US decay: asymmetry and myopia

[ionelv]

In two words, asymmetry and myopia are what ails the US (and to various degrees, most of the West, the anglophone world more than the rest), more precisely, the primarily genetic and implicit evolutional asymmetry of the US levers of power.
* By genetic, I mean that the US Constitution is increasingly petrifying, getting deified, all while its deep flaws can't be band aided or ignored anymore ([1], [4], [6]).
* By evolution, I mean the arrival at the current state of affairs in which the political center keeps shifting right [5], one party is slowly transforming into a fascist caricature and the other was/is experiencing a reverse takeover (e.g. New Democrats takeover since late 80s) and split personality at the same time (e.g. Lieberman, Manchin vs CPC, The Squad).
* By myopia, I am talking about the relentless and superficial news and conversation coverage mostly of the now and, at most, the next election cycle without much context, serious analysis or thoughtful projection further ahead, especially at crucial moments (e.g. elections, major legislative proposals, building up to and starting wars). I am also talking about the flawed attempts to present both sides in MSM coverage [2] when often one side is reasonable (backed by facts or common sense) and the other side is not (often appealing to emotion, Dunning-Kruger amplification and base fears through deceit or just bald-faced lies).

ALL the accelerating decay in US (politics, economy, crime and unfair justice, social and moral justice, rising inequality and debt at all levels from individual to feds, media [2], education, health care, dwindling social net, foreign policy, judicial system from juvie all the way to SCOTUS) and I really mean ALL, can be traced back to the other original sin in the Constitution: declaring all states equal (i.e. the Senate and the Electoral College). The metastasis of this "state equality" utopia can be perfectly illustrated by the present distortions in all three branches of the federal government:
* Legislative: 50 GOP senators represent 41.5 million less Americans than the 50 Dem senators[3]. If we count Manchin and Sinema as DINOs, then we have 48 Dem senators representing 37 million more Americans than the 50+2 anti-Dem senators. Either way, a considerable minority rules undemocratically.
* Executive: The Senate/EC distortion allowed Bush II in 2000 and BLT (BigLyingT*rd) in 2016 to win with a minority of national votes, and made the 2020 presidential election quite close in EC count (45k votes could have flipped it) despite a difference of 7 million votes overall.
* Judicial: The Senate and executive power imbalance has recently produced an imbalance in SCOTUS as well, one where one might expect some fairness and neutrality, but which is hopelessly imbalanced in a 6-3 power split in favor of the minority, with no foreseeable redress for at least a decade (unless the court gets packed or significantly altered in the near future), an imbalance which already has produced an elevated partisanship in its jurisprudence (which some may trace back to its recent controversial decisions in Bush v Gore (2000), Citizens United v FEC (2010) or even further back if we are to be honest).

Increasingly, many legal scholars and pundits have recognized the US Constitution's glaring flaws and many have proposed various paths/processes to address it (e.g. Bernstein's DC splitting into 127 states[1], Orts' proposal[7], Harvard Law Review's union packing[8], the "compact" [9]).

More reading material and sources for the above:
[1] http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1835/has-the-us-constitution-reached-its-expiration-date-a-review-and-criticism-of-the-worlds-longest-lasting-constitution
[2] https://pressthink.org/2020/11/the-coming-confrontation-between-the-american-press-and-the-republican-party/
[3] https://www.vox.com/2020/11/6/21550979/senate-malapportionment-20-million-democrats-republicans-supreme-court
[4] https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/12/09/our-broken-constitution
[5] https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/06/26/opinion/sunday/republican-platform-far-right.html
[6] https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/02/constitution-flawed/606208/
[7] https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/01/heres-how-fix-senate/579172/
[8] https://harvardlawreview.org/2020/01/pack-the-union-a-proposal-to-admit-new-states-for-the-purpose-of-amending-the-constitution-to-ensure-equal-representation/
[9] https://www.nationalpopularvote.com/written-explanation

Comments

[ionelv.livejournal.com]

Ben: Senate was never meant to represent people in the US...rather than the states. Initially, the Senate was nominated by each state legislature, not voted by the people. It was one of the reasons why the Senate was named as the body to "judge" over impeachment proceedings as it was free of political pressure from the electorate.

Me: The whole idea of the Senate and the equality of the states is based on the assumption that they are just as free to disassociate. Unfortunately, the US federation is in limbo since the Civil War: the freedom to disassociate was declared void, thus state equality is a fiction, so the Senate deal should be void as well. At some point Americans will have to pick one or the other: true equality, Senate as is and freedom to leave the Union, OR acknowledge that joining the federation is a one way street and the Senate should be abolished. Can't have your cake and eat it too.

Ben: it would be nice to back that assertion with some sources. I never heard of any state, with exception of Texas joining the Union with the option they can leave the Union. My recollection is that it was the actual reason of the Civil War. But my comment remains...Senate does not represent people, but the states. And the state of the Union is strong... don't believe me...wait for the State of the Union address in a month or so

Me: I have a few more points to make (even if they don't directly address your ask for sources):
1. Joining the union is effectively a contract between each joining state (or its people as some claim) and the federation. All contracts have exit clauses and are based on reciprocity, thus exits can be triggered if reciprocity is broken (and one could argue that reciprocity has been and continues to be broken often and with no reasonable redress by the mere existence of the Senate in its current form).
2. "No taxation without representation" fairness doctrine was the rallying cry of the American Revolution and, if taken to its maximum, is also the seed that should trigger the union's dissolution it if some states are grossly underrepresented in proportion to their taxation (e.g. California would have a damning case in that respect if it actually bothered to make its case).
3. There is a principle in law called "dead hand" which if applied in principle to the federation, it should have automatically triggered an expiration to the US Constitution long ago. Some might argue that a state is eternal, yet if one of the federalist arguments is to be taken at face value, it is not the state but the people of the state that actually count and they are mere mortals for which "dead hand" does apply, principle partially and unwittingly acknowledged by at least 14 of the 50 states that have periodic state constitutional review mechanisms (https://ballotpedia.org/State_constitutional_conventions) built into their state constitutions (with periodic reviews every 10 to 20 years).
4. Yes, secession is a seemingly DOA topic, based on constitutional wording, previous jurisprudence and founding fathers opinions (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secession_in_the_United_States). Yet, one should acknowledge that most contracts have unenforceable clauses if unreasonable (e.g. the Senate and Electoral College as is), and since the US Constitution is effectively a contract, it should be itself subject to the same limitations as any other contract, especially when untested in courts for more than a century or in a serious national public debate since the Federalist Papers.
5. Lastly, the Senate is an aristocratic institution as it was when it was concocted, as it is today and will continue to be, an anachronism antithetical to "a more perfect union" that only deepens the nation's divisions instead of smoothing them as originally promised. It has to be done away with or the nation will ultimately fall because of the poison it slowly keeps leaking by the distortions it creates and amplifies.

[ionelv.livejournal.com]

Recent article in Vox about perils to American democracy that mentions Senate and Electoral College unfairness and the "compact (https://www.nationalpopularvote.com/written-explanation)" solution: https://www.vox.com/22798975/democracy-threats-peril-trump-voting-rights

[ionelv.livejournal.com]

One way to implement reform is through the ballot box and 18 states allow amending their constitutions by direct vote: https://ballotpedia.org/States_that_allow_initiated_constitutional_amendments

[ionelv.livejournal.com]

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20220202-eight-photos-showing-a-us-in-crisis

[ionelv.livejournal.com]

Here is an unforgiving assessment of US foreign policy fsckups: https://consortiumnews.com/2022/01/05/lowering-the-throne-of-americas-delusion

[ionelv.livejournal.com]

https://www.templeton.org/news/inequality-and-the-constitution