Your bill of rights is only safe for as long as Americans generally value it. Imagine if you somehow became predominantly Sharia supporting Muslims overnight. What would make you respect the authority and history of that?
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Replying to @HPluckrose
Absolutely! That's where the ethics argument gets fun! What is majority rule weighted against the consent of the governed. My government (for the past few decades) doesn't value a lot of things regarding individual liberty, even when a majority do value them - is that tyranny?
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Replying to @shouldITbonfire
I'm not talking about ethics for a change. I'm talking about a much simpler reality that the rules of a country reflect the societal norms within it because society makes the rules.
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Replying to @HPluckrose
Does society actually make law? Our last election would have been decided (one way or the other) by ~45 Million, numerous eligible voters don't vote, nore are minors and other members of society. 60 Million Pastafarians could make Sagnarelli Law a reality.
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Replying to @shouldITbonfire
I am not talking about this. I am speaking on a much larger timescale in which yes, society changes and with it laws. Its not a coincidence that secular liberal democracies exist where the Enlightenment happened and Muslim theocracies exist where most people are Muslim.
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Replying to @HPluckrose
So to be clear, you are referring society (as it pertains to values) influencing government over a period generations (decades and centuries). As those moral values change over generations so then does the laws and governments.
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Replying to @shouldITbonfire
Yes, exactly. Look at how England has changed over the last 2000 years. The zeitgeist changes and with it society and with it government even if at various stages, it upholds some values which are at odds with the majority.
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Replying to @HPluckrose
Got Ya! With that, do you think its possible for any culture or society to resist change. Even some of the most hardline cultures that have actively resisted reformation for fundamentalism are softening. (Ex: Women Protesting in Iran; China's talent for capitalism)
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Replying to @shouldITbonfire
No. There is no evidence I know of of any society having resisted change. They have all evolved culturally and intellectually. Its a thing societies do.
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Replying to @HPluckrose
Of course they evolve, my question is more along the lines of what path they follow. If a society can evolve to be more liberated/free/liberal then it makes sense they should be able to evolve to be more authoritarian/restricted/conservative ... by have any?
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The moral arc is generally positive but we shouldn't count on it remaining so. Even if it only backtracks temporarily like in the fascist/communist genocides and hopefully in the Iranian revolution its enough to ruin millions of lives.
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