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Comment by sky_rw | Hacker News Reader

And given all of these screwed up things, you would put it to these people to write a better framework?

You say "The only things people can point to that they like about the constitution are..." and then proceed to point out things that are not even in the constitution.

Here is something to like about the constitution: a system of government that has seen the peaceful transition of power every 4 years for 244 consecutive years.

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>a system of government that has seen the peaceful transition of power every 4 years for 244 consecutive years.

If you don't count that little incident in the 1860's

Yeah those pesky southern Democrats keep trying to make things difficult.

Um, amendments are in fact in the constitution. That's what an amendment is - a change from the original text.

Referring to the bill of rights, which is a separate document from the US constitution. Functionally it serves a different purpose, whereas the constitution details how the government is structured and what it can do, the bill of rights enumerates what it cannot do. The bill of rights (1-10) does not change anything in the constitution.

I'm sure you could get pedantic on this matter, but the subject of OP was related to structure and function of the US government. This is the purview of the constitution and not the first 10 amendments.

I don't know where you got the idea that the bill of rights is a separate document from the US constitution. Amendments alter the thing amended. They aren't somehow separate, the become incorporated into the thing they amend.

Functionally, they may serve a different purpose. So does the preamble, but it's still a part of the constitution. As is the bill of rights.

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