Donald Trump is frustrated in his inability to move legislation. He said in a recent interview that the form and function of the US Constitution are "archaic" and should be restructured so that it would be "modern." He also says that he would like to change the libel laws, evidently for the purpose of controlling dissent. So far as I know there are no federal libel laws. They are all state laws. The federal constitution protects freedom of speech but the law, so far as I know, does not offer the opportunity to sue for defamation in the federal Article Three courts. Does DT not understand that he does not control the state courts or legislatures? He is frustrated with his inability to move legislation in the US Congress? By analogy, if he were still in business, the response by a CEO type to a business plan for the company that obstructed his planning would be to seek to change the business plan at a stockholders meeting. Well, pilgrims, the US Constitution is not a business plan and the US Congress is not a stockholders' meeting. The US Constitution contains provisions for its own modification through amendment or a constitutional convention. Neither of these processes is anything like a stockholders' meeting. In fact the constitution was designed to make its modification difficult, and not easy at all. An amendment required 2/3 approval in BOTH houses and 2/3 ratification by the state governments. This was necessary in framing because a number of the original states would not have ratified the document without that approach. Yes, that means that the Union is an agreement among the states.
The extent to which DT understands the US government system is, IMO, doubtful. He appears to this lay observer of humans to have a number of learning disabilities; a form of Asperger's syndrome perhaps, ADHD, and dyslexia are among the possibilities. The comedian Hassan Minhaj told the press at the White House Correspondents; Dinner on Saturday that their responsibility is greater now than it has been in previous administrations because this president does not read briefing papers, cannot endure protracted oral briefings and has little knowledge of world affairs in his mental "library." It seems to be the case that he gets his information from 24/7 TV news . That is really unfortunate since most 24/7 news is merely a mouthpiece for someone's information operations whether left or right.
At the same time he has watched a lot of movies What a combination of influences! pl
David Habakkuk,
I believe the same thought is presented in a different form by a recent PBS series, "The Great War, in which the depths of Wilson's abuses of power in wartime were, at least for me, revealed for the first time.
Lincoln did much the same, and Melville's piece could have fit as well in the post WW1 world, I suspect. The rueing of a mad period is often suppressed. Nobody likes to admit they were cowards and/or fools and most will only express that guilt in odd, obscure ways.
We seem to suspend democracy when it is perceived to be too cumbersome and then restore it. Perhaps it has only been restored in our past because we perceived that the good times are "here again" or we believed they would soon be.
Posted by: Mark Logan | 03 May 2017 at 06:22 PM
Col lang,
Oh well. I'll still enjoy your FP stuff. But your Trump stuff is just nuts.
Posted by: Edward Amame | 03 May 2017 at 10:15 PM
Col,
I don't think EA is a propagandist. EA is a sane voice from the Democratic party. I wish all Democratic party faithfuls are like EA.
Posted by: TonyL | 04 May 2017 at 04:51 AM
TonyL
You agree with him I suppose so he seems reasonable to you. I have put up with him for quite a few years in spite of the fact that I rarely agree with him on anything. Yesterday he wrote me three e-mails withing a few minutes repeating the same points and then told me he would be back for more on the same subject today when he had time off from work. To me, this is mere argumentative pushing of talking points. I don't want that on my site. pl
Posted by: turcopolier | 04 May 2017 at 08:17 AM
Edward Amame
Thanks for the demonstration of the closed nature of your mind. pl
Posted by: turcopolier | 04 May 2017 at 09:07 AM
Laura, ok, another Sybil.
I may be misguided, but at the times that mattered the ladies seemed pretty obsessed with Trump's suits. Fitting versus not so well fitting.
Was that you?
Posted by: LeaNder | 04 May 2017 at 09:52 AM
agreed, Tony. I wouldn't have responded to him more recently if it hadn't the feel and touch of something like a mental struggle.
Posted by: LeaNder | 04 May 2017 at 09:58 AM
Sir,
Re; Edward - If I may, there is something going on in this country that I really don't understand. There are - it appears - a large number of people who have adopted political concepts and positions like Edward's to the point of cult like obsession. This phenomenon intensified many fold in 2016. There is no reasoning with these people.
Due to my life long hobby interests in spiritual/metaphysical topics and guitar music I have made a lot of friends and acquaintances with left leaning views. Those areas interest seem to attract such people like a summer porch lamp attracts bugs. Some of these people have been friends for 30 years or more. Some are minorities. Those that are have been welcomed guests in my home. I have proudly introduced them as friends to people I know in my predominately white community. I have included them in social events. A couple of them and I have been through some things together.
Now, all of the sudden, they call me a "racist" and refuse to talk to me because I voted Trump. Many are calling me "evil" because I work for an insurance company. Their Facebook pages are full of vitriol, fear and loathing against America and Republicans. They weren't like this even 3 years ago. We used to be able to casually rib each other once in a while about our different political outlooks and have a good laugh over it at each other's expense. Now they're practically deadly serious. It's not funny any more.
I've tried to understand what transformed them. Best I can figure from what I see and hear, they have been fully propagandized, indoctrinated and radicalized beyond the boundaries of reason by the MSM, but more, by the online material they consume. They repeat exactly the same talking points that Edward does. There's no getting through to them. Again, this is a new development for the people that used to be my friends.
The only common threads I detect is that these people have an artistic bent, have always been idealistic and fairly passive physically and emotionally, are somewhat under-achievers and have a tendency to over-simply the realities of life, while believing that they have it all figured out. Their lack of real world experience at any level of power and decision making strongly colors their false impressions of what it's all about. That's the people I know. It's like someone - or something - has crafted a cult perfectly suited for their personalities and they have flocked to it with reckless abandon. Very sad.
Posted by: Eric Newhill | 04 May 2017 at 10:45 AM
Perhaps not a propagandist, but most certainly a proselytizer.
"Democratic party faithful"? Yes, it is devolved to mere religion over the years. Many Democrats have become increasingly intolerant of any beliefs other than their own, and of anyone who does not share their beliefs. Very self righteous too. The new moral majority. No wonder people so many people like me have left the party over the years.
Your irrational hatred of Trump, driven by heavy Dem propaganda, has revealed how many have lost the ability to think rationally, and non-emotionally about the political scene today.
How many hours a week do you spend hating on Trump? Versus doing something constructive to improve and take back the now heavily corporatized Democratic party? There has been lots of talk of rebuilding the grass roots. Can't build that on Trump hate, it needs to built on a positive vision.
As old time Democrat Jimmy Dore (Sanders guy, a comedian worth checking out) points out on his youtube videos, the current Democratic party doesn't really stand for anything.
Posted by: Valissa | 04 May 2017 at 11:03 AM
Don't feel too bad.
I wrote a message to this Iranian woman Facebook Friend that she was supporting Jihadists by posting material in support of the rebels in Aleppo.
She un-Friend-ed me; completely oblivious to what those rebels would do to her - a Shia female - if they could get their hands on her.
Posted by: Babak Makkinejad | 04 May 2017 at 11:18 AM
Babak,
I guess we've all had it happen.
A niece unfriended me from her Facebook, our only communication link, because I was such a conservative minded old cuss.
Posted by: John Minnerath | 04 May 2017 at 12:04 PM
Valissa. You are wrong, I don't hate Trump. I just expressed my opinion about what I think of the President of our country. I think he is a buffoon, not a leader.
Posted by: TonyL | 04 May 2017 at 12:05 PM
TonyL,
I'm a dues paying member of the Michigan Democratic Party. I took an oath to defend the constitution. I never took one to defend the party.
Posted by: Fred | 04 May 2017 at 12:53 PM
Eric,
I first started to notice this a few years ago after listening to a podcast the Col. had linked to on civil war history. It was Dr. Robertson from Virginia Tech (He was Executive Director of the U.S. Civil War Centennial Commission) discussing teaching history. He mentioned that he saw the same hardening of attitudes among the student body that he had read about in researching the period prior to the civil war. I think it is getting worse now.
Posted by: Fred | 04 May 2017 at 01:00 PM
Edward Amame: But your Trump stuff is just nuts.
Escaped my attention. What precisely is "nuts" in this specific article by Pat?
Posted by: LeaNder | 04 May 2017 at 02:09 PM
The lefties are turning nuts everywhere under the pretense of "fascism threat" while THEY are the ones who promote violence.
French Antifas throwing Molotov cocktails at riot police (CRS)
That will not end well but I think it cannot be stopped, it has to run its course.
Posted by: jld | 04 May 2017 at 02:25 PM
Valissa
The Democrats don't get it. They want to blame everyone else but themselves for why they lost the last presidential election. Just look at Hillary blaming everyone else.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-05-02/hillary-clinton-i-was-way-winning-until-comey-and-russian-wikileaks
The fact of the matter is that they have been losing state houses and legislatures too. The Republicans gained states all through Obama's presidency.
Not that the GOP is much different than the Democrats when it comes to neocon foreign policy and neoliberal economic policies.
Trump won plain and simple because he espoused a America First agenda that spoke to those discarded by the corporatist and warmongering policies of the Borg establishment. Would Bernie have defeated Trump if the Democrats nominated him? It is quite possible as he spoke to the same angst as Trump did. But..the Democrats rigged their primary to nominate the Borg Queen. Now they complain. At this rate they will continue to lose elections even if the GOP does not do a good job!
Posted by: Sam Peralta | 04 May 2017 at 02:37 PM
Fred,
The Trumpists should watch Pence very carefully. Pence is the silent scorpion in Trump's boot. Pence is the non-rattling rattlesnake in Trump's sleeping bag.
Posted by: different clue | 04 May 2017 at 03:00 PM
Eric Newhill,
It would be interesting to know how many of the people you describe supported Clinton throughout the whole process. It is as much of a family-personality cult ( the Klinton Koolaid Kult if I may be so nasty) as any leftishness . . . especially given that the leftishness of the "KKK" ( that's Klinton Koolaid Kult) members is cultural and psychomental leftishness with zero political or economic content of any sort.
The reason I suspect all or almost all of the "leftists" you know must be Clintonites and/or Obamazoids is that the Clintonites and Obamazoids are treating Sanderbackers with the same kind of spiteful nastiness . . . insulting, defaming, accusing of any old thing, etc. I don't know about unfriending or not because I don't do social media . . . not Tweeter or SpaceFace or MyBook or any of it. So I don't know how Sanderists versus Clintobamazoids are interacting on these social media spaces.
Posted by: different clue | 04 May 2017 at 03:23 PM
David
"Debased into equality" is quite prescient.
Posted by: Fred | 04 May 2017 at 06:10 PM
Many are calling me "evil" because I work for an insurance company.
They knew that before. Didn't they? Supposing livelong interest means at least some of them you knew longer.
life long hobby interests in spiritual/metaphysical topics and guitar music
Could you explain to me what type of spiritual/metaphysical interests that are? And guitar music? Only guitar no other instruments? Do you play yourself?
Well there are some beautiful ones, yes. Random pick:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xiNqxaBBsI
Posted by: LeaNder | 04 May 2017 at 08:32 PM
IMO, all this democrats’ religious devotion to the party, was started with Kennedy’s assassination (Kennedy being like Imam Hossain for democrats), which brought a virtual halo of innocence above the party in the minds of the devoted. That cemented itself by the democrats owning the civil right act, and other assassinations on party’ leaders, Johnson’s refusal to continue to run due to Vietnam mess. Basically they proclaimed themselves as the party to protect the unprivileged and righteousness in 60s. I have seen this close for too long, it’s all baloney they are no innocents they will enjoy their free lunch like everybody else on the back middle class.
Posted by: kooshy | 04 May 2017 at 10:05 PM
The phenonenon is nothing new. We have seen this before with Republicans during George W Bush time.
Posted by: TonyL | 05 May 2017 at 03:47 AM
Thanks Col,
That is indeed irrational.
Posted by: TonyL | 05 May 2017 at 03:51 AM
TonyL
EXactly what is irrational? pl
Posted by: turcopolier | 05 May 2017 at 07:50 AM