The US Constitution has failed, America is becoming a failed state

[divideandconquer]

Houses burning down, roads being torn up, police services being dropped, world's highest prison rate, worst healthcare system of advanced nations, highest murder rate of advanced nations, Wall Street betting against you paying your mortgage, corporate personhood, the Walmart family richer than 100 million poorest Americans, Chinese funding political advertising, the 2000 presidential election, the Extreme court running interference for the rich, the growing white underclass arrogantly proud of it's ignorance and cowardice pridefully voting against it's best interests, etc. Add your own to the list.

[dkf]

1. Irony is the 100 million poorest are probably grateful that Walmart exists.

[Art_from_Ark]

34. I wouldn't doubt that for a minute

[blue sky at night]

2. becoming....

i guess it takes thirty years for "it" to kick in for you.

[zipplewrath]

3. Basis of comparison

Now contrast and compare to other periods of time in our history. I might suggest the period after the ratification, to include the Aliens and Sedition acts, the lead up to the American Civil War, and th 1930's including the rise of Huey P. Long.

My wife and I lament much of what we see these days, but a realization has surfaced that we are lamenting the loss of a nation we thought we were becoming, not the nation that actually existed.

[ThomWV]

4. Not one thing you mention is a Constitutional issue

[Lost4words]

5. nit pick much, I knew what the OP was saying,..nt

[depakid]

9. The Constitution effective locks the US into a dysfunctional political system

that's no longer capable of solving the nation's problems.

More than that though- for all intents and purposes, it's now impossible to ratify an Amendment that would change that system in order to make it more adaptive to the challenges of the 21st Century.

[Yupster]

15. Interestingly, the Constitution

does not even require a public vote for president.

Many states went for years without a vote.

South Carolina, one of the original 13 states didn't have a popular vote for president until 1868. All quite Constitutional.

[monmouth]

6. Your poster name is quite appropriate....n/t

[JNelson6563]

8. Agreed!

[PetrusMonsFormicarum]

7. I don't see any suggestions for solutions

in your OP. Leave the Chicken-Little hand-wringing and litanies of perceived woe to the teabaggers and the Phred Felpses of the world.

[NoPasaran]

10. William Shatner once again on TV

[RedCloud]

11. Nothing but crap for sale and overpriced shit.

[sinkingfeeling]

12. Seems more like the American people have failed and America is a failed state when compared to the

ideals set forth at its founding.

[The2ndWheel]

13. If roads are torn up

That at least helps with the climate change issue. Glass half full there.

[seabeyond]

14. the constitution has not failed. the NOT following the constitution is the failure. nt

[divideandconquer]

37. Gives us a example

[rrneck]

16. This is easily

the most obtuse, tone deaf, self centered, poorly considered, reactionary, arrogant, and embarrassing OP I have seen on this board. You should be ashamed of yourself. Lets just look at this phrase:

"...the growing white underclass arrogantly proud of it's ignorance and cowardice pridefully voting against it's best interests..."

The great granite millstone that has hung around the neck of liberals in this country is one that paints them as arrogant elitists who don't care about average working Americans. The "Tea Party" exists and has flourished because of that not entirely inaccurate mischaracterization. I've got news for you slick, the "white underclass" has watched their incomes decline and their hopes wither because arrogant elitists created an ideology that ignored the reality of their lives and treated them as just another source of a revenue stream. That ideological insularity is not confined to the elitists on the right.

If you actually cared about anything beyond your own ego you would realize that "the growing white underclass" built this country along with every other currently oppressed "underclass" and got screwed for their trouble by arrogant ideologues who were more concerned with pushing their system of social organization than the reality of people's lives.

Please, do us all a favor and find a fast car or a rock band fuel your egotistical obsessions. We don't need political fanboys making us look bad to the "growing white underclass" whose votes we need to win elections.

[divideandconquer]

18. Don't worry I'll dutifully vote straight Democratic like I have since 1980

Don't worry I'll dutifully vote straight Democratic like I have since 1980 but I've seen few positive results for those less than millionaires. I've tried giving money, going to marches, proselytizing at work, voting in primaries, nothing seems to work. Meanwhile we've watched much of old continental Europe with less resources and less working hours pull ahead of us. The political problems are beginning to look all structural to me. The electoral college, the Supreme court, the state legislatures, the dubious security of voting machines, the weakening of education for the middleclass, the endless use of fear to manage the electorate, ad nauseum.

Meanwhile, we don't have to worry about winning over the white underclass, they see how the Democrats starve their base, at least the fascists throw scraps of red meat in their direction.

[rrneck]

19. You missed the point,

or avoided it. Nobody cares about your liberal credentials except you. And that's the point. No matter how they vote, lefties, righties and everybody in between are all Americans and your pathetic search for a cat turd in your ideological sandbox is emblematic of what is wrong with this country in general and with many liberals in particular.

Referring to anyone as members of an "underclass" labels you as an arrogant, elitist ideologue. That's the sort of attitude that costs Democrats elections. Don't you get it? The minute anybody hears you say that the first question that pops into their mind will be, "And what class are you sonofabitch?" Then they go vote Republican. That's how George W. Bush and Sarah Palin have enjoyed such success. They may be liars, but at least they make people believe that they are on their side while they are screwing them.

The reason your efforts seem to be in vain is because of your disdain for the people you are supposed to care about. Considering your attitude no wonder proselytizing at work is unproductive. You are so ensconced in your own ideology you have forgotten about your responsibility as a citizen. Nobody gives a shit what you do for the Democratic party. You're just preaching to the choir there. If you want others to care, show that you care about them. If you can't do that at least watch your mouth in public.

This country is in such a mess it will take the cooperation of everyone one of us to survive. You can take your elitism and shove it up your ass.

[divideandconquer]

22. The underclass knows that they are the underclass, lying about it loses their respect

BTW, you're quite a charmer, maybe you rethink your strategy. Maybe if Dems would get the underclasses not so bad relatives out of jail, actually make an effort to educate their kids, come up with a healthcare system that actually didn't cost them money out of their already weak paychecks, made a honest effort to bring the races together instead of playing them off against each other, quit patronizing them and level with them.

[rrneck]

24. Your condescension is as repugnant as your elitism. nt

[proteus_lives]

28. Mixes in well with his support of racist gun-control, huh?

:puke:

[rrneck]

31. Those bubbles are the damnest thing...

They allow zero information to get in and yet they let all that bullshit out. It's a fucking mystery.

[divideandconquer]

35. Welcome to third world America and it's gun loving enablers

Didn't see any pro gun signs at the NAACP sponsered One Nation march, I guess the teabaggers used them all up at the BecKKKathon. :rofl:

[rrneck]

38. Looks like that bubble still works.

Third world countries are plagued by income disparity and cliques of ruling oligarchs and kleptocrats with non a nonexistent or severely stressed middle class. So, actually, your description of the United States has at least a sarcastic ring of truth.

Unfortunately, what you fail to see through your bubble is that by derisively distinguishing great swaths of the population as an "underclass" you reveal yourself as a member of the class of people who are abusing the rest. Every time you open your mouth you reveal yourself as part of the problem, not part of the solution.

Like I said, it lets nothing in but it allows you to shit on everyone around you.

:rofl: indeed.

[proteus_lives]

27. +10

[Romulox]

17. America worshipper can't admit it, but our Constitution is garbage

The Bill of Rights is the only part that is a worth a damn and then only where it is observed (see, e.g., the comical way in which drug forfeiture laws have been squared with the fourth and fifth amendments.)

Strip away the Bill of Rights, and what remains is the bullshit whereby North Dakota gets as large of a say in national affairs as California. It's a disaster.

[Hello_Kitty]

25. I remember people screaming about Obama's FISA vote in 2008

One guy emailed me to let me know he was not going to vote for Obama because of it. It was an OUTRAGE I tell you!! I asked him where his outrage was when SCOTUS effectively voided the 4th amendment for drug searches back in the early 90s. That actually caused a lot of doors to be kicked open, property to be seized, and people only tangentially related to the drug trafficking to be jailed for lengthy sentences. But it wasn't happening in his neighborhood so why should he care?

And yeah, it's bullshit that Wyoming and N. Dakota get the same number of Senators as NY and CA. Meanwhile, people in those states oppose getting rid of the electoral college because "the rural states don't get enough of a say in Washington."

[ThomWV]

41. What a line of pure clap-trap.

I think this is the most mindless post I've seen in years. You need to find a grade-school civics teacher to give you a rundown on all that part that's not the Bill of Rights because if you understood it at any level you'd know full well what nonsense you've written.

[Throd]

20. We're practically Somalia

[proteus_lives]

29. Forgot your sarcasm tag.

[X_Digger]

21. *brawk* The Sky is falling! *brawk* n/t

[HuckleB]

23. Nice ivory tower you got there.

Er, hogwash!

[Dark]

26. The constitution hasn't failed us. WE have failed us.

We meaning Americans, not DUers.

The constitution is an amazingly prescient document, even today. But it is mostly a type of guide for the government. It gives the gov't the power to address the issues you mention.

It does NOT, HOWEVER, say how to address those issues. The founders made it a flexible, living document so as generations learned lessons, they wouldn't be constricted by specific constitutional statutes.

In other words, it's meant to simply say what things congress, the president and the SC can address, and what they can't.

American citizens are the ones who need to use the powers in the constitution to legislate, enforce and interpret the law accordingly.

[proteus_lives]

30. Elitist crap.

How is living under the bridge treating you?

[elleng]

32. How about the U.S. people have failed the Constitution instead?

[JCMach1]

33. Get a clue... the U.S. is no where remotely close.

[divideandconquer]

36. Remotely close to what, European standards?

[JCMach1]

39. a failed state..?. this hyperbole is getting a little old...

Ask some from Pakistan about the crap going down in their country. Or, visit Nepal and see a country that has just pulled is self back from the brink.

Or, fly into Somalia or Yemen some weekend just for fun.

[divideandconquer]

40. Or New Orleans during and after Katrina

35th in healthcare, worse murder rate than India, income for those less than wealthy stagnant for 40 years and now falling, get the drift?