Congress Is Woefully Unprepared to Regulate Tech • Hacker News Board

Re: Congress Is Woefully Unprepared to Regulate Tech

#41

Post by 8note » Tue, Jul 18, 2023, 2:39 AM UTC

User23 wrote: post #33

nh23423fefe wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fetishizing the founders and imagining that current times are playing out as they intended makes no sense. In less than 100 years the system they set up resulted in civil war. They aren't smarter than us and they don't know anything about the present. I don't care what the founders thought nor what people today imagine they would think.

Benjamin Franklin at least was smarter than the vast majority of people today and smarter than a majority of people who use this site. I assume that you're a relatively recent migrant or descendent of migrants with no ties to the historical American nation, so I'm not surprised you wouldn't care what somebody else's ancestors think.

How many kids did Ben Franklin have such that he's everyone's ancestor?

The American constitution has been highly influential on many countries, and many countries have had experiences that contradict the ideas in it quite successfully.

Re: Congress Is Woefully Unprepared to Regulate Tech

#42

Post by 8note » Tue, Jul 18, 2023, 2:40 AM UTC

lockhouse wrote: post #17

jfengel wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is that it's so resistant that there isn't any debate. Those in favor of "no change" have a huge thumb on the scale, both in amendments and in legislation. There is no reason for them to ever engage in debate when simply saying "no" suits them. Even when something has overwhelming support, it can be nearly impossible. Often, people will support something (as they indicate to pollsters) but vote against it…

This is mostly due to the Democrat and Republican Party focusing on wedge issues to get reelected instead of compromising on the real national issues (common defense and interstate commerce mostly) and leaving these wedge issues to the state level instead.

This is part of the founders design though

Re: Congress Is Woefully Unprepared to Regulate Tech

#43

Post by 8note » Tue, Jul 18, 2023, 2:42 AM UTC

gameman144 wrote: post #26

lapcat wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'd ask you to consider that this might be a sign of the exact opposite, and that we can't get broad buy-in on the things that some groups see as obvious additions. Polls show that we do have broad buy-in on a number of issues, sometimes across partisan lines, but the way the system is designed, a small minority can block almost any action. Also, the leaders of both major political parties often act against the des…

> but the way the system is designed, a small minority can block almost any action. Again, this is a feature, not a bug. If over three-quarters of states or representatives can agree, then an amendment can get passed. If over a quarter of states or representatives don't want to codify something in the constitution, that is not a small minority. > How exactly are you interpreting that? I'm not interpreting that portio…

The states over time, have been designed so much that issues cannot get much more than 50% agreement on topics though.

A quarter of states is meaningless when states exist specifically to vote a certain way, rather than to represent groups of people

Re: Congress Is Woefully Unprepared to Regulate Tech

#44

Post by jojobaskins » Tue, Jul 18, 2023, 6:58 PM UTC

nh23423fefe wrote: post #25

jojobaskins wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're giving 0 credit where some is due. This is the other side of the extreme. Most government structures don't last that long, the fact that the one they made has lasted relatively in tact for a few hundred years means their ideas have some merit beyond the bounds of their time. Also I'm not sure who you mean by "us", the ruling class of today?

I can't see what credit has to do with anything. Evaluating the quality of the government they created has nothing to do with us maintaining it. Its ours (the living) not theirs (the dead). We owe them nothing. Monarchy existed for 1000s of years. Longevity is irrelevant. It is never relevant who had the idea. Invoking the founders as a justification for anything is error. They are an arbitrary group of non-extants.…

I'm not really saying we owe them anything just that (some of) their ideas seem to work. I guess a few monarchies have lasted a while but centralizing all the power and leading with dogma is easier than coming to a group consensus. All I really want to say is don't throw out the baby with the bathwater...