I’m glad other people are articulating this issue, because I see people often saying “we need a system where this can’t happen!” or saying the system is the problem, or that they think some “mechanism” should be put in place to stop things going wrong. And obviously that’s savior syndrome hopium, only instead of hoping a strongman or other saviour will fix everything, it’s hoping that some inanimate mechanism will make it so there’s a perpetual motion machine so you can just set it and forget it.
Of course I would rather say that the people are the solution.
the PEOPLE are the problem!! The Romano Report Feb 22, 2025 “the people charged with upholding our constitution Mitch McConnell and the other Republicans in the Senate refused to uphold their Oaths and protect the Constitution the problem wasn’t the system the problem was the people and I’ve said many times you the Constitution cannot enforce itself neither can any law or any system of government devised by man no system of government no Constitution can be developed in such a way as to enforce itself any system necessarily requires for its enforcement the people who are in the positions of authority within that system that’s just the way it is”
I just keep repeating this in different ways, but I think in some sense, people are very tempted to the idea because it’s certainly nicer than thinking we just have to stay engaged and work for something. And we’ve been accustomed to this idea that you can set it and forget it by not just crockpots but washing machines and dishwashers and various automation. This is where I think this bizarre techno rapture idea comes in, where people want AI to be the ultimate authority (or they fear it).
Politics isn’t a crockpot, and Trump certainly won’t save anyone. Mar 22nd, 2024
jamelle @jamellebouie.net March 12, 2025 at 10:50 AM one thing i keep thinking about is how there is simply no way to design a constitutional system that can resist authoritarian incursion if participants in that system do not actually care that much