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mccardey

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[DERAIL]Here's a question. If the Amendments are - yanno - amendments, what's to stop America having more Amendments to bring things in line with changing times and new political realities and all that?

(It just occurred to me to ask and now that I've asked it I'll just bet it's a whole Twitter meme from sometime last century. *sigh*)

ETA: Found the answer. For the non-Americans: it's because the population is fairly evenly split and Amendment proposals tend to be Rep/Dem divided. [/DERAIL]
 
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lizmonster

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Here's a question. If the Amendments are - yanno - amendments, what's to stop America having more Amendments to bring things in line with changing times and new political realities and all that?

Not a thing. But it's a very, very slow process, and requires a critical mass of political agreement. These days we seem to have trouble agreeing on whether or not one ought to tie one's shoes.
 

Roxxsmom

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[DERAIL]Here's a question. If the Amendments are - yanno - amendments, what's to stop America having more Amendments to bring things in line with changing times and new political realities and all that?

To amend the Constitution, you need a 2/3 vote of the members of both houses of congress, or 2/3 of the state legislatures need to vote to call a Constitutional convention.

The last time we added an Amendment to the Constitution, I believe, was in the early 70s, and it lowered the voting age to 18 nationwide.

I doubt that one would be passed today in the current political climate.

ETA: Found the answer. For the non-Americans: it's because the population is fairly evenly split and Amendment proposals tend to be Rep/Dem divided. [/DERAIL]

Yep. This. Nearly everything seems to be supported or opposed along fairly strict party lines these days.
 

Jason

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Not a thing. But it's a very, very slow process, and requires a critical mass of political agreement. These days we seem to have trouble agreeing on whether or not one ought to tie one's shoes.

I personally have gone to Velcro myself :roll:
 

cmhbob

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The typical amendment passes within a couple of years.

The 26th - voting age to 18 - was ratified in about 100 days.

The 27th - about Congressional pay raises - took almost 203 years.

Including the 27th Amendment makes the average ratification time almost 9 1/2 years. Take that out and it's about 21 months. (I SWAGed those calcs using 30-day months and did not account for leap years. :) )

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_amendments_to_the_United_States_Constitution
 
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