Jonathan Turley, GWU Professor: We are at a constitutional tipping point

Third party is bad game theory. Better to take over an existing party using the primary process (that's what the Tea Party is trying to do, with varying degrees of success)

 

the source of an argument says nothing about its efficacy

Appealing to title and authority is lazy (I mention the titles of Lee/Cruz only as jobs where they were required to present constitutional arguments and write decisions/briefs).

 

This is a good post, though the Dems in Congress should be blamed for being supine when Bush was in power. The original post should be seen as a call for Congress to start exerting itself. Both parties have routinely declined to exercise their power to declare war which I believe was the beginning of the decline.

The Republicans/libertarians deserve blame because their constant claim that our government that we voted for can do no good. Allowing money and lobbyists to confuse and intimidate our legislators has not helped, and though the Dems are becoming more to blame for this, it has been the Repubs who have constantly pushed for a bigger role of money in politics since with few exceptions they have a money edge. Until recently it was considered moderate and perhaps sophisticated to claim the virtues of divided government so that the government would not be able to do much. It is still the position of the anti-government folks, though they would like to have the power of both houses and the government to weaken all three branches.

 

Ok, I can tentatively agree with you on this -- but, will you be committed to not doing this yourself when assessing the view points of liberals and leftists, and will you call people out on the right and the left who are "ascribing motives"?

We need more and more people on the right and the left to stop waving flags and call a spade a spade -- even if that hurts the side they typically root for.

Political junkies are often worse homers than sports junkies I think. Unfortunately, the stakes are bigger, and we really need this fact to change. Each person who commits to changing this is a step in the right direction.

 

Lots of lawyers have gone to the Supreme Court, but nice try to make two relatively ineffective extremist politicians look important.

 

Money flows to influence power, and DC has all the power. The power to take your money, the power to spend your money, the power to make you do something, the power to forbid you from doing something. All backed by force.

This power is by nature dangerous, epecially when it becomes concentrated.

As such, power should be limited and dispersed.

As Levin said yesterday, "The Constitution's firewalls have been breached"

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F**k Mark Levin. He's a rude-a** little b**ch who throws a tantrum anytime someone disagrees with him. Here in Lubbock, where all you get on AM is conservative talk radio, I can at least tolerate Limbaugh and Hannity. But my son and I laughed at this guy Levin for literally a year due to his idiotic rants. Whatever good points he makes are completely buried through his extremely childlike behavior. Seriously, listen to his radio show and tell me he doesn't come off like a raving lunatic. Total douche.

 

This is so rich, it must be fattening.

 

That's unfortunate. I have a perspective too, but I think people who turn everything into ammunition for their arguments on which side is right are a huge part of the problem in this country. The sooner we stop having blind allegiance to the Republicans and the Democrats the sooner we'll be able to focus on finding solutions and stop just being part of a senseless battle over political power by groups (corporations, political parties) that do not care about the lives of the people mindlessly supporting them.

The republicans are not your friend basso, the democrats are not mine. regardless of our differences in perspective, our lives and interests probably have a lot more in common than we have with the leaders of the political parties that claim to represent us. We should act accordingly. As should everyone.

 

No, we are not good. All Americans of all political parties should be deeply concerned. One day power will change hands and the current ruling party will be in deep trouble, because the tables will be turned. It shouldn't be that way. The Government should follow the law and represent all the people. Not happening. I have never seen it more out of balance in my life time.

 

not a photoshop

 

Here you have a fantastic motive for Americans to come together and reclaim their country while keeping intact their various viewpoints and interests. Instead, some people prefer to attack the idea of unity and/or diversity as if it's a disease.

This issue is one you guys should take seriously. Believe me, as a person who has witnessed a far greater type of power expansion, I can tell you that power does not voluntarily reverse. Every time it expands, it's ten times more difficult to make it retract. It's bad enough for them to fearlessly and openly consider expansion of power... but for them to actually succeed in having it accelerate - and we know every President is going to try to top the previous one - is a big miscalculation on the part on the part of American citizens, and the fact that it happened during "traumatic" circumstances is just so unfortunately predictable.

You can see it in the mockumentary they call the "news". These people are not ashamed to do things to you that previous administrations would hide from you. White House spokespersons are a whisker away from telling journalists at press conferences to shut the F up.

It doesn't matter which party anymore because these people have realized the massive value of appearing to be mortal enemies in public, while working closely together behind the scenes. It's the perfect set up, the perfect marketing campaign, the perfect story. I challenge you to design a more strategically perfect plan to deflect attention from real issues in a democracy.

Tic toc, ladies and gentleman. The monster feeds on time.

 

Turley is using an archaic talking point that has no relevance to today's problems and needs.

We aren't living under the Founding Fathers age or time. Decisions need to be made fast and effective across 50 different states spanning from the Pacific to the Atlantic. That's been the argument peddled by the Executive for the last 40+ years, and it's been a convincing one by their peers across branches and most of the public.

Quit b****ing about how "Congress always like that" and do some hard work.

If we're at a tipping point, propose what should be done rather than belly ache about how Congress aint doing its job and needs to sack up before the mean president drinks all your milkshake.

I don't even mind considering a redo of the Constitution, but that will be more trouble than it's worth.

 

But they aren't effective decisions. The more complex the world gets, the more dispersed knowledge becomes, and the more localized and dispersed decision making needs to be.

You are suffering from what Hayek called The Fatal Conceit of socialists, the idea that any person or group of persons can possess enough knowledge to make informed decisions for everyone.

It's a mistake to put your liberty in the hands of Top Men

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The only recourse to an imperial president who makes/changes/ignores the law is impeachment. But that is a political remedy that can't be implemented without the popular will for it.

Which is why Turley is sounding the alarm, to inform the public.