Part of what I see with 50501/Hands Off protests is that they have a theme of “defending the Constitution” from Trump. This is really a somewhat conservative position and doesn’t have much historical rigor to it.

Prof. Aziz Rana of Boston College Law School is having a moment on Jacobin Radio right now. His basic thesis is that the Constitutional order is so deeply antidemocratic that the left argued with itself and the liberals over whether to focus efforts on challenging it in the early 20th Century. In the broad sweep of history since then, Americans have come to view the Constitution as a sacred text, but in fact, that order is part of what gives the Republicans and the far right their advantages despite losing the popular vote.

The shorter interview: https://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/Radio.html#S250424 (April 24, 2025)
The 4-part long interview: https://thedigradio.com/archive/ (see the Aziz Rana episodes starting in April 2025) - Part 4 isn’t up yet.

So why should we venerate the Constitution, when it holds us back from real, direct democracy? I think part of what our liberal friends and family hold onto is a trust in the Constitution and the framers. They weren’t geniuses, they were landowners worried about kings taking their property. Use these interviews, or Prof. Rana’s book, to handle those arguments.

  • NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io
    2·
    5 hours ago

    Impacting the policies of the United States is probably the single biggest thing on the planet that someone can do to help Palestine.

    True enough, but that was always a long-term goal. There wasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell of US policy towards Palestine meaningfully changing this decade no matter which party won the election.

    • PhilipTheBucket@ponder.cat
      1·
      5 hours ago

      I’m not going to have a conversation with you where I explain why, as bad as Biden and every other president has been, Trump is a meaningful change. I’ve talked about it already twice today and it is too grim. Look in my history if you want to see.

      • NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io
        1·
        5 hours ago

        Yeah fair enough, but that’s also not what I was trying to say. America’s Palestine policy wasn’t going to improve during the next eight years even with Democrats in charge. Even if you think Trump is somehow worse, we should be able to agree on that.