On 6/3/2014 2:15 PM, Jason Resch wrote:
On Tue, Jun 3, 2014 at 3:23 PM, meekerdb <meeke...@verizon.net <mailto:meeke...@verizon.net>> wrote:On 6/3/2014 9:35 AM, Telmo Menezes wrote:That is the great flaw of constitutional systems based on "paper" formulas and automatic mechanisms. without that unenforceable set of values and compromises, a constitutional system can derive to anything bad. I mostly agree. In fact, I would argue that the hypothetical effectiveness of the constitution as a vaccine against tyranny has already been empirically falsified in the USA.The effectiveness, as the effectiveness of laws in general, has always depended on the recognition and acceptance by the populace. You, and Godel and other critics, represent a corrosive influence on that acceptance. As people who object to one or another government action (e.g. Clive Bundy, Citizens United, EPA regulations) invoke the Constitution as prohibiting that action and the government as violating the Constitution more and more political activists are encouraged to claim the government is illegitimate. If enough people *think* the government is illegimate, however meritless and diverse their claims may be, then in effect it does become illegitimate and society devolves toward rule by power: oligarchy or police state.I suppose it is a bit of chicken and egg, or perhaps even a self-reinforcing cycle. But I don't think it began with people criticizing the government (which I think is healthy for society), rather I would say if there is a loss of effectiveness of laws, it begin with the government passing laws outside of its legitimate bounds."The prestige of government has undoubtedly been lowered considerably by the prohibition law. For nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced. It is an open secret that the dangerous increase of crime in this country is closely connected with this." *Albert Einstein,*/"My First Impression of the U.S.A.",/1921 Jason
A chicken and egg problem with positive feedback. But when government gains and uses power for a legitimate (i.e. widely recognized and approved) reason, then it doesn't suffer a corrosion of confidence. I don't think the current downward spiral in approval of the government is related to prohibition (either of alcohol or pot) but to the Viet Nam war. There was some recovery of confidence with the end of the cold war - but then W. and mideast wars started it down again. I don't think these things are irreversible; it's just that building up confidence is slow and incremental while diminishing it can be fairly quick.
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