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this post was submitted on 12 Oct 2023
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The US constitution has helped a lot of people out against the government (think of the police as part of the government as well). Other countries can't talk shit about the people in power or get arrested for speaking their mind, discord gets crushed, and leaders become dictators with ease. The alternatives don't seem better so why not prop up the constitution that gives the people the power to wield against the government.
Unfortunately the people who think it shouldn't be a "living" document that changes over time are usually idiots.
Except you know all the times it hasn't you know like the sedition acts, Japanese internment upheld by the supreme court, native displacement, jim crow laws and ongoing system racism, the list goes own.
The protections it provides are on a contingency basis subject to be withdrawn when convenient, it isn't some magic shield against tyranny.
You are correct, it isn't a magic shield and that's why it needs to be protected and propped up to some degree. Like any real shield it won't stop everything but the less people believe in it the easier it is to take away. I don't agree with majority rules because that leads to bad things happening so it needs to be balanced out and in a lot of ways what you had gave as examples are when majority ruled. As for sedition, well the US' foundation was started with sedition.
I would rather take something that works most of the time than none of the time.
How can it protect people from the government if it can be reinterpreted at a whim by the government?
The checks and balances system, the fact that the lawmakers also need to live under those same laws (I know, I know). Since it is a living document it can be made to be adjusted so there is less confusion or to add new protections. I just woke up so this may seem incoherent and I'm sorry for that.
The country I live in is pretty free, the government still threatened to prosecute people for supporting Russia on social media. And don't even mention speech persecution in the UK.
The UK doesn't have a constitution and never had, they are ruled by a monarchy so what they do have only exists because the monarchy allows it to.
A lot of European countries have constitutions.
Does your country have free speech protections in its constitution?
Sorry, it wasn't meant to be a blanket statement of all countries but "other countries" as in there are countries that you can't talk shit about your government and it is much more than the 3 you mentioned.
It can also be much more subtle than it is in say North Korea. Russia seems to have a lot of people falling out of building windows when they oppose the government. Jails house political opponents, journalists, whistle lowers, and the like.
A good portion of Europe have constitutions in place. The EU itself has a constitution. I'd also like to add that "freedom" means something different to different people so it's tough to say someplace is free.
Try filing a police complaint in the US, see how long you go without falling into a stop and frisk.
It's an annoying process, but it's not that bad. There are areas in this country where it is, or worse, but it's also nearly a continent and some change worth of people and places, so it's hard to generalize. Police are also a locally controlled thing in the US, so it diverges more then say the post office.
I have and it was easy and where I live we don't have a stop and frisk law.