Constitution

This is the flag the USA's flag is based on. It is the flag of the East India Trading Company, most well known for the British invasions of India and China, and for helping to bring slavery to the 13 Colonies. The constitution's definition of "men," as in "all men are created equal," excluded:

• Blacks
• American Indians
• Women
• Poor white men who didn't own enough land

In other words, if you didn't have enough money to hold stake in a corporation, you didn't vote. The USA was founded on all the worst values of imperialism, corporatism, Victorian sexism and genocidal expansion. In a monarchy the monarch is the one who collects taxes from the rich to make sure life is still possible for the poor, and the USA's constitution was based on the concept of rejecting that institution.

The 12th amendment to the Constitution preserved the Electoral College precisely so that it could give slave owning states disproportionately more voting power than they would have had based on their voters. That same Electoral College has resulted in the election of the most reckless and openly racist president since the death of Martin Luther King Jr. Just a decade before it got us a president who divided our nation politically, wrecked our international reputation, and plunged us into the longest and most expensive war in the history of the USA.

Don't talk to me about the founding fathers. What makes the American people great is the American people, and our ability to recontextualize the intentions of ancient documents in today's reality. Some esteem the constitution as scripture, but all scripture must be seen in the new light of the next day, or else you will find yourself in the middle east, living in a tent, riding around on a camel, and defending yourself primarily with archery, since that is original context of most Judeo-Christian scripture.

The strength of our constitution is the very fact that we can literally amend it, and we often reinterpret it, to our credit, and as we should. Our loyalty to that document is exactly what makes it possible to have revolutions in this country without massive bloodshed. This attribute allows us to endure the change and adaptation that makes our nation great.