A New Constitution

[poorpete]

Been reading about Contractualism, and the thought that ethically we all should be allowed to do things as long as no reasonable person would veto it.

Was thinking this is sort of how the Constitution should work, but now the Constitution is a bit broken, so I wonder: what amendments could be added to the new Constitution that could theoretically get 75%+ agreement?

Eg. if we started from scratch, I think "a right to bear arms" wouldn't get in the constitution, but neither would "no guns for civilians" -- but I wonder if this would pass muster

"People are allowed to reasonably protect themselves."

or how about

"Reasonable regulations can be put on weapon ownership and use"

I just like the word reasonable, and how it can have an elastic, evolving meaning, unlike the shitty 2nd ammendment we have now.

[Phoebe]

I hear you but I think the problem is purely political, so we will have justices saying that the meaning is inelastic even as they have attached 400 rubber bands to make a word do what they want it to do. They just want people to be able to carry guns around but let's be clear only white people because if a black man does NOT have a gun but police merely suspect he could have one, they will shoot him 90 times and then rush to handcuff him after 60 of those shots hit and he's clearly dead on the ground. Sorry just feeling a little bitter.

[Phoebe]

(If I lived in Akron I think I'd want a little better money's worth out of my kill force... For real only 2/3 of their shots hit when the target is completely surrounded and immobilized?! The surprise is that they didn't shoot one another. To be honest I'm not sure they didn't. They wouldn't tell us if they had. I believe exactly zero statements the police have offered about this incident. It's one of those Trump things where if they say it you're pretty sure the opposite thing is true.
There is no respect for human life here.)

Sorry to go so wildly off topic... I worry that a lot of people really don't understand what is or isn't in our current Constitution and any effort to remake it would be even worse. In particular the protection the Constitution affords to independent religious or non-religious thought seems much more profound to me than what most people I encounter want it to be. Feel like we would be living in some type of Christian-adjacent theocracy if we gave people the chance at it. I am beyond pissed about the recent court decision demanding that tax dollars go to religious schools. Where I live the religious schools have fired people I know for being gay, and I'd be just as happy if they didn't exist, much less give them one Penny. Not one Penny. It sickens me. Basically I'm not able to stay on a topic like a functioning person.

[Mike]

If tax dollars are to go to a private school, then that private school needs to adhere to all the same requirements as public schools. That's the deal that has been offered to private schools in the past and which private schools have always roundly rejected. What they want (and what the supreme court is giving them) is the right to pick and choose their student body (no delinquents, no special needs kids, etc) but still get paid the same per-student rate as public schools who have to pick up their slack.

Side note: I have more problems with school choice than just this, but this is the most visceral.

[bralbovsky]

As someone who has taught "Bible as Literature" and actually know what's in it, it's scary stuff...unevolved, anti-modern. Apologetically, apoplectic-ally. The Handmaid's tale is the rated G version that they'd be happy with.
I'm seriously looking for a wiccan group to help support a parallel request, because (just like arming brown people) their one achilles heel is if someone asks for identical rights.

[Phoebe]

Link to your go fund me and I'll give you my anonymous dollar. I don't think my family would like it if I pretended to be a witch and opened a witch school just to prove a point, but darn if it isn't tempting because these extremist religious people simply do not get it. No offense to Islam intended, but I also don't want one penny going to fund Islamist schools, and guess who jumps on those sweet tax dollars for their extremist religious school even faster than the Catholics and Lutherans and Calvinists (the worst of the worst imo) and Fundamentalist Christians? Then the Christianists try to do something to stop the Islamist school from getting the money and they fail. It's really something to see. I don't care what the ideology of the experimental alternative is as long as it's SUPER GAY and occult and spends a LOT of time talking about racism and slavery and the genocide of the American Indians. You know, the fantasy these people imagine public schools are like, when they are not even remotely or slightly like this.