Mostly Bits Newsletter - Issue #30
Tony's Pick
I’m back with another tiny, independent publisher. KroneckerWellis offers esoterica like a book of Nikola Tesla’s patents and a reprint of the Apollo 13 launch checklist. They also have cool posters. Check them out!
(It seems like most or all of the content is in the public domain, which makes for a clever business model and harkens back to an earlier pick. Public domain publisher of space-themed stuff? This might be my most on-brand pick yet.)
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Don't forget to stir the tanks! |
Kyle's Pick
I stumbled on this analysis from The New Yorker of exactly how un-amendable the US constitution has become. A few quick highlights:
- We’ve tried to abolish the Electoral College a lot, dating as far back as 1799.
- Amendments typically pass in groups on the back of major political revolutions - but the fact that only one amendment passed after the 1960s is a sign that things may have ossified. The author ties this to the rise of constitutional Originalism, originally outlined by Robert Bork in 1971.
- For better or worse, the US has one of the lowest constitutional amendment rates in the world. (But also, the average written constitution worldwide only lasts about seventeen years. I would love to see the distribution on that, though.)
Regardless of whether you think the federal constitution should be more amendable, it seems like state-level politics is the real battleground at the moment, and Republicans have been pretty dominant there over the last 15+ years.
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Daddy Bork, Father of Originalism |
