Thinking about the US today.
First of all, I do like the basic concept - checks and balances, no religion intermixed with the state, the three legs of the constitution. As a thought experiment, it's fine. But as an actual system, I think it's failing.
For one thing, and I'm not an expert by any means, if every official is supposedly elected for a finite term, then why are the SC justices for life? Why aren't they officials? Does the 14th apply to them? If not, then how can you remove them? The meritocracy argument doesn't hold water; people get old, people change, people are bought.
Politics.
Which is how they are "elected".
The way I always read the constitution and its amendments is that it's all supposed to be amended further. The society evolves, the laws evolve, that sort of thing. It wasn't supposed to be static. But so many people now use it as a religion, which is just wrong on so many levels. And the prime example of the religious aspect of it is the farce playing out now, with the orange moron clearly violating any number of laws, principles, all of it, with his many sycophants agreeing to everything he says because of... I don't know what.
Surely I won't need to discuss the electoral college? It was a joke then, it is a much larger one now. If you believe in democracy, you should run away screaming.
If this wasn't about the most powerful nation on this planet I'd just grab the popcorn and enjoy the show. The problem is that it affects the rest of us, too.
Not saying we are perfect. We are not. But we don't hold that kind of power.
