1y ago

Basic Constitutional Law

159 comments

Dolly Parton is qualified
- This is the dumbest comment I've ever seen. We couldn't possibly be daft enough to elect someone that young! And a woman nonetheless!
  /s
- I'd totally vote for Dolly.
  
  If I ever commit voter fraud, it would be to vote Dolly twice :)
  
  Talk about a bicameral legislature!
  
  I would too.
- How about we stop celebrity worshipping in our politics? Reagan was an actor.
  
  Dolly Parton is not just a random celebrity. She is a legitimate force for good.
  https://www.billboard.com/lists/dolly-parton-good-deeds-timeline/
  
  My children have a stack of free age-approptiate books, and I will whack you with them until you read more about the good that Dolly has done.
  Don't worry, kids books are light.
  
  It's unavoidable: politics is a popularity contest, and celebrities are popular...
  Also being an actor doesn't automatically mean they're not fit for the role, Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, was an actor.
  
  She’s a saint.

The people who think Trump should be allowed to run in spite of being an insurrectionist are the same people who support barring other justice-involved people from merely voting in an election
- I'm a little out of the loop, serious question, was he ever actually convicted of organizing an insurrection?
  Edit: I'm not an American but apparently asking questions makes you "the enemy" over there. Jesus Christ your country is fucked.
  
  There's no requirement that he was previously convicted of insurrection - that's a separate charge and carries a higher bar. The constitution only requires that the court concludes as part of this case that he was involved in an insurrection. And there's a wealth of evidence showing that he was so the courts will almost certainly come to that conclusion.
  
  Are you arguing that the judges who concluded he organized an insurrection did so in error? None of the confederates who asked their that disability be removed by vote argued that they didn't need to do so because they had not been so convicted.
  
  Out of the loop my ass
  
  No, and that is one of many real and legitimate issues with the legal theory of using the 14th Amendment to bar him from the Presidency.
- Yeah, I totally remember how Trump led the charge up the Capitol steps, the whole time shouting "the tree of liberty is watered with the blood of tyrants!!"
  
  Yes, apparently that's the ONLY way anyone can ever start an insurrection. Damn your astute logic. If only everyone can be as flawlessly intelligent as you. All he did was plan with the Proud Boys to help rile people up and direct them towards the capital; privately reach out and pressure state election administrators to lie and overturn election results; claim that he was cheated and lied to everyone for weeks prior to Jan 6th, effectively building a political bonfire that he planned to light on Jan. 6th; give a speech where he helped to incite a mob and direct them towards the capital steps, with the Proud Boys helping to lead the chargea and effectively direct the crowds anger; and even actually tried to march to the Capital himself to lead the charge. But other than that, he did absolutely nothing. God damn, if we could only be so smart as you.

Fascism, uhhhh... finds a way

People keep saying the GoP will ~~recognize~~ abuse this but they underestimate how little I truly care about politicians. They seem to think everyone cares about politicians as much as they care about Trump. If someone gets disqualified for some minor reason, so what? Seems like a good filter to keep only newer people in the running.
People in politics for decades become corrupt. It happens with power and time. So if they find a way to disqualify Biden, I don’t really care. There’s a hundred million other people who could choose to run. Maybe Greg from down the street might have a shot if politicians who do shit get kicked to the curb when they do shitty shit
[edit] used a wrong word completely. Adding some additional language
- About a decade ago, due to a quirk in our voting system which has been changed, we had a senator elected from a fringe motoring enthusiast party - and he only got a fraction of a percent of the vote. He was actually quite good because he was wise enough to know that he didn't know things, so he sought the opinions of experts, and actually read and tried to understand legislation. Unfortunately he only had a short term, but I always use him as an example of how being a good politician isn't about being the smartest guy, it's just about listening to the experts and trying to represent the best interests of your citizens.
  
  Much like Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho.
  
  I recall this being said about Kennedy. He surrounded himself with the best people he could find and didn't want to be the smartest person in the room. He was no stable genius either.
- If someone gets disqualified for some minor reason, so what?
  I see the point you're trying to make, but I wouldn't say attempting to overthrow our government to remain in power is a "minor" reason.
  
  I think they're saying the people who care about trump think it's too "minor" of a reason to disqualify him and if another candidate was disqualified for what they thought was a minor reason they wouldn't care.
  
  The argument against it is going to be all about due process and how he hasn't been proven to have done that. If we argue that the accusation is enough, that's when they start trying to disqualify candidates left and right because accusations are cheap. Hell, they've already built a whole house of cards suggesting Biden has been essentially receiving foreign bribes routed through family members and their businesses.
  And no, comparisons to CSA officers not being convicted of anything but still being disqualified aren't a good fit, because they were engaged in open rebellion. There was no question of fact whatsoever since they had you know, publicly held office in the rebel faction.
  Trump calling an election protest rally is well within his 1A rights, and he wasn't openly calling for or leading the actual attack on the capitol. Which will be the whole crux of his fight against being disqualified on constitutional grounds unless tried and convicted.
- People keep saying the GoP will recognize this but they underestimate how little I truly care about politicians.
  This isn't about you.
  
  Shit, I made a big typo. I mean to say “the GoP will abuse this” in regards to everyone saying using the 14th amendment to disqualify candidates.
- It's not even so much that they they become corrupt. It's that they become entrenched and as a result they end up wielding power that far exceeds their office. For example, Nancy Pelosi was ludicrously powerful for a mere House member, and Mitch McConnell almost single handedly dictates how half the Senate votes on many issues. A second term for Trump would be the end of America because he controls a huge cult on top of any formal powers he would get from being the President.
- Career politicians are a cancer for any democracy. But I could also see term limits being another obstacle they overcome by plaguing various other elected positions and using the influence they've gathered.
  
  Career politicians are a cancer for any democracy.
  As are career lobbyists - who have an even easier time manipulating inexperienced newly-minted legislators. Term limits are a panacea as far as fixing our democracy is concerned.

And we thought by law Erdoğan could not run for presidency again, and yet did (also the first time because of his questionable university diploma but that is a story for another night kids)
- I'd like to hear that story
  
  Still somewhat of an unresolved dispute but already forgotten
  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-36436200
  https://turkishminute.com/2023/03/24/controversy-over-erdogan-university-degree-reignited-ahead-of-election/amp/
  Bottom line is Erdoğan now elects all the university rectors, including Marmara University's at the time which Erdoğan claims to have graduated from. Soon as there were disputes to his claims of his university degree, Marmara University's rector himself published online Erdoğan'a diploma which suffered from multiple inconsistencies, such as wrong department name. So it was thought that he prepared that diploma on orders from Erdoğan (it is very common now in Turkey for university rectors to receive orders from Erdoğan). Since then some other people claimed that they were class mates with Erdoğan. So it seems like it is an issue still hanging there and unlikely to be resolved now.

This is the argument that Raphael Cruz was born in Canada and shouldn’t have been a contender for the Republican nomination. I support this logic.
- Also, Cruz didn't move to the US until he was 4 years old. And his father became a Canadian Citizen right before the move and wasn't even a US Citizen until 2005.
  
  His mother was an American, he was an American at birth, that's the rule, even Canadians know this. Not where, if. This was long ago decided so children of American soldiers have full rights even if mom and dad are in Taiwan.
- Also John McCain was born in Panama
  
  And Mitt Romney’s father was born in Mexico, where their ancestors moved to spite Utah (and the gubbermint) outlawing polygamy in order to become a state. Choosing religion over the Constitution.
- Cruz was born in Canada as an American citizen. Arnold was born an Austrian citizen and became an American citizen.
  
  Agreed. John McCain was born on (what witnesses claim was a) U.S. military base in Panama.

It's quite simple
- If my old folks didn't read the Bible that they claim to know so much about, what makes you think they read the Constitution?
  
  The good news is, they aren't judges. The bad news is, there are a lot of judges like your old folks.
- It's supposed to be.

Omg 35 ????? Thats kinda old
- That's the idea. They wanted to ensure the president has a chance to build some wisdom. They didn't want youth in positions of power
  
  That's how you end up with an ice clown who builds an ice town
- LOL
- Taylor Swift is 34. Soooooo next cycle?
- They really mean 35x2

Is this Dropout.tv's Sam Reich's father?
- Yes, it is. But more importantly:
  Robert Bernard Reich (/raɪʃ/ RYSHE;[2] born June 24, 1946) is an American professor, author, lawyer, and political commentator.[3] He worked in the administrations of Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, and served as Secretary of Labor from 1993 to 1997 in the cabinet of President Bill Clinton.[4][5] He was also a member of President Barack Obama's economic transition advisory board.[6]
  Reich has been the Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley since January 2006.[7] He was formerly a lecturer at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government[8] and a professor of social and economic policy at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management of Brandeis University. In 2008, Time magazine named him one of the Ten Best Cabinet Members of the century,[9] and in the same year The Wall Street Journal placed him sixth on its list of Most Influential Business Thinkers.[10]
  He has published 18 books which have been translated into 22 languages,[11] including the best-sellers The Work of Nations, Reason, Saving Capitalism, Supercapitalism, Aftershock: The Next Economy and America's Future, and a best-selling e-book, Beyond Outrage. He is also board chair emeritus of Common Cause and writes his own blog about the political economy at Robertreich.org.[12] The Robert Reich–Jacob Kornbluth film Saving Capitalism was selected to be a Netflix Original, and debuted in November 2017, and their film Inequality for All won a U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Achievement in Filmmaking at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival in Utah.[13][14]
  In 2015, Reich and Kornbluth founded Inequality Media, a nonprofit digital media company.[15] Inequality Media's videos feature Reich discussing topics relating to inequality and power primarily in the United States, including universal basic income, labor rights protection, the racial wealth gap, affordable housing, and gerrymandering.[16]
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Reich
  In essence, he's definitely someone worth paying attention to.
  
  Must make his son Sam feel kind of inadaquate

Image Transcription: Social Media
Robert Reich, @RBReich
Billie Eilish can't run for president. She is under 35.
Arnold Schwarzenegger can't run for president. He was born in Austria.
Donald Trump can't run for president. He engaged in and supported an insurrection.
It's in the Constitution, folks.

Also Matt Gates can't run because he's a pedoph.... oh wait nevermind.

The one thing The Simpsons had wrong was Arnie as the POTUS. I wish that was the time they ignored the constitution – I think he did a decent job as the governator.
- He did a decent job in that he didn't drive California into the ground. I was living in L.A. at the time. People voted to re-elect him because "he hasn't been that bad" and Phil Angelides was a terrible candidate. I wouldn't say he was an exceptional governor. Mostly he just maintained the status quo. Which, from what I hear (I no longer live in California), is still better than Newsom.
  
  Thanks for taking the time to give a local's insight, as a foreigner my point of view is limited!

It's not in the constitution. The first 15 presidents and all the original set of American politicians were literally insurrectionists and the original documents were very clear that, that sort of thing is allowed and protected. It's later interpretations of statists that negate it.
- https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/amendment-14/section-3/
  
  Oh look. Later. I'm not sure why you felt the need.

Isn't it more like guidelines? French constitution has the first thing written be "everyone is equal, regardless of origin, race, or religion." It doesn't prevent Muslim frol being persecuted, or women to be paid less.

cause you know, president is the most important thing in the entire universe, always.
- If you want to wield a a massive amount of global political and military power, it's pretty important.
  
  Externally it is a powerful position, but can the president do much inside the US itself?
  Pardoning and appointments seem to be the limits.
  
  right but you know most people are not even close to that so its really mostly football for them.
- Commander in chief of the most powerful military in world history and the largest and most productive economy is, in fact, pretty important. I don't really understand what point you're making, if any
- Of this world with, as far as we know, the only life in the entire fucking universe? Yeah, it's the most important job out there, unfortunately.

159 comments