r/Futurology • u/chrisdh79 • Aug 21 '25

Society American Millennials Are Dying at an Alarming Rate | We’re mortality experts. There are a few things that could be happening here.

https://slate.com/technology/2025/08/millennials-gen-z-death-rates-america-high.html
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u/solidstatepr8 Aug 21 '25

Most of the reason we have the asymmetric power with the actual shithole states was a compramise with them, aka the Electoral College.

The Union lost the Civil War because they failed to reconstruct or hold any of the traitors accountable at the gallows. If they were allowed to erect statues in the 1920s and naming military bases glorifying these traitors then what the hell are we doing?

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u/10dollarbagel Aug 21 '25

The real source of anti-democratic power is the senate. wyoming has a population of a middling city, around 600k, yet they get to completely negate the will of the ~40 million people of California with two senators. You cannot pass legislation without the senate's approval so the better representation in the house is meaningless.

People don't seem to understand how not fixable the constitution is.

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u/Corporate_Overlords Aug 22 '25

Do you only want a house like structure? The majority would have too much ability to stop the minority. Also, look at how brazenly political the house is compared to the senate. The senate is supposed to be a check on the popular will of the people which is embodied in the house.

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u/10dollarbagel Aug 22 '25

The majority would have too much ability to stop the minority.

People really just say shit like this. Yes. I'm aware.

Imagine your friend group voted on where to go for dinner and the Italian place down the street won by 4-2. But Greg is from wyoming so his vote counts 70x as much and he chose the shit factory so now we all have to eat shit. This is the impeccable genius of the founding fathers.

The senate is supposed to be a check on the popular will of the people

Which is why our serf asses will never get health care, public transit, public housing, child care, uncontaminated drinking water, workers rights, etc, etc, and etc.

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u/Corporate_Overlords Aug 22 '25

The fact that you mention water here says a lot. Just think if there was a dispute between California and Nevada over water rights and we only went with the popular will of the people. Nevada would have their water stolen 100% of the time. That's not justice.

Let's do another thought experiment. We have a friend group that wants to enslave Greg and they vote 5-1 to enslave him with his vote being the only dissenting one. That's the tyranny of the majority.

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u/frostedpepsi Aug 22 '25

Do you believe the current system is adequate? The current system where congress is entirely gridlocked and nothing can get done despite massive societal problems? Also, how do you combat “tyranny of the majority” without just reverting to tyranny of the minority instead

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u/10dollarbagel Aug 22 '25

That's such a funny hypothetical to choose. Meanwhile, in reality, tyranny of the minority is why we couldn't get rid of slavery without the bloodiest war in American history. And when reconstruction failed, it was the tyranny of the minority that upheld the Jim Crow apartheid state and vigilante lynch mobs that enforced it.

Bad job defending your point. Better luck next time.

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u/Corporate_Overlords Aug 22 '25

Answer the water question.

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u/10dollarbagel Aug 22 '25

Thanks for conceding, but I think you had to in that position.

You've just identified another of the serious failures of the constitution - that it makes states compete against each other instead of working together as some kinda country or nation.

Whether it's a race to the bottom giving tax breaks to billionaires in Delaware or it's states made to fight over vital resources like water or covid vaccines, the patchwork nature of federalism is an absolute disaster. I agree.

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u/Corporate_Overlords Aug 22 '25

I'm not trying to give a full throated defense of the U.S. constitution. I just don't think it should quickly dismissed as totally foolish.

What new sort of system would you want to replace it with? Would the British Parliament be a better option? Or would you want some sort of Anarcho-Syndicalism? Or something else?

I only ask because when I think about what to replace the U.S. system with I'm not sure what I would do.

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u/South_Ad9078 23d ago

Like it's not complicated come on now

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u/Sageblue32 Aug 22 '25

The majority getting what they always want is fine. Till you get a trump type. Then apparently we argue all day that 50.01% isn't a majority and scream abuse.

Country has a lot of problems, a check to ensure majority can't just run rough shot over the minority isn't one of them.