I honestly think that one of the big problems with a "civics education" as we understand it is that it's premised on the idea that the system as currently constituted is a good system and we have a duty to try to maintain it Based on basically no evidence
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And that the way they teach civics they make this such a fundamental assumption that thinking outside it is impossible The idea of scrapping the US Constitution and starting over with a new one is this shocking unsayable proposal
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Replying to @arthur_affect
No, but I find it really hard to imagine our current collection of political thought-leaders coming up with a BETTER one from scratch right now. I mean, about half of them could, but only if the other half were locked in a utility closet the whole time
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Replying to @Radlein
The great thing about throwing everything out and starting over is after you do it the first time it gets easier and easier to do it again I joke about the US "dissolving into chaos" as a worst-case scenario but there is no way out of this current mess long-term without chaos
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Replying to @arthur_affect
That's also the bad thing about throwing everything out and starting over: It gets easier and easier to do it again.
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Replying to @Radlein
Nah the easier it gets the higher the chance you end up with a system that everyone sticks with because it actually works and makes people happy, rather than just inertia
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Replying to @arthur_affect @Radlein
One of the reasons Edmund Burke loved the American Revolution so much is the new US government revolution-proofed itself -- sending Tom Paine away, brutally putting down Shays' Rebellion and the Whiskey Rebellion "One revolution was enough, no more"
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Replying to @arthur_affect @Radlein
Burkean conservatives strongly agree with this and think of the alternate history where "the 13 colonies dissolved into constant war and chaos for the next fifty years" as a horrific worst-case scenario But, I mean... that's exactly why the American Revolution was bullshit
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Replying to @arthur_affect @Radlein
They got a bunch of people to sign up to fight against King George because they promised life would be better after And that turned out to be a total fucking lie (Shays' Rebellion was literally a rebellion of veterans who'd been left indebted and impoverished)
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Replying to @arthur_affect @Radlein
And when people said "Okay well then let's keep on having a revolution then, until we actually get what we were revolting for" the people in charge used what they learned from the first revolution to cut off all future ones A fucking worst-case scenario
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I mean what else can you call it when you get told King George's taxes are ruining your life, signing up for the army and getting your damn leg blown off by a cannon, and then being told that 1) there's no pension available for you, sorry and 2) oh you still have to pay taxes
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