I don’t know about holy but I definitely see it as the most important document in the American system of government (a Republic if we can keep it).
Literally all authority in America flows from our Constitution. The only reason the President is in charge is because the Constitution says so. The only reason laws passed by Congress are laws is because the Constitution says so. The only reason the judiciary exists as a place to go and settle disputes and apply the laws is because the Constitution says so.
Without the Constitution the only way society would run is by force.
I know that people with Gadsden flags and dog eared copies of Atlas Shrugged think that’s how society works today, but it’s not. But that’s a whole other discussion.
We mostly just agree to abide by the laws which derive their legitimacy from Constitution. If it weren’t there, we’d have no foundation. That’s why it’s like a holy document. Except it’s better than a holy book, because there’s no claim of infallibility. It is expected to be modified, and it has been modified.
Thomas Jefferson actually expected there to be constitutional conventions on a regular basis to rewrite the thing from time to time. A part of me thinks that might be a good idea. Maybe reconstitute the Congress as two proportional representation parliaments (one with single 8 year terms, one with unlimited 2 year terms or something, people vote for parties not people). Eventually abolish the Second Amendment or at least rewrite it to make it clear that “well regulated” is important, and there can be limits to personal armament. Expand the Fourth to cover modern data creation and storage. Do a better job with patents & copyright. On and on.
Because the whole idea that we escaped religious persecution and then created a country with separation of church and state is bullshit. We’re still a majority Christian here and their religion always comes first to them.
because it’s a manufactured reverence for their idea of the country by our education system. Our history classes are laden with U.S. propaganda that makes a lot of Americans think a lot of incorrect things about our history. The infallibility of our founding fathers is one of those things.
I don’t think OP is talking about the existence of the constitution, but rather it’s about how Americans cite it like it’s the Bible.
For example, instead of saying the plain-and-simple “I have free rights to express my opinion” I have seen people saying “The X amendment guarantees freedom of speech” or something like that instead.
It’s only some Americans that treat it that way. That the way it was written is the only way to ever take it; ignoring the fact it lays down rules for how to change it or add to it, like we have done 27 times in the past.
Nah, i would 100% believe term limits for supreme court eventually or maybe even repeal/revise of the 16th amendment… amendment to limit tax dollars used on foreign engagements… amendment to make funding to congress transparent… amendment to put limits on predatory loans… amendment to officially not allow sitting presidents to run businesses…
Idunno feels like theres still some bipartisan opportunities
Honestly i can only speculate but my best guess is that these changes could be driven after mass protests in the coming years and the senior citizens of our senate dying off.
That’s exactly the problem, it is impossible to change it now. The system itself prevents any more changes because it has become so archaic and corrupt.
Because the constitution is the document that lays out the foundation for all of our legal rights and the limitations placed on the government that are intended to keep it accountable to the people. It’s not perfect, but it does cover a hell of a lot, even more gets expanded on through legislation and the courts, and when necessary it can be (and has been) amended.
But it’s also just ink and parchment. It can’t do anything if the government decides to ignore it. It’s the people who give power to the constitution. The more it is valued by the people across the country, throughout the political spectrum, both inside and outside the halls of power, the more likely it will be that those protections are respected. And when those protections are violated, people are far more likely to push back. And many within the government are also more likely to push back. That’s literally the only reason we didn’t have an overturned election, because numerous people at all levels of government said no, many despite being aligned with the assholes that were trying to stay in power.
So yes, I would very much prefer it if everyone would treat the constitution with some reverence if that’s what it takes. The alternative is not pretty.
And we did have some guys trying to storm the Reichstag in Berlin, we do have a constitution, but we don’t call it constitution and it’s also more of a permanent draft.
IMO the constitution is that important to Americans, because they don’t really have tradition or culture to draw from. The USA is a very young country. Yes I know that technically modern day Germany, Italy and others are younger. However, those countries have many centuries of tradition and culture to draw from.
Pretty much every country has some form of ‘the highest law’, which is intentionally kept rather abstract. Afterall it is the framework for more specific laws to fill in and regulate daily life. But an identity and feeling of self for the USA pretty much started with the civil war. Which lead to the writing of the constitution, their ‘highest law’. The constitution is part of the creation mythos for the USA. A marking point of when people start to think of themselves as Americans, a sovereign entity. Since the USA, compared to other countries, doesn’t have much more culture to draw from, the relative importance of that one piece is inevitably higher.
That is not the issue at all though, you can change the constitution and still hold it in reverence, in fact it would probably be easier to have reverence for it if that was possible.
The problem is that all political constructs does become antiquated over time. It needs to be updated and modernised through amendments or even a rewrite, but the way the US political system is dictated to be makes it virtually impossible to do now. Even mundane legislation cannot be passed any longer, let alone amendments. It is a problem which should have been taken care of long ago, but now it is basically too late for even the slightest attempts at tweaking it.
The worst part is that if they were still alive, they would pretty much agree with this sentiment. As the intention was the Constitution would be a living document that would adapt to fit the needs of the community, instead it is a strict guideline of rules that decide how we live in a society.
Because the Founders are easy stakeholders to appeal to. Their words are old and numerous and vague enough to modern ears that you can attribute any reasonable (and many unreasonable) viewpoints you might hold to them; they’re all dead, so you can assume they’re all happy with you (and equivalently spinning in their graves about the liberals the other side); most people never really learned about the document they wrote in any depth, so you can say it says anything; and everyone is indoctrinated from a young age to deify both the document (making the thought of crossing or “stomping on” it unthinkable) and the Founders themselves. “Ben Franklin smote the ground and out sprang George Washington; fully grown, and on his horse. Franklin then electrified him with his miraculous lightning rod, and the three of them—Franklin, Washington, and the horse—conducted the entire American Revolution all by themselves.”
Terribly convenient, really; for those who have no scruples.
It’s a document laying down the tenets and laws that our government has to follow and specifies what rights we as citizens have that cannot be infringed. That being said the reason is propaganda. And no. Not all Americans.
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