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]
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