Ahh the good ol' "Gov student" one-two punch.
Probably the most annoying thing a government "student" can say to someone else is that government is inherently legitimate and justified because, y'know: Constitution! Sowwy.
You do realize your entire post is basically a response to the question, "What would the last words of an illegitimate government entity be?"
My response: I'd like to point you to the words I said above which were something along the lines of, "the Supreme Court can go fuck itself tbh".
It is the "consent of the governed" that determines how legitimate an institution is. Perhaps if you were a history student you'd have known this already. Once you get to the "Declaration of Independence" class I'm sure you'll see what historically happens when a governing body spurns the "consent of the governed" too much. Feels pretty weird to have to explain this to a "Gov student"
Yes, voting is critically important and I urge people to vote like a hundred times in this thread (though not in the original post you reblogged above so that's no ding at you). To haphazardly suggest a person should run for office or not expect change (in a democracy!) is preeeeeeetty telling.
It tells me that you are a government student who might be fetishizing the government too much. I would suggest you try to develop a personal identity that doesn't derive its worth from your career/major. Make something! Get a creative hobby in a different space. Deriving your sense of self-worth from a bunch of government entities that were created, and then changed, by imperfect (and almost entirely straight, white, rich, male) people is going to be utterly devastating to your mental health when these institutions begin to collapse, as they will if they prove unable to change rapidly enough to address numerous of the existential crises facing the world right now (climate change, income and wealth inequality, pandemics, etc.).
I should emphasize that yes: I absolutely concur that we need to continue the "good fight" and protest, vote, run for office, however our institutions are broken and are assaulting us! Tell the black, single mother in Atlanta to go vote when her ability to feed her child depends on her not taking the day off work on election day to "be the change" she wants to see. It's not that simple. It just isn't.
The fact that you're essentially rejecting outrage over a decision (that arguably came about by skirting the Constitution btw) is actually pretty upsetting. People are going to die because of this. We need people to be aware, and we need people to be sympathetic, and we need people to be pissed. This is how to motivate people to go to the polls.
A "win some, lose some" approach with something like this is radically insufficient and probably poisonous to the survival of the governing institutions we have had since the country has existed.
It's not "all good, just go vote and maybe next time you'll get your own flavor of America!" The Supreme Court is made up of a majority of justices who were appointed by presidents who lost the popular vote, are ruling WAY against popular opinion (and precedent), and to put a cherry on top: they were confirmed in a Senate where every state has two senators! That's right, California (Population 40,000,000) gets two senate votes to confirm/reject justices, the same number that Wyoming (population 580,000) gets! Wyoming, along with the two Dakota's have a combined population of approximately 5% of that of California... that 5% gets 6 full blown senators. That's a population 5% that of California deciding 3x the Senate makeup of California.
How do you change that institution in time to fix the climate crisis? In time to get someone a life-saving abortion?
If I may deign to be so rude and suggest something for you to focus on: try your hand at identifying where exactly government institutions are broken, rather than giving out blanket "legitimacy" cards? Governments (and those governed by them) need people like you to help us understand why and how these institutions break down, and how to prevent it from getting worse. Might I recommend tactical exploitation of avenues for change that don't actually run through said broken institutions?
For example: protesting, organizing rallies, educating people on where legal loopholes can be exploited (to help common people for once rather than for the wealthy).
The Supreme Court is an entirely broken institution because it is expected to govern itself: whoopsy daisy! Clarence Thomas' wife took part in an attempted coup! Uh oh, did he forget to recuse himself again from that particular case? Tee hee! I guess I should have... wait what - "voted"? Oh well! Just another goofy lil' thing the Constitution forgets to address!
Oh no! We all voted a democratic trifecta into power and they refuse to pass more than one single law without Republican support? Gotcha, pesky citizens! It's called the Senate filibuster! And it has absolutely no place anywhere in the Constitution, yet the politicians decided they could simply make up a paralyzing new rule to follow that allows them to not do their job! So handy!
Nonconstitutional and systemic problems have undermined our democracy. Our ability to be informed voters, our ability to participate in our own governance, our ability to even voice our anger and outrage: these are all being beaten down by nonconstitutional, and systemic problems: the senate filibuster, prosecutorial discretion, specific mechanics in the Electoral College, a totally and 100% unaccountable Supreme Court: these are all examples of things not addressed in the Constitution which are actively assaulting the people of America.
Yes, we can overwhelm the system and win elections if we vote in ridiculous enough numbers: but how will we know it matters?
When the President can simply have the VP select different electors from states they lose in an election, what's the institutional solution?
When justices of the Supreme Court decide to rule in spite of precedent (stare decisis: Roe v Wade), to rule in spite of the direct language of the Constitution ("well regulated militia"), to rule in spite of conflicts of interest (Clarence Thomas as per his wife assisting a coup attempt), what's the institutional solution?
When celebrities, the rich, the famous, the powerful, the connected, flagrantly break laws and our attorneys general decide to not prosecute (Jeffrey Epstein, Donald Trump, executives and bankers during the 2008 financial crisis, etc.), what's the institutional solution?
When a single senator (Mitch McConnell) decides to unilaterally change the number of justices on the Supreme Court against both the law and the Constitution (when he withheld Merrick Garland from getting an up-or-down vote, he changed the number of justices from 9 to 8 for over a year), what is the institutional solution?
When justices lie (and potentially perjure themselves) during confirmation hearings to get a lifetime seat to decide what happens and what doesn't, overrulling elected officials, without any oversight, what is the institutional solution?
All I am saying is that sometimes, the government decides to suck its own dick for a little bit too long, and it needs a little bit of prodding to get it to move along and suck some other dick for once.
Sometimes the prodding needs to be done by a really thorough spanking at the polls, but also sometimes it needs to be done by the pitchforks of the peasants (an analogy of course).
janainaart
yousharknotpass
theartofmadeline
dededos
