krashmo

It's funny as a quip in a Rick and Morty episode, not coming from the CEO of a large corporation specializing in surveillance technology.

I don't, but thanks anyway

I'm not saying there's nothing we should do to limit Presidential powers, just that the best thing we can so is not put the worst people in that office. Rules can only do so much. All of them have some kind of loophole. At some point you have to blame the voters for putting people who would abuse those powers in the position to do so.

Pardons aren't the problem. They exist to provide an avenue for reprieve in cases where the law was applied in an unjust or unintended manner, which is not uncommon. The issue is that we let a corrupt, narcissistic piece of shit become President. Obviously he's going to do terrible things with all the power available to him. It doesn't mean the powers of the office are inherently bad, it means he is.

I didn't do anything different in my response to you than you did to me but OK

I don't disagree with anything you said, except your classification of those actions as rational. I think framing the world and responding to it the way you described is completely irrational.

That last sentence could be true, but if the US can't keep national cohesion together the EU probably can't either. One of our big problems is cultural diversity providing avenues for division to take root. The US is infinitely more homogeneous than the EU. I don't think Europeans are prepared to act like a unified society outside of a few common interests. I still think they should try, but I also think that means something vastly different to citizens in the different nations of the EU.

Rich people don't give poor people stuff, even if it means they get more stuff too. They aren't rational actors. They have what should be already, and will one day be, classified as a mental illness.

I found myself in Italy
They said we could have condoms free
All partnered up by two or three Everyone partook with glee
But now none are left for me

So hearken friends
My luck portends
This story ends
For me unfortunately

I skied directly into a tree
Then rolled the dice in the dormitory
It now burns badly when I pee
I hope my mom is proud of me
I only brought home an STD

Along those lines, there's no technical reason we need representative governments anymore either. The reason representation was necessary was because it was clearly impractical for multiple reasons for all citizens to travel to the same place, debate the merits of proposed legislation, and vote on implementation. The internet solves those problems. The system hasn't changed because we're coasting on institutional momentum.

Now, that is not to say that I trust any current government to implement such a system in a fair and impartial manner. However, all the technology needed to do so has existed for a long time now. The only things stopping us are entrenched power structures and a lack of imagination.

I'm a man and I'm not laughing.

You don't have to say it, I was already leaving.