Comment by TrackerFF
12 days ago
There's no mechanism for the people to remove the president.
You can't have a loss of confidence vote that every eligible voter can partake in. There's no coalition system where one part can pull out and essentially dissolve the sitting coalition. No snap election.
By now it should be clear to anyone that the only way to remove the president, by lawful means, is to impeach and remove him. But with politicians choosing party over people, that will likely not happen anytime soon.
The median senator and congressman in the US has a net worth close to a million dollars. Other than in the very unlikely event that the US invaded, they will really never feel the effects of bad presidents.
At worst they will live under the threat of being primaried.
US politics is very much a case of "you've made your bed, now lie in it" for minimum the next 4 years.
If I understand correctly, this is to say the Soviet Union was more responsive* to its people than the United States is?
If the people wished to, could they not make it clear what the results of a primary would be, eg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissolution_of_the_Soviet_Unio...
If legislators are afraid of the President, should they not be more afraid of their constituents?
* in the event, it looks like it took them 4 years as well, 1988-1991, but somehow I doubt they were just telling themselves they'd sit around and wait for 2028...
soviet mil was a representative slice of soviet demographics. US civilian enforcers: not so much. (Elsewhen- the antiVW movement "worked" because the same was true of the US mil)
That's mostly it I think.
Edit- "anti-Kissinger" movement
I know/knew people who marched first in the CR and then in the antiVW movement.
One important piece of advice from their experiences: have plenty of people during your peaceful demonstration who are ready, willing, and able to eject provocateurs from your midst.
A related lesson from Airstrip One: just because someone is sleeping with you doesn't mean they're not an informant. Of course, if all you're doing is peacefully demonstrating, as you should be, even if they're looking for dirt as hard as they can, you can still screw their brains out with a clean conscience.
MLK sermon on nonviolent resistance: https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/dra...
Lagniappe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MN_9VqfVQ9c
6 replies →
Question for anyone still living in the home of the free and land of the brave:
Does the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posse_Comitatus_Act still apply? Or is it now a case of "except where void or prohibited by law"?
Or are you all at the tender mercies of DHS? Are they at least under something resembling UCMJ? (NB: the Geneva Conventions only apply to uniformed* combatants, not internal matters)
* with a command structure. Just wait until someone tries to AI-wash command responsibility!
(note for gsf: sorry, I hadn't understood what you meant by civilian enforcers until now! BTW, something Linebarger has that's missing from what I've skimmed of the current PSYOP FM series: a lucid description of the bright lines [at the time?] between war and murder, and what the requirements are for an insurrection to count as uniformed combatants for the purposes of Geneva Convention protections ... will get back to you later on Katyusha's descendants)
It is fascinating how Americans see their system like something unchangeable given by god. My country is in about its sixth iteration and I'm already thinking it is time for new constitution.