{"id":12554,"date":"2008-03-25T21:02:09","date_gmt":"2008-03-26T04:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2008\/03\/25\/you-say-you-want-a-constitution.html"},"modified":"2008-03-25T21:02:09","modified_gmt":"2008-03-26T04:02:09","slug":"you_say_you_want_a_consti","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/03\/25\/you_say_you_want_a_consti.html","title":{"rendered":"You say you want a Constitution …"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am endlessly fascinated by UK politics, especially the extent to which they manage to keep poking along without what we Americans consider sine qua non <\/em>— an extremely-difficult-to-amend Constitution that lays out both governmental structure and guarantees of key rights. The Brits seem to depend on tradition, common sense, and majority rule, which, to my mind, makes them even more of an anomoly in the world than us Yanks.<\/p>\n

As an example, here’s a story about some sweeping governmental and electoral reform being proposed in the UK<\/a> — which, as far as I can tell, only requires either the PM to assert it or the Commons to give it a nod (and since the PM runs the majority party in the Commons, the two aren’t all that different a proposition). Whereas in the US system, half the items would require constitutional amendments (supermajorities in Congress and approval by two-thirds of the states) and the other half would be considered the prerogative of the states not the federal government in the first place. It’s both intriguing (“if only we could reform things that basic that easily”) and a bit scary (“what if Dubya could reform things that basic that easily?”).<\/p>\n

Interesting. I think I prefer our system (being a big believer in the general merit of govermental friction), but there are times …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am endlessly fascinated by UK politics, especially the extent to which they manage to keep poking along without what we Americans consider sine qua non — an extremely-difficult-to-amend Constitution…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics-law"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6984,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/11\/18\/tally_ho.html","url_meta":{"origin":12554,"position":0},"title":"Tally-ho!","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 18-Nov-04 5:33am","format":false,"excerpt":"After some seven years of so of wrangling, it appears that Parliament -- Commons, in fact -- will outright and permanently ban fox hunting (with hounds -- and also, I...","rel":"","context":"In "Politics & Law"","block_context":{"text":"Politics & Law","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18218,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2010\/08\/21\/fear-of-being-hoisted-upon-ones-own-majoritarian-petard.html","url_meta":{"origin":12554,"position":1},"title":"Fear of being hoisted upon one’s own majoritarian petard","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 21-Aug-10 10:49pm","format":false,"excerpt":"It came to me today that the social conservatives have a problem. \u00a0Well, one additional problem. On the one hand, they proclaim loudly that the habits of the tribe, the mores of the \u00a0majority, should hold sway. \u00a0If the majority band together and declare your religion \/ politics \/ ideology\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Marriage Equality"","block_context":{"text":"Marriage Equality","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/marriage-equality"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8821,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/04\/11\/bypassing_the_e.html","url_meta":{"origin":12554,"position":2},"title":"Bypassing the Electoral College","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 11-Apr-06 6:40am","format":false,"excerpt":"Since nobody seems to be able to muster the outrage sufficient to amend the constitution to change the electoral college, some states -- including Colorado -- are trying an end...","rel":"","context":"In "Politics & Law"","block_context":{"text":"Politics & Law","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":99,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/06\/13\/friction_makes.html","url_meta":{"origin":12554,"position":3},"title":"Friction makes you warm","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 13-Jun-03 1:32pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Next time you get antsy and irritable at political gridlock or separation of powers or legal technicalities or the various checks and balances that keep your pet program from being...","rel":"","context":"In "Politics & Law"","block_context":{"text":"Politics & Law","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":129328,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/01\/02\/not-surprisingly-scalia-thinks-the-government-should-support-religion.html","url_meta":{"origin":12554,"position":4},"title":"Not surprisingly, Scalia thinks the Government should support religion","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 2-Jan-16 5:56pm","format":false,"excerpt":"In a speech at Archbishop Rummel High School in Metairie, Louisiana, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia made it very clear his feeling that the Constitutional guarantee of Freedom of Religion doesn't mean Freedom from Religion, and that the US government traditionally has and should support \"religious principles\" over non-religious or\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/-335ff278a52421bb5B15D.JPGimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/-335ff278a52421bb5B15D.JPGimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/-335ff278a52421bb5B15D.JPGimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":47445,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/11\/08\/liberty-against-kings.html","url_meta":{"origin":12554,"position":5},"title":"Liberty against Kings","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 8-Nov-14 10:51am","format":false,"excerpt":"Teddy Roosevelt was by no means a perfect man. Hewas over-enthusiastically macho, he loved the concept of war as a way to improve national fiber, and he had many of the \"quaint\" concepts of race that a wealthy white man of the late 19th Century would be expected to have.But\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/1912_Teddy-Roosevelt_Bull-Moose-campaigning%5B1%5D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/1912_Teddy-Roosevelt_Bull-Moose-campaigning%5B1%5D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/1912_Teddy-Roosevelt_Bull-Moose-campaigning%5B1%5D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12554"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12554\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}