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4thTimeLucky · 05-03-2003, 03:46 PM

I don't know of anything that prevents the US becoming a theocracy.

In a practical sense it won't become one because a majority of the population would not choose to be run by a theocracy (though some/many would I suspect).

At a theoretical level the constitution says that elections must be held every five years. On the one hand it is possible to ammend the constitution... on the other there are some pretty strict checks and balances in place. Assuming that the people elected a set of representatives who shared their desire to become a theocracy I would have thought that they could abolish elections within the existing legal framework. Alternatively, if you have an electoral mandate then you could simply replace the existing constitution with a new one, or none at all, and deal with those who object appropriately (wasn't the "right to bare arms" created as a balance against governmental abuses?).

But I suspect that if you had an answer in mind it was 'the constitution'. But Iraq has no such constitution and one could not be democratically put in place without a refendum, and in our hypothetical scenario such a referendum would fail.

05-03-2003, 03:46 PM	#5 (permalink)
4thTimeLucky Psycho Location: 4th has left the building - goodbye folks	I don't know of anything that prevents the US becoming a theocracy. In a practical sense it won't become one because a majority of the population would not choose to be run by a theocracy (though some/many would I suspect). At a theoretical level the constitution says that elections must be held every five years. On the one hand it is possible to ammend the constitution... on the other there are some pretty strict checks and balances in place. Assuming that the people elected a set of representatives who shared their desire to become a theocracy I would have thought that they could abolish elections within the existing legal framework. Alternatively, if you have an electoral mandate then you could simply replace the existing constitution with a new one, or none at all, and deal with those who object appropriately (wasn't the "right to bare arms" created as a balance against governmental abuses?). But I suspect that if you had an answer in mind it was 'the constitution'. But Iraq has no such constitution and one could not be democratically put in place without a refendum, and in our hypothetical scenario such a referendum would fail. __________________ I've been 4thTimeLucky, you've been great. Goodnight and God bless!