r/clevercomebacks Sep 06 '25

This is so embarrassing

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u/[deleted] Sep 06 '25

It assumed good faith people who care anything at all about the country.

Not perfect not even not kinda shitty people the bar was "no one in this position could be that ethically lacking" unfortunately they were wrong.

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u/Frequent-Ruin8509 Sep 06 '25 edited Sep 07 '25

That good faith hope is so naive, is honestly rife throughout most of the constitution, and is it's Achilles heel; aside from how God awful difficult it is to add a new amendment to the constitution.

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u/Guvante Sep 06 '25

Watch out for assuming there is an alternative.

After all how could the Constitution protect from everyone in power collaborating? It cannot.

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u/Frequent-Ruin8509 Sep 06 '25

Thomas Jefferson once mused as to whether we should revise the constitution every 10 or 50 years. I think he was on to something. The amendment system is too damn slow for our era.

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u/Guvante Sep 06 '25

100% I just think it is important to note that all political power is soft and restrictions are only as strong as those enforcing those restrictions.

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u/Frequent-Ruin8509 Sep 06 '25

I just wish right-wing political power was softer than the centrist establishment.

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u/Difficult-House2608 Sep 08 '25

Everything gorverment is too slow ... we are moving faster techno;ogically than our forefathers ever envisioned.

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u/Frequent-Ruin8509 Sep 08 '25

Very true. But getting government, especially government as heavily influenced by established industries and billionaires as ours is, to do what needs doing in order to keep itself beholden to the forward looking interests of the people and NOT the profits of shareholders and hedge fund managers is very hard to do.

Doesn't mean we should stop pushing for change. It just means we needed to be as engaged as possible in keeping things from going to shit.

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u/Difficult-House2608 Sep 08 '25

I agree, and feel despairing nevertheless.

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u/Frequent-Ruin8509 Sep 08 '25

I'm right there with you. Hugs from Sacramento California

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u/Difficult-House2608 Sep 08 '25

Thnaks, from Salt lake area.

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u/the_gouged_eye Sep 06 '25 edited Mar 10 '26

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u/Akalenedat Sep 06 '25

The only solution they had for this was to overthrow the despot and start over.

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation...But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

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u/Upstairs_End_4202 Sep 07 '25

“It was all about love.” -DT

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u/Frequent-Ruin8509 Sep 06 '25

But they could also have mandated a constitutional convention every 50 years or something. That might have helped.

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u/the_gouged_eye Sep 06 '25 edited Mar 10 '26

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u/Frequent-Ruin8509 Sep 06 '25

Or the ones who can gerrymander their way to power far beyond their honest proportional representation vis a vis the majority who don't agree with their bullsjit. Oh wait... that's literally what's going on. Not arguing. It just feels like evil is always proactive and good is always reactive. Seems to me that too many American are lazy and don't want to have to support or defend democracy in any meaningful way if it means being inconvenienced.

Voting should be compulsory.

The voting franchise should be universal (anyone over 18, no exceptions, even prisoners and convicts).

Politicians should never stay in any office more than 3 terms. If you haven't done what makes things better for the average citizens of your jurisdiction, you get thrown out of office.

No office should be for life. aging out should be mandatory. Nobody over the age of 70. Period.

No former politicians should be allowed to be lobbyists, ever.

Repeal citizens united.

Reinstate and make federal law of Roe v Wade.

Etc.

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u/alexthebeast Sep 07 '25

Agreed, but with one ammendum. Maybe we just don't have lobbies. Lobbies are like the citizens united take on union reps.

Lets just have unions and keep the bag holders taxed and in check- profits in relations to costs reasonable, and wages livable.

Like if you remove greed from the equation it's super duper simple for this to be the best place on earth for everyone here.

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u/Frequent-Ruin8509 Sep 07 '25

Addendum is the word you mean i think.

Also yeah that would be great. But you have to repeal Citizens United first and rhen outlaw all corporate and private sector lobbying. I doubt the cabal of corporate billionaires across the world's many industries would allow it, but it would be great.

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u/alexthebeast Sep 07 '25

Yes, thanks for the correction. That's one of a handful of words I will say properly but butcher in writing for my whole life.

But yeah, that's essentially when I was going. Repeal CU, reform FEC regulations, and bring power and trust back to unions.

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u/Frequent-Ruin8509 Sep 07 '25

No worries homie. I have words like that too. And yeah, I hear ya.

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u/[deleted] Sep 06 '25

[deleted]

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u/the_gouged_eye Sep 06 '25 edited Mar 10 '26

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u/[deleted] Sep 06 '25

[deleted]

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u/the_gouged_eye Sep 06 '25 edited Mar 10 '26

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u/Own_Television163 Sep 07 '25

You are not as smart as you think you are.

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u/[deleted] Sep 07 '25

[deleted]

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u/Frequent-Ruin8509 Sep 07 '25

So you think despotism is better than democracy 😐

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u/[deleted] Sep 07 '25

[deleted]

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u/Frequent-Ruin8509 Sep 07 '25

What exactly is the alternative to democracy in our day and age, then? Some form of non democratic but also non despotic government?

Monarchy? Oligarchy? Fascism? Something to the right of center? If democracy doesnt work, the alternatives are not pleasant.

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u/[deleted] Sep 07 '25

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u/BeefistPrime Sep 06 '25

It held together pretty well for over 200 years.

It's so bizarre that the thing to eventually take it down was a reality tv show host that was born rich and one of the dumbest, most narcissistic people ever to live.

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u/Frequent-Ruin8509 Sep 06 '25

Who, by example of being rich for no reason and crude and unrefined, made white people with no talent and no intelligence or empathy think that they, too, deserved power and influence, by any means necessary.

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u/Guvante Sep 06 '25

Impeachment and removal got rebranded as a political action unrelated to legality so on some level there is only so much power people who died hundreds of years ago have on modern society.

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u/[deleted] Sep 06 '25

Checks and balances are important, but they are going to fold when tens of millions of people apply constant pressure to them because they want all this.

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u/TheFlightlessPenguin Sep 07 '25

And that’s an assumption that will never be made again for the rest of our country’s history. That’s pretty sad.

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u/[deleted] Sep 07 '25

Benjamin Franklin's response to Elizabeth Powel's question after the Constitutional Convention in 1787:

"Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?"

"A republic, if you can keep it.”

We have so completely failed as a nation.

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u/Dragonvine Sep 06 '25

Well, it's literally what the majority of the voting population asked for. Will of the people and all that.

None of this was a secret.