General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: How many of you took civics/government classes in high school? [View all]branford
(4,462 posts)Even the most cursory review of the modern histories of established democracies are littered with the deprivations and tyranny of "popular attitudes" (e.g., WWI, WWII, etc.). I lost most of my family in concentration camps due to the "popular attitudes" that saw the democratic rise of Hitler. Moreover, the winds of "popular attitudes" can change rapidly and dangerously, and can turn on you without mercy. Be careful about the kind and method of change you advocate, "La révolution dévore ses enfants" (the Revolution devours its children).
Americans fought a revolution for our independence, and the Founders did not want to do so again any time soon. Individual liberty was paramount and government distrusted, particularly a centralized federal government. After the failure of the Articles of Confederation, many realized a strong federal government might be necessary, but numerous safeguards and checks and balances were instituted, everything from a bicameral legislature and a separately elected executive to the Bill of Rights. The Founders wisely believed that in a democratic republic, particularly to prevent a tyranny of the majority, change should be evolutionary, not revolutionary.
You ironically lament both that certain liberal gains have been reversed and that change is too difficult. In a democracy, all change will not be on a single trajectory. We are not guaranteed to always have liberal change, as the election of last week attests. That is why the protections against rapid and radical change in our Constitution protect people from across the political spectrum. However, change does occur, if slowly, and elections do have consequences.
Change is most certainly not hopeless, we even managed to amend our Constitution 27 times. However, institutional, social and cultural change is not easy, nor should it be, and you must persevere and consistently convince great majorities of you fellow citizens of the wisdom of your desired changes before it will be incorporated.