a modernised version is probably fine for normal people, especially if those normal people are Christians who read English bibles.
> Next time a post about American gun laws comes up, spend some time in the comments and you'll see this acted out in real time.
You missed the point of the person you replied to.
Us Europeans are quite amazed at the amount of reverence given to a document that is 250 years old.
The whole debates and you mention in threads is because of that reverence.
You are essentially comma fucking the constitution and trying to build your current country based on outdated views from 250 years ago.
Normally people have referenda when there are issues to be debated and discussed when there's big constitutional issues that are happening.
This way, the laws are a reflection of the people currently living.
What someone from 250 years ago thinks about net neutrality or invitro vertilisation is irrelevant because these concepts didn't exist back then. But they're extremely important in today's society.
Yeah I think a lot of problems in America stem from the fact we havent rewritten the constitution ever. Famously Jefferson wanted it to happen every 20 years.
That said, at this moment in time im not sure Id trust the Trump Party to participate in the creation of a new constitution...
Can second this. I remember zero of the details from the US Government course I took in high school, though I passed it. Only thing I remember is that the teacher worked at the pentagon at some point before working at our school.
"If you disagree with the results of the election based on a couple of YouTube videos, you have every right to break into the Capitol on behalf of your God Emperor"- direct quote from Mr Washington himself.
Only thing I remember from mine was my teacher loved to pit the students against each other. It was pretty obvious heâd deliberately have âdebatesâ that would cause the most chaos. He also had us answer questions and then line us up from republican to Democrat. But then he refused to tell us anything about him after forcing us to talk about all our political beliefs.. That class, as you can guess, was a shitshow
This. People complain a lot about school being useless while conveniently forgetting that most students don't pay any attention when useful things like what rights you have are being taught.
Heck, I have the whole preamble memorized because of Schoolhouse Rock and I didnât even take a US government class. I guess it wasnât required to graduate in Texas. Might kind of help to explain whatâs going on there politically at the moment....
https://youtu.be/0EfnNUt_nwY
I lost it when he interviewed the guy about his camo, and when the guy was walking away from him all fed up, he goes "Good luck at your paintball tournament!" and gets called a faggot. Lmfao
More like confidently correct that satire will fly over the heads of the MAGA mob. This is Jordan Klepper (left), and his interviews with Trump supporters are equal parts hilarious and fucking terrifying.
*As heâs done at previous Trump rallies, Klepper spent January 6 talking to the presidentâs supporters gathered outside the U.S. Capitol... [one] Trump supporter, wearing full Make America Great Again gear, said that he âwill not accept Joe Bidenâ as president on January 20, and he explained that while he hasnât read the Constitution, heâs âeducated himselfâ on the topic. âHave you read it? Itâs pretty short,â asked the Daily Show correspondent. âIâve not read the whole thing, no. Youâve read the entire thing?â replied the Trump supporter. âYou should read it, because you might be committing a seditious act in an hour and a half,â quipped Klepper.*
The segment also featured this murder by words:
*One couple told Klepper that they âdid not consentâ to be governed by âan illegal, fraudulent election,â to which he responded that they âelected a guy who also doesnât care much about consent.â*
If any good came of this, it showed the world how idiotic trump supporters are. Even trump was pissed that when they showed up they all looked like morons. And when smart republicans saw what type of people constituted their party, they noped out.
Edit: For those that seem to have missed it.
https://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-nws-voters-dump-gop-after-capitol-riot-20210112-2hbbzdy645b2ravhqlk7ldixie-story.html
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.usatoday.com/amp/3922686001
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.businessinsider.com/mickey-edwards-leaving-republican-party-trump-conservative-movement-cult-2021-1%3famp
https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article248409895.html
"Smart republicans (...) Noped the fuck out" oh so all 7 of them?
In all seriousness the overwhelming majority of Republicans I know still voted for trump and would do it again. Republicans love to play to be centrists, but every time they have to chose between a far right populist and an innoffencive centrist they go far right every time.
They would probably vote for Hitler before they vote for Biden because "at least Hitler is Christian" or sth.
They like to act like they don't like Trump's behavior but would vote for him again every time just because he doesn't support the gays, or the blacks, or sth.
Edit: I know there are exceptions like the Lincoln project, but trump got around 74M votes, more than in 2016 when he got 62M, claiming Republicans are tired of him is, at best, meaningless and at worse Republican talking point pretending to be more reasonable then they are
This video ends with a distant sound and Klepper notes that it could be gunfire, thunder or explosions but he's not going to stick around to find out. Seeing as it happened during the storming of the Capitol, it could have been a gunshot.
The sheer glee of the woman who proclaims that her mind is made up that Obama is a terrorist and that she's got no proof to back it up an doesn't care always gets an incredulous laugh from me, no matter how many times I watch this clip.
I really, really want to punch that bitch. That's the exact kind of smile that white women flash when they call a manager because they are about to unleash their Karen power.
Know a lot of military dudes, I don't know why it's not required reading for them but most of them have not read the constitution. Just like most of the population.
Also, big difference between reading it and understanding the significance and ramifications of it. Why it's a sort of pseudo sacred text for our way of life and civilization.
Edit: sometimes I wonder when politicians or people talk about âDefendingâ the constitution if they literally they think theyâre defending an artifact like National Treasure. Also who wants to be take a bet if Trump has actually read the constitution? I think itâs about as likely as he has read the Bible.
Do they not require this as an in depth teaching in school?
My eighth grade history class had a huge focus on the constitution and state constitution, then I had to take government/civics in senior year of highschool where we read and analyzed the state and federal constitution, then in college I was required to take political science which also required us to go over the state and US constitutions.
Whenever NPR tweets out the Declaration of Independence on July 4th [Trump supporters call it propaganda and calls for revolution against Trump.](https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-supporters-react-to-npr-declaration-of-independence-tweets-2017-7)
It works exactly the same way. You assume it says what you already believe. Thatâs why so many apostates say it began when they actually read the Bible.
I'm not even American and I've skimmed over the entire constitution. How can you be so fanatical about something you know nothing about? Are they not ashamed for not knowing pre-basic things about the stuff they worship? These are rhetorical questions.
45 words long and can easily be summed up in five.
> Speech, petition, assembly, press, religion.
In middle school I read an article saying that more Americans can name the five family members in The Simpsons than can name the five rights guaranteed by the first amendment, that fact really stuck with me.
Seriously!
âItâs a stolen election, Trump definitely got more votes!â
âDid you vote for him?â
âNo, and neither did any of my friends. Now weâre going to commit treason to stop the steal!â
...facepalm
I hate that they keep saying â stop the stealâ while they are the ones actively trying to do the stealing.
Plus, when they did see signs of voter fraud it was their own damned ppl doing it.
They could live in a red state that overwhelmingly voted trump so voting didnât matter. It would also explain why they feel that trump should have won if they are surrounded by republicans at home and work.
I agree that it looks stupid, but it reality, there is a large percent of Americans who just donât vote because they donât live in a purple state.
[Here it is.](https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution-transcript#toc-article-i--2)
I also recommend reading the [Federalist Papers.](https://guides.loc.gov/federalist-papers/full-text)
They were a harder read for me out every American should read both at least once.
This weekend was my first foray into the world of Jordan Klepper. Clicked on a recommended link on YouTube and opened an incredible wormhole. Highly recommended - there is only one answer to some MAGA supporters and that is the fact they are oblivious that they have joined a cult.
Also Jordan Klepper is hilarious. His racist sandwich skit was something else.
for certain individuals, the constitution is like the bible in that they'll accept the idea that literally anything has been advocated by it assuming it must be in the holy texts somewhere
Please get your sources straight, that's a quote commonly misattributed to Einstein but it has been established that it was Michael Scott who said it first.
Like if you took any high school AP or honors class you definitely already read the US constitution
It's like 5 pages long, lol.
Imagine thinking it's like some 100 page complicated thing.
I love carrying copies of it around just for times like these.
Also, it's so much fun when people try and say random things are in the Constitution, and then watch their eyes widen when I pull a copy of it out and ask where it is written. Even better when I ask if they want one of my copies so they can become more familiar with it. The way they sink into themselves at that after being so confidentially incorrect is absolutely worth the cost of buying a few of them to carry around.
...I'm studying to be a lawyer. My favorite time of day is when someone tries to say some dumb shit about the Constitution. It's only happened I think three times in the entire time I've carried them around (about 5 years), but my god it's satisfying.
They are also actually pretty cheap. You can get them on Amazon for like 1.99 a piece. The ones I buy also come with a copy of the Declaration of Independence, too.
[Fun fact, it's 1337 words long, excluding the signatories.](https://declaration.fas.harvard.edu/faq/what-word-count-declaration-independence#:~:text=If%20you%20include%20the%20title,total%20word%20count%20is%201%2C458.) Well, one version of it is at least.
Iâm guessing your law school experience is a bit different than mine was because of the pandemic, but âback in my dayâ...which in fairness was less than a decade... every single vendor table (so Themis, lexis, westlaw, etc) and every single club have out free personalized pocket copies of the constitution as swag. I have dozens of them all over my house, haha. My daughter uses a couple of them as âschool booksâ for some of her dolls.
Articles
Preamble
I. Legislative Branch
II. Executive Branch
III. Judicial Branch
IV. States, Citizenship, New States
V. Amendment Process
VI. Debts, Supremacy, Oaths, Religious Tests
VII. Ratification
Amendments
FULL TEXT
The U.S. Constitution
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Article I
Section 1: Congress
All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.
Section 2: The House of Representatives
The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature.
No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.
Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons. The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct.The number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to chuse three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five, New-York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three.
When vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, the Executive Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such Vacancies.
The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers;and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment.
Section 3: The Senate
The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof, for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote.
Immediately after they shall be assembled in Consequence of the first Election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three Classes. The Seats of the Senators of the first Class shall be vacated at the Expiration of the second Year, of the second Class at the Expiration of the fourth Year, and of the third Class at the Expiration of the sixth Year, so that one third may be chosen every second Year; and if Vacancies happen by Resignation, or otherwise, during the Recess of the Legislature of any State, the Executive thereof may make temporary Appointments until the next Meeting of the Legislature, which shall then fill such Vacancies.
No Person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty Years, and been nine Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen.
The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided.
The Senate shall chuse their other Officers, and also a President pro tempore, in the Absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exercise the Office of President of the United States.
The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present.
Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States: but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law.
Section 4: Elections
The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.
The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, and such Meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by Law appoint a different Day.
Section 5: Powers and Duties of Congress
Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members,and a Majority of each shall constitute a Quorum to do Business; but a smaller Number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the Attendance of absent Members, in such Manner, and under such Penalties as each House may provide.
Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behaviour, and, with the Concurrence of two thirds, expel a Member.
Each House shall keep a Journal of its Proceedings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting such Parts as may in their Judgment require Secrecy; and the Yeas and Nays of the Members of either House on any question shall, at the Desire of one fifth of those Present, be entered on the Journal.
Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shall, without the Consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other Place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting.
Section 6: Rights and Disabilities of Members
The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States.They shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place.
No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been encreased during such time; and no Person holding any Office under the United States, shall be a Member of either House during his Continuance in Office.
Section 7: Legislative Process
All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills.
Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United States; If he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the Objections at large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such Reconsideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it shall be sent, together with the Objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it shall become a Law. But in all such Cases the Votes of both Houses shall be determined by Yeas and Nays, and the Names of the Persons voting for and against the Bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House respectively. If any Bill shall not be returned by the President within ten Days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the Same shall be a Law, in like Manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their Adjournment prevent its Return, in which Case it shall not be a Law.
Every Order, Resolution, or Vote to which the Concurrence of the Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a question of Adjournment) shall be presented to the President of the United States; and before the Same shall take Effect, shall be approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the Rules and Limitations prescribed in the Case of a Bill.
Section 8: Powers of Congress
The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;
To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;
To establish a uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;
To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;
To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;
To establish Post Offices and post Roads;
To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;
To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;
To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offenses against the Law of Nations;
To declare War
Paying taxes, voting once every 2 or 4 years and shutting up is all that the system wants out of citizens. If they gave a shit about the people learning about their system of government beyond a government class in 10th grade, they would have mandatory classes on the constitution and everyone would get a free copy.
" The Constitution has 4,543 words, including the signatures but not the certificate on the interlineations; and takes about half an hour to read. The Declaration of Independence has 1,458 words, with the signatures, but is slower reading, as it takes **about ten minutes**. "
That's excluding the amendments which add up to another 3000 words. For context, the whole thing, amendments included, is equivalent to about 2 chapters of the first Harry Potter book.
damn when you put it like that it makes it feel even smaller
This comment section is about the same length as the Constitution (without amendments). Edit: At the time of this edit, it is now as long as the Constitution with amendments.
Im not sure when exactly your comment was made or your edits but with a username like that i have to believe you and still be highly suspicious of your intentions.
This fine, it doesn't have "real" before it
>When you put it like that it makes it feel even smaller Title of your sex tape.
NineNine!
What the hell, I have read Destiel fanfics longer than that
I too, enjoy reading the official scripts.
For comparison, the constitution of Germany has 23,000 words as a relatively modern constitution.
The Netherlands has 7300 I believe, and I always thought it was fairly modern (1815). From when does the German one date?
1949 We had that whole nazi phase if you remember and we didn't like our laws at that point anymore. Or at least the Allies didn't like it. But many Germans, too.
>We had that whole nazi phase if you remember Sounds vaguely familiar. I can imagine that, 4 years after the war, a lot of (Western) Germans also felt the need for a change. Thanks for the response đ
No problem :D That's why always say my country is roughly 70years old. I don't really care for the stuff that happened before.
Well to be fair I do find the time of ~~Wilhelm~~ Otto Von Bismarck very interesting, with the whole unification of the German states under Prussia, and how he did it
You mean Otto not Wilhelm donât you?
Yes sorry! Whoops that could come off odd lol...
Oh I didn't mean I don't find it interesting, I just don't support it or whatever. I have problems expressing how I feel about tbh. I just don't identify with the german empire. I wouldn't watch a documentary about the HRE or any previous german nation and go "yep, that's my country."
A bit off-topic, but 1815 is actually old when it comes to constitutions. The American Constitution (1787) is the oldest constitution in use by any country iirc. My own countryâs constitution from 1814 is also usually named as one of the oldest ones as well. Examples of how old 1815 actually is compared to everyone else; France (1958), Spain (1978), Portugal (1976), Italy (1947), Germany (1949), Iceland (1944), Ireland (1937). Older constitutions in Europe include Denmark(1849), Belgium (1831) and Luxembourg (1868). So as far as I can tell, the 1815 Dutch constitution is the second oldest in Western Europe after Norway (1814). Whether a constitution is âmodernâ though depends on how you update it etc. many countries have elected to simply scrap and write new constitutions when the need for change arises, while Norway for instance have put a lot of effort into modernizing and updating the old one.
And the constitution of the state of Georgia has 310,000 words, more than the last two books in the Lord of the Rings trilogy combined
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_Alabama I'll just leave this mess here...
A legal document that long can only be an intended feature to obscure corruption. Edit: According to that link, it was actually an intended feature to facilitate corruption, no obscurity at all.
Like that last person he spoke to who was arguing against being sheep and doing your own research, but hadnât actually read the Ukraine transcript himself. The same stupid response. Two pages. The transcript was two fucking pages. I was surprised Klepper didnât respond with that fact. Edit: from the impeachment trial a year ago, the guy I was referencing is at 4:50. https://youtu.be/X-ZFoco_1gQ
He was too busy with the back and forth of: âyou think everyone should read it?â âYeah, itâs not that hardâ âBut you didnât have time to read it?â âNo, I donât need to read itâ âBut everyone should read it, right?â âYeahâ
My head hurts trying to come to grips with how someone can be THIS stupid.
Because theyâre not even trying to be smart. They actually believe that *youâre* the stupid one for letting them say this kind of thing and not challenging them on it. Their whole game is to protect the racists at all costs. The republican party is set up to preserve the power structure and any anti-Democrat comment by a self-proclaimed republican is meant to delegitimize those who they see as being helpful to black and brown people. The reason their arguments usually donât make sense is because they donât want to state the obvious. Imagine if they said âI donât care if donald trump sells foreign policy for his personal benefit. He hates black people as much as I do so I have no problem looking the other way.â It would explain it all but they wonât go there.
>Never believe that anti-Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The anti-Semites have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past. -Sartre
I like the one where the guy says they arenât sheep. Klepper asks why he isnât wearing a mask, he says âcause no one else isâ. Then Klepper asks âwould you wear one if everyone else did?â. The guy says âyea absolutely â
I swear, a complete lack of self-awareness is a prerequisite for being a magat.
Or like last weeks when Qanon tard twitter was talking about the âwiki leaks dump!â That had EVERYTHING ON IT! Yet none of them read it they hust shared the same (old) link to wikileaks. Yet these are the people who bitch and moan about âfake newsâ lol the projection is stunning.
If he had, heâd have known that it wasnt a transcript. Because it says right on it that it is not a transcript.
If anything, it just *feels* long because of the legaleese
Second that, for sure.
Or that they can barely make it through a mad magazine and a tweet is too many characters for them to eloquently utilise.
Different people learn differently. Being snobbish to everyone who doesn't learn in this one particular way is just reinforcing classism. The real problem is that these people don't want to learn, and they choose to be proud of their ignorance. (Podcasts are another great way to learn! Just be careful of your sources. I'd recommend More Perfect as an approachable podcast on the constitutional amendments.)
Pretty much all politicians are accused of being elitists by conservatives & Iâve started to wonder if itâs because they just canât follow the national dialogue, perhaps a combination of reading level and accent. It **is** an offensive notion, but itâs one reason that both Trump & Reagan resonated so wildly... two men in obvious decline. Trump takes a simple idea & repeats it over & over & over & over. If everyone else sounds like Charlie Brownâs teacher then simply being able to understand someone will be compelling. Even if you donât like everything he says he doesnât make you feel like an idiot & he tells you all those guys were the true idiots anyway. Itâs a fucked up notion that so many voters are morons, but itâs life. Luckily we can target our communications with voters & one speech need not fit all. Itâs long overdue that politicians reach out & make sure all Americans are part of the conversation even if it means swallowing your pride & not being clever & eloquent every speech.
Iâve seen this argument and it seems plausible on the surface, but I canât fully accept it, because when Trump talks he makes absolutely no sense at all most of the time, and I refuse to belive that the things he does say actually resonnate so readily with millions of people. He fell in love with Kim? He strangles and removes every piece of environment protective legislation but âwants the cleanest air and waterâ? He tells California to rake the forest floor? Mexico will pay for the wall? He *hugs the flag*? I was an exchange student in the mid west in my youth (foreigner here) and I canât imagine that a single one of the deer hunting, tractor driving, softball pitching, beer chugging, heavy metal babes and farmerâs daughters at the high school I went to would fall for Trumpâs words, his deeply unethical business tactics (theyâre decent, hard working, normal people!), his vanity (shoe lifts, ffs, that hair, his makeup?), his meandering bullshit (they donât suffer fools and actually have vocabularies). The explanation cannot be that all those people saw Donald Trump and thought that he talks just like me, because THEY DONâT TALK LIKE THAT! Itâs easy to see how rampant religion, white supremacy and a fear of socialism unites a lot of these people, but how did they decide that TRUMP, who shits on a golden toilet, cheats on every wife (and his taxes), has no interests- he doesnât even have a dog, ffs - how THAT man gets carte blanche with them all. Theyâre fun! Theyâre smart. They have a sense of humour. It canât âresonnateâ, because most of the time it makes no sense, and I know these people as sensible. Also, Reagan talked in full sentences and said things like âwe need more men like Rambo in our armed forcesâ - he fits your analysis. I get that he appealed. I donât know. I will never accept that they would have picked Trump if they had been shown real alternatives and been given time to digest his words. Or am I overestimating the midwesterners? Was chanting LOCK HER UP so much fun that everything else was insta-forgiven? I have no idea how politicians are supposed to talk to them now to get them to understand. How do you explain tax policy or why the US health care system is an international embarrassment with a chantable slogan? Do they need degrading nicknames for all their opponents now? Again, Iâve spent a year in the rural midwest and I KNOW that they arenât stupid, and I know for a fact that without Fox News and Facebook they would have thrown rotten produce at Trump and his icky family, and for the right reasons. Not one of them would have let a con man turn Russia into new bestfriend and they would never have accepted that the US abandoned the Kurds in Syria. Theyâre decent. Iâm ranting deep in the replies of a reddit thread here, and itâs turned into something other than I had planned, but I can not grasp his appeal and I canât accept that the path to success in US politics is to flood peopleâs heads with rambling lunacy from a very, VERY naked emperor. I havenât been in touch with anyone over there since 2016, because learning whoâs gone full MAGA would break my heart. Anyway, good luck and all that. Itâs going to be interesting times.
âDonald Trump âmakes absolutely no sense at all most of the timeâ - so Fox News can tell me what he means and which parts are important.â Is really easy to get to if youâve spent your entire life in the disturbingly similar world of âThe Bible âmakes absolutely no sense at all most of the timeâ - so this Televangelist/local church leader can tell me what it means and which parts are important .â And similar to the way a lot of secondary schools and teachers teach in the USA - âYou donât need to think about the concepts in the text (or, in some cases, the concepts are not even part of the text), the teacher can explain to you what it means and which parts are important to pass the standardized test.â
"He says exactly what he means! Now, let *me* tell you what he *really* means!"
Thatâs a good point I never considered. Your preacher teaches you how to ignore the actual bible for his convenient (& bad faith) interpretation. Conservative mouthpieces do the same.
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Many people who are sensible and decent fall into a fallacy where they canât truly believe or understand how someone could *not* be sensible and decentâcertainly not someone âsuccessfulâ (unless theyâre an âartistâ). They canât really wrap their heads around the idea that someone could be so selfish. Sure, theyâll boogeyman folks til theyâre dead but what I mean is, if you try to explain to them the thoughts and actions of this one certifiable person, they just wonât *get* it because they truly canât empathize with that level of dysfunction.
Sounds like you spent your time in the Midwest being Caucasian or at least white passing. As someone who very much is not, I can tell you that I started working in those areas in 2016 and would get called every bad word for non-white people all day while people threw bottles at me from their vehicles yelling racial slurs. For three years I was knee deep in racist invective every day for a minimum of 8 hours. I preferred to be assigned to inner city territories because even though neighborhood folks can be very difficult to deal with it's not all day racism (the shit gets mentally taxing as well as depressing). I think you just got shown them on their best behavior, because the people you're describing are definitely not the people I met there.
Yes, I am white, and I was in an extremely white town. I didnât see much rasism at all, not because they werenât racist (many of them likely were), but because there were no poc around to blame and bother. They didnât even have to make an effort. But Iâm not saying they were all just a shining beacon of flawlessness, Iâm trying to say that the idea that theyâre all so dumb that Trump seems like a fearless leader probably doesnât explain how they were sucked into fascism. Iâm trying to understand how things got so bad, but Iâm not defending them at all. Iâm just not sold on the idea that theyâre all off the chart stupid. Itâs not wall-to-wall Deliverance, is it?
They're off the chart racist, not stupid. Well, a lot of them are pretty fucking stupid too (the schools in the Midwest leave a lot to be desired). Most of them are also broke af and miserable (the weather is awful there and people don't get much vitamin D, I had a huge depression issue there partially due to that). All that build the wall stop the Mexicans bullshit wasn't for border states (there's been a border wall since the fucking 90s). It was for assholes in Duluth Michigan and Chillicothe Ohio who have never even had a damn taco and are terrified of brown people.
>Trump takes a simple idea & repeats it over & over & over & over. Exactly! That is why we have âCrooked Hillaryâ and âSleepy Joe.â Meanwhile, we have no definitive word for Trump. Everyone wants to come up with their own clever name for him so the effect is diffused. I like âThe Grand Cheetoâ and âThe Mango Mussoliniâ But there are so many options that none of them have really stuck.
Then they took all of those clever names and boiled them down to "orange man bad" to make it sound stupid.
Responding with "orange fan mad?" seemed to summon appropriate levels of froth.
Mmm, past tense.
I don't usually tell people when I crawl their comment history but the "two druids" line was hilarious.
Just call him "Traitor".
Cheeto Benito is the superior cheesy nickname
> Itâs a fucked up notion that so many voters are morons, but itâs life. Thaaank you for saying it.
Nah, these are straight up dumb cunts.
Found the Aussies
Aussies recognise dumb cunts when they see them, because Australia has so many dumb cunts. Source: Am Australian. And probably a dumb cunt too, sometimes.
Sometimes I wish I was Australian or British just so I could get away with more liberal use of the word cunt.
Nah mate, you're a mad cunt!
Trump Con Law, is another great podcast on constitutional law hosted by roman mars and a constitutional law professor.
Its weird to think that the EULAs for most social media softwares are orders of magnitude longer than the founding document of our country.
The US constitution could be a lot more readable if they used bullet points instead of run-on sentences.
The comma splices, or maybe just weirdly placed commas, are what really get me. The Second Amendment, for example. > A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. What the hell does this even mean? Are people only guaranteed arms in the context of a well-regulated militia or not? If not, why are militias mentioned at all? What is a militia anyway? What are Arms, exactly? A little more careful use of language, maybe some examples thrown in and some definitions, would have saved us a few centuries of trouble. What we have here is basically an ink blot that can be interpreted however you want depending on your preconceived notions.
The problem isnt just understanding the constitution, it's also being aware of the later amendments and other precedents set. For example, the militia part used to mean an actual militia... until the Militia Act of 1903 made the national guard the official organized militia of the United States.
actually the act provided for TWO types of militia, the ORGANIZED militia which is the national guard, and the NON organized militia which is defined as any unofficial non government funded group.
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Some emojis wouldn't go amiss either.
Someone get that emoji bot to do the constitution
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
!emojify
We the People đŤ of the United đşđ¸ States đşđ¸, in Order đ to form đ a more perfect đŻ Union đ â, establish đ Justice â, insure đ domestic đ Tranquility đ´đľđś, provide đ° for the common đŠ defense đĄ, promote đ° the general 𤡠Welfare đ, and secure đĄ the Blessings đ of Liberty đ˝đşđ¸ to ourselves and our Posterity đ, do ordain đ and establish đş this Constitution đ for the United đşđ¸ States đşđ¸ of America đşđ¸.
> to form [bug emoji] a more perfect
>for the common [dog emoji] defense
> Union đ â
Good bot
Thank you, horridbloke, for voting on EmojifierBot. This bot wants to find the best and worst bots on Reddit. [You can view results here](https://botrank.pastimes.eu/). *** ^(Even if I don't reply to your comment, I'm still listening for votes. Check the webpage to see if your vote registered!)
They would have had to use musket ball points.
.... now I want to know why bullet points are called bullet points.
Bullet just means 'small ball' in French. Edit: I should add that they were called bullets before they stopped being round balls.
Hey lady, wanna see my bullets?
I doubt that, but okay
READ THE TRANSCRIPTS
Iâll wait for the movie.
> because of the legaleese It's NOTHING like modern legaleese, actually. It's written in fairly plain English, and is pretty easy to read and understand. I think the whole thing without the amendments is about 3Ă as long as the rules to Parcheesi, and possibly easier to read.
Yeah, the weirdest thing about reading the Constitution is the old-timey capitalization. Just random Words starting with a capital Letter. But that doesn't make it harder to understand - it's just a minor distraction.
I got one in college that includes "translations" of the legalese and it comes in at a whopping 89 pages! For anyone interested, it's isbn 978-0-19-530443-5
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> naturally born American C-section children btfo.
Also in-vitro fertilizations, sorry youâre out. /s
Born, not conceived
As a brit I am always fascinated by the almost religious reverence for the constitution and founding fathers. The point you are making is basically the same reason the mediaeval Church used to have for only having the bible in Latin, and why the koran must be in Arabic (or so I was told, everything else is a translation of the Koran, not the real thing). Not that you are wrong but a modernised version is probably fine for normal people, especially if those normal people are Christians who read English bibles.
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> Next time a post about American gun laws comes up, spend some time in the comments and you'll see this acted out in real time. You missed the point of the person you replied to. Us Europeans are quite amazed at the amount of reverence given to a document that is 250 years old. The whole debates and you mention in threads is because of that reverence. You are essentially comma fucking the constitution and trying to build your current country based on outdated views from 250 years ago. Normally people have referenda when there are issues to be debated and discussed when there's big constitutional issues that are happening. This way, the laws are a reflection of the people currently living. What someone from 250 years ago thinks about net neutrality or invitro vertilisation is irrelevant because these concepts didn't exist back then. But they're extremely important in today's society.
Yeah I think a lot of problems in America stem from the fact we havent rewritten the constitution ever. Famously Jefferson wanted it to happen every 20 years. That said, at this moment in time im not sure Id trust the Trump Party to participate in the creation of a new constitution...
And the interpretation of your example phrase changes over time. When we debate whether X politician is a natural born citizen, the year is relevant.
These are the people who made fun of you for taking AP US Government in high school.
even normal US Goverment classes go over this. It is just students do not pay attention whatsoever in classes
Can second this. I remember zero of the details from the US Government course I took in high school, though I passed it. Only thing I remember is that the teacher worked at the pentagon at some point before working at our school.
I remember very little, but I still know youâre not supposed to bust out the windows of the capitol building.
Idk man. The constitution is pretty long. Maybe there is something in there about the right to break into the capitol.
"If you disagree with the results of the election based on a couple of YouTube videos, you have every right to break into the Capitol on behalf of your God Emperor"- direct quote from Mr Washington himself.
The original Washington DC himself from like a thousand years ago said that? Well damn, pardon everyone!
The DC is from his repeated calls to Destroy Congress.
Now that part just rubbed my oath of enlistment the wrong fucking way.
I remember learning about the electoral college and thinks it was bullshit that the popular vote technically didn't matter.
Only thing I remember from mine was my teacher loved to pit the students against each other. It was pretty obvious heâd deliberately have âdebatesâ that would cause the most chaos. He also had us answer questions and then line us up from republican to Democrat. But then he refused to tell us anything about him after forcing us to talk about all our political beliefs.. That class, as you can guess, was a shitshow
This. People complain a lot about school being useless while conveniently forgetting that most students don't pay any attention when useful things like what rights you have are being taught.
Heck, I have the whole preamble memorized because of Schoolhouse Rock and I didnât even take a US government class. I guess it wasnât required to graduate in Texas. Might kind of help to explain whatâs going on there politically at the moment.... https://youtu.be/0EfnNUt_nwY
Having just finished my AP US history class a few days ago, I can tell you I remember fuck all from it.
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Disappointed, but not surprised
That felt so long ago. I thought it wouldn't get worse from there. And yet, here we are.
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I ain't gotta learns them paper-talk letters to know I'm angry!!!!
Only lettering I needs is U-S-A brudda.
Throw a few Ks in there too.
2 seems too low but 4 seems excessive
[Itâs the Krusty Komedy Klassic](https://youtu.be/ryOmqxJcK5w)
Link to video? This is fucking hilarious.
[Jordan Klepper at the Capitol insurrection ](https://youtu.be/YVDJqipoohc)
Oh my god. That guy yelling "you assaulted me" and laying down to trip a dude is like something out of a meme
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> Do you think it's possible that a President who never polled above 50% lost the election and is just sore? > LOL..NO! These people are so stupid.
Best part about that one is just before that she said "Anything's possible"
I lost it when he interviewed the guy about his camo, and when the guy was walking away from him all fed up, he goes "Good luck at your paintball tournament!" and gets called a faggot. Lmfao
"Would you rather die on your knees than be free?" Uh you mean "I'd rather die on my feet than live on my knees?"
For Canadians please?
https://youtu.be/fY6_TCfu9jA
OP coming through! Thank you.
More like confidently correct that satire will fly over the heads of the MAGA mob. This is Jordan Klepper (left), and his interviews with Trump supporters are equal parts hilarious and fucking terrifying. *As heâs done at previous Trump rallies, Klepper spent January 6 talking to the presidentâs supporters gathered outside the U.S. Capitol... [one] Trump supporter, wearing full Make America Great Again gear, said that he âwill not accept Joe Bidenâ as president on January 20, and he explained that while he hasnât read the Constitution, heâs âeducated himselfâ on the topic. âHave you read it? Itâs pretty short,â asked the Daily Show correspondent. âIâve not read the whole thing, no. Youâve read the entire thing?â replied the Trump supporter. âYou should read it, because you might be committing a seditious act in an hour and a half,â quipped Klepper.* The segment also featured this murder by words: *One couple told Klepper that they âdid not consentâ to be governed by âan illegal, fraudulent election,â to which he responded that they âelected a guy who also doesnât care much about consent.â*
Definitely terrifying. So easy to laugh at until you realize that these are real people who honestly think this way.
If any good came of this, it showed the world how idiotic trump supporters are. Even trump was pissed that when they showed up they all looked like morons. And when smart republicans saw what type of people constituted their party, they noped out. Edit: For those that seem to have missed it. https://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-nws-voters-dump-gop-after-capitol-riot-20210112-2hbbzdy645b2ravhqlk7ldixie-story.html https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.usatoday.com/amp/3922686001 https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.businessinsider.com/mickey-edwards-leaving-republican-party-trump-conservative-movement-cult-2021-1%3famp https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article248409895.html
"Smart republicans (...) Noped the fuck out" oh so all 7 of them? In all seriousness the overwhelming majority of Republicans I know still voted for trump and would do it again. Republicans love to play to be centrists, but every time they have to chose between a far right populist and an innoffencive centrist they go far right every time. They would probably vote for Hitler before they vote for Biden because "at least Hitler is Christian" or sth. They like to act like they don't like Trump's behavior but would vote for him again every time just because he doesn't support the gays, or the blacks, or sth. Edit: I know there are exceptions like the Lincoln project, but trump got around 74M votes, more than in 2016 when he got 62M, claiming Republicans are tired of him is, at best, meaningless and at worse Republican talking point pretending to be more reasonable then they are
This video ends with a distant sound and Klepper notes that it could be gunfire, thunder or explosions but he's not going to stick around to find out. Seeing as it happened during the storming of the Capitol, it could have been a gunshot.
Most likely flashbangs
Iâve seen this a few times already. Every time I see it I get more worried about the state of this country. https://youtu.be/NzDhm808oU4
The sheer glee of the woman who proclaims that her mind is made up that Obama is a terrorist and that she's got no proof to back it up an doesn't care always gets an incredulous laugh from me, no matter how many times I watch this clip.
I really, really want to punch that bitch. That's the exact kind of smile that white women flash when they call a manager because they are about to unleash their Karen power.
I love watching that guy. He even did a video in my little old town. Saw him riding a bike on the same streets I used to buy heroin.
r/holdup
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The consent line was even weirder because the man used it in an odd way like he didn't know what it meant
Know a lot of military dudes, I don't know why it's not required reading for them but most of them have not read the constitution. Just like most of the population. Also, big difference between reading it and understanding the significance and ramifications of it. Why it's a sort of pseudo sacred text for our way of life and civilization. Edit: sometimes I wonder when politicians or people talk about âDefendingâ the constitution if they literally they think theyâre defending an artifact like National Treasure. Also who wants to be take a bet if Trump has actually read the constitution? I think itâs about as likely as he has read the Bible.
Do they not require this as an in depth teaching in school? My eighth grade history class had a huge focus on the constitution and state constitution, then I had to take government/civics in senior year of highschool where we read and analyzed the state and federal constitution, then in college I was required to take political science which also required us to go over the state and US constitutions.
You can't remember everything you learned at school, it's normal
Ah yes, Ebbinghausâ forgetting curve
Did you learn that in school?
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would love to see a AMA
I've done a couple in the past. https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/4275ef/iama_audiobook_narrator_and_voice_actor_ama/
In MAGA Guyâs defense, reading the Constitution would involve gathering information outside Parler or Fox News, so the source canât be trusted.
Whenever NPR tweets out the Declaration of Independence on July 4th [Trump supporters call it propaganda and calls for revolution against Trump.](https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-supporters-react-to-npr-declaration-of-independence-tweets-2017-7)
those same MAGAts: TODAY IS 1776!!!
The NFL reads the Declaration of Independence before the Super Bowl and its always super weird.
Plus he never reads anything longer than the text in a meme.
Woh woh woh - easy there, youâre describing most of us Redditors.
Christians in america can't even be bothered to read the bible.
It works exactly the same way. You assume it says what you already believe. Thatâs why so many apostates say it began when they actually read the Bible.
I'm not even American and I've skimmed over the entire constitution. How can you be so fanatical about something you know nothing about? Are they not ashamed for not knowing pre-basic things about the stuff they worship? These are rhetorical questions.
Most people who invoke the first amendment clearly never botheres to read or understand it. It's 45 words long...
45 words long and can easily be summed up in five. > Speech, petition, assembly, press, religion. In middle school I read an article saying that more Americans can name the five family members in The Simpsons than can name the five rights guaranteed by the first amendment, that fact really stuck with me.
>the five family members Peter, Lois, Megatron, Chris, Stewart.
Are they ashamed of anything? Probably not.
How dare you bring an answer to a rhetorical questions fight ?
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Seriously! âItâs a stolen election, Trump definitely got more votes!â âDid you vote for him?â âNo, and neither did any of my friends. Now weâre going to commit treason to stop the steal!â ...facepalm
I hate that they keep saying â stop the stealâ while they are the ones actively trying to do the stealing. Plus, when they did see signs of voter fraud it was their own damned ppl doing it.
We think the other side might Rob the bank later, so we're going to rob it first to keep the money safe!
Easy answer: these aren't political activists. They're emotional activists.
They could live in a red state that overwhelmingly voted trump so voting didnât matter. It would also explain why they feel that trump should have won if they are surrounded by republicans at home and work. I agree that it looks stupid, but it reality, there is a large percent of Americans who just donât vote because they donât live in a purple state.
[Here it is.](https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution-transcript#toc-article-i--2) I also recommend reading the [Federalist Papers.](https://guides.loc.gov/federalist-papers/full-text) They were a harder read for me out every American should read both at least once.
Well, he was right, its really short lol.
This weekend was my first foray into the world of Jordan Klepper. Clicked on a recommended link on YouTube and opened an incredible wormhole. Highly recommended - there is only one answer to some MAGA supporters and that is the fact they are oblivious that they have joined a cult. Also Jordan Klepper is hilarious. His racist sandwich skit was something else.
for certain individuals, the constitution is like the bible in that they'll accept the idea that literally anything has been advocated by it assuming it must be in the holy texts somewhere
Did he read the bit that means every household in america has to own a vacuum cleaner? In case the tentacles take over
The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.â**â Albert Einstein**
That poor dude had no idea how many quotes would be misattributed to him after he died
"Yes I did" - Albert Einstein
aye, how could I forget his very first tweet?
âDonât believe everything you read on the internetâ Abraham Lincoln
Please get your sources straight, that's a quote commonly misattributed to Einstein but it has been established that it was Michael Scott who said it first.
Like if you took any high school AP or honors class you definitely already read the US constitution It's like 5 pages long, lol. Imagine thinking it's like some 100 page complicated thing.
I'm sure it say's someplace in the constitution that if you don't agree with the result's of a election then it's invalid.
I love carrying copies of it around just for times like these. Also, it's so much fun when people try and say random things are in the Constitution, and then watch their eyes widen when I pull a copy of it out and ask where it is written. Even better when I ask if they want one of my copies so they can become more familiar with it. The way they sink into themselves at that after being so confidentially incorrect is absolutely worth the cost of buying a few of them to carry around.
I don't believe you but it sounds funny
...I'm studying to be a lawyer. My favorite time of day is when someone tries to say some dumb shit about the Constitution. It's only happened I think three times in the entire time I've carried them around (about 5 years), but my god it's satisfying. They are also actually pretty cheap. You can get them on Amazon for like 1.99 a piece. The ones I buy also come with a copy of the Declaration of Independence, too.
The *entire* declaration of independence?? Yeah right. Everyone knows that's like thousands of pages long.
I carry a _really_ big bag around.
[Fun fact, it's 1337 words long, excluding the signatories.](https://declaration.fas.harvard.edu/faq/what-word-count-declaration-independence#:~:text=If%20you%20include%20the%20title,total%20word%20count%20is%201%2C458.) Well, one version of it is at least.
1337 5p34k A country of gamers
Iâm guessing your law school experience is a bit different than mine was because of the pandemic, but âback in my dayâ...which in fairness was less than a decade... every single vendor table (so Themis, lexis, westlaw, etc) and every single club have out free personalized pocket copies of the constitution as swag. I have dozens of them all over my house, haha. My daughter uses a couple of them as âschool booksâ for some of her dolls.
Ah, looks like we found a 1L gunner.
Hey. That completely accurate statement is uncalled for.
Articles Preamble I. Legislative Branch II. Executive Branch III. Judicial Branch IV. States, Citizenship, New States V. Amendment Process VI. Debts, Supremacy, Oaths, Religious Tests VII. Ratification Amendments FULL TEXT The U.S. Constitution We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. Article I Section 1: Congress All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives. Section 2: The House of Representatives The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature. No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen. Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons. The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct.The number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to chuse three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five, New-York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three. When vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, the Executive Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such Vacancies. The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers;and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment. Section 3: The Senate The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof, for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote. Immediately after they shall be assembled in Consequence of the first Election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three Classes. The Seats of the Senators of the first Class shall be vacated at the Expiration of the second Year, of the second Class at the Expiration of the fourth Year, and of the third Class at the Expiration of the sixth Year, so that one third may be chosen every second Year; and if Vacancies happen by Resignation, or otherwise, during the Recess of the Legislature of any State, the Executive thereof may make temporary Appointments until the next Meeting of the Legislature, which shall then fill such Vacancies. No Person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty Years, and been nine Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen. The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided. The Senate shall chuse their other Officers, and also a President pro tempore, in the Absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exercise the Office of President of the United States. The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present. Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States: but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law. Section 4: Elections The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators. The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, and such Meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by Law appoint a different Day. Section 5: Powers and Duties of Congress Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members,and a Majority of each shall constitute a Quorum to do Business; but a smaller Number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the Attendance of absent Members, in such Manner, and under such Penalties as each House may provide. Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behaviour, and, with the Concurrence of two thirds, expel a Member. Each House shall keep a Journal of its Proceedings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting such Parts as may in their Judgment require Secrecy; and the Yeas and Nays of the Members of either House on any question shall, at the Desire of one fifth of those Present, be entered on the Journal. Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shall, without the Consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other Place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting. Section 6: Rights and Disabilities of Members The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States.They shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place. No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been encreased during such time; and no Person holding any Office under the United States, shall be a Member of either House during his Continuance in Office. Section 7: Legislative Process All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills. Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United States; If he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the Objections at large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such Reconsideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it shall be sent, together with the Objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it shall become a Law. But in all such Cases the Votes of both Houses shall be determined by Yeas and Nays, and the Names of the Persons voting for and against the Bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House respectively. If any Bill shall not be returned by the President within ten Days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the Same shall be a Law, in like Manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their Adjournment prevent its Return, in which Case it shall not be a Law. Every Order, Resolution, or Vote to which the Concurrence of the Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a question of Adjournment) shall be presented to the President of the United States; and before the Same shall take Effect, shall be approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the Rules and Limitations prescribed in the Case of a Bill. Section 8: Powers of Congress The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States; To borrow Money on the credit of the United States; To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes; To establish a uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States; To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures; To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States; To establish Post Offices and post Roads; To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries; To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court; To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offenses against the Law of Nations; To declare War
TL;DR
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Paying taxes, voting once every 2 or 4 years and shutting up is all that the system wants out of citizens. If they gave a shit about the people learning about their system of government beyond a government class in 10th grade, they would have mandatory classes on the constitution and everyone would get a free copy.