COVID19 Factors We Should Consider/Current Events

[Michael Wolf]

This entire time, I've been more than happy to join up with anyone from any political leaning to be against the insane, damaging, and utterly ineffective response to this whole thing, and not to divide within that all too scare coalition. And I still am.

That said, purely for the sake of discussion: I don't see how you can be a principled small government person and come out of the past year without questioning that. Even Ron Paul, the best congressman of my lifetime and one of the most principled small gov't people in recent memory, is questioning whether constitutional minarchy isn't actually more utopian than anarcho-capitalism after all.

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The idea that a centralized federal government would ever choose to limit itself over a prolonged period was always a tough sell. And it was also obvious to everyone who pays attention how deeply the constitution had already been eroded prior to 2020 as well. But the past 12 months have shown it to be, truly, but a paper shield.

I'm not saying it's utterly useless, nor that its core ideas are bad. It's "slowed the spread" of the government, sure, and most of its ideas are groundbreakingly good, and hold up well even 250 years later. But the idea that is has actually done its job in limiting the government, and that any document really ever could, and that a government will limit itself given all the incentives involved, has to be looking more and more utopian than ever these days.

[VNV]

...The idea that a centralized federal government would ever choose to limit itself over a prolonged period was always a tough sell. And it was also obvious to everyone who pays attention how deeply the constitution had already been eroded prior to 2020 as well. But the past 12 months have shown it to be, truly, but a paper shield.

I'm not saying it's utterly useless, nor that its core ideas are bad. It's "slowed the spread" of the government, sure, and most of its ideas are groundbreakingly good, and hold up well even 250 years later. But the idea that is has actually done its job in limiting the government, and that any document really ever could, and that a government will limit itself given all the incentives involved, has to be looking more and more utopian than ever these days.

Right. But the constitution hasn't been eroded. The people eroded.

"A republic, if you can keep it." - B. F. at the close of the constitutional convention. Nothing automatic or programmatic in that.

[Barry Charles]

The idea that a centralized federal government would ever choose to limit itself over a prolonged period was always a tough sell. And it was also obvious to everyone who pays attention how deeply the constitution had already been eroded prior to 2020 as well. But the past 12 months have shown it to be, truly, but a paper shield.

I'm not saying it's utterly useless, nor that its core ideas are bad. It's "slowed the spread" of the government, sure, and most of its ideas are groundbreakingly good, and hold up well even 250 years later. But the idea that is has actually done its job in limiting the government, and that any document really ever could, and that a government will limit itself given all the incentives involved, has to be looking more and more utopian than ever these days.

Well said.

The ratchet clicks, sometimes rarely and sometimes rapidly, but we all know it's a ratchet.

[Cody Annino]

Wolf, I've always had a love-hate relationship with the constitution. I appreciate that the Bill of rights expressly guarantees individual liberty and that the constitution lays out quite clearly mechanisms to preserve limited government. The constitution is probably the greatest experiment in limiting government powers in human history, but Ron Paul is right; it has clearly failed. I can remember taking a constitutional law class in college, and every time we got to one of the ‘‘good parts’’ of the text, we would then be presented with some Supreme Court opinion that explained why it supposedly didn't actually mean what it appeared to mean. Activist judges combined with congress and the presidency have steadily chipped away at the founding fathers' original words to produce the massive bloated federal and state governments that we have today. It seems we the people have allowed our government to render the actual Constitution a mere relic, instead of the governing document it purports to be.

[wal]

The idea that a centralized federal government would ever choose to limit itself over a prolonged period was always a tough sell. And it was also obvious to everyone who pays attention how deeply the constitution had already been eroded prior to 2020 as well. But the past 12 months have shown it to be, truly, but a paper shield.

Is it Fox that produces the "Simsons"? Even your kids can't avoid the attack on your Constitution. And you folk have the nerve to send that Simpson rubbish over here.

Homer has a surprise for Marge... a gun. - YouTube

[cmdrfunk]

Right. But the constitution hasn't been eroded. The people eroded.

The 19th amendment failed us hard.

[Kitsuma]

Remember this? Pelosi re the Constitution: Are you serious

At the time, it made me wonder if the Constitution even exists for Washington. Perhaps it really doesn't?

[Matt Jackson]

Liberalism fails because humans are tribal creatures.

[wal]

It seems we the people have allowed our government to render the actual Constitution a mere relic, instead of the governing document it purports to be.

I think you had better change "we the people" to "we were the people".

The cancel culture without the constitution.

The Twilight Zone - The Obsolete Man - YouTube

The Twilight Zone, one of the best programs to come out of the US.

[Jovan Dragisic]

That said, purely for the sake of discussion: I don't see how you can be a principled small government person and come out of the past year without questioning that. Even Ron Paul, the best congressman of my lifetime and one of the most principled small gov't people in recent memory, is questioning whether constitutional minarchy isn't actually more utopian than anarcho-capitalism after all.

Purely for the sake of discussion, I don't think you can. The only proper government is no government at all, in my opinion at least. It seems to me, now that you mention the ancap folks, that the various subdivisions in the anarchist camp have for some 200 years been a massive counterintelligence psyop. The last time we had a situation like this, when a proper anarchist movement formulated some opinions, the various agencies of its day came to slam down heavily on it. Joseph Conrad has written a superb novel on this, called The Secret Agent.