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Notes -
In his defense, he was engaging in a proud Roman tradition. Just not the one he thought he was!
The American decision to LARP as Romans is not even close to unique. I suppose this book probably goes after plenty of others, too. But criticism of the hegemon is what gets top billing.
For that matter, how different are the Swiss revision process and the American? Popular initiative vs. 2/3 of Congress. I don’t think that’s actually a big gap, and it would be even less if the US had adopted proportional representation. We’ve even ended up with similar amendments, such as vice bans, at similar times!
The Swiss were less likely to use constitutional revision on explicit powers of the government. Presumably, this follows from the very different dynamic between canton and federal. Instead, they’ve enshrined various left/labor causes. That reminds me more of California’s proposition system, which has its own drawbacks. I suspect this works for the Swiss because they have such a homogenous society and environment. If everyone is under relatively similar conditions, agreement is more likely. I would be curious to see how many of the Swiss amendments would also have passed under the US 2/3 scheme.
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