[lbo-talk] Chicago mayor takes legal action over strike

[Wojtek S]

I am not an expert, obviously, but my argument is rather simple: The
US constitution guarantees few rights to begin with, and those
guaranteed are limited to property rights, the right to bear arms, and
the right to a due process (if you can afford one) - see the NYT piece
I quoted earlier below.  That means that property or gun rights will
trump human rights if there is any challenge to new legislation at
state or federal level.  The fact that even a mildly progressive
legislation like Obamacare had to be justified by the Congress power
to regulate interstate commerce (i.e. private property) speaks
volumes.

Or to put it differently, the US Constitution per se may not limit
human rights but it does not offer sufficient protections of them
against monied interests that are rather powerful here.  It is like a
cop that chooses to look the other way when a crime is being
committed.

Here are the relevant excerpts from the NYT piece.

"The United States Constitution is terse and old, and it guarantees
relatively few rights. The commitment of some members of the Supreme
Court to interpreting the Constitution according to its original
meaning in the 18th century may send the signal that it is of little
current use to, say, a new African nation. And the Constitution’s
waning influence may be part of a general decline in American power
and prestige.

In an interview, Professor Law identified a central reason for the
trend: the availability of newer, sexier and more powerful operating
systems in the constitutional marketplace. “Nobody wants to copy
Windows 3.1,” he said.

"The rights guaranteed by the American Constitution are parsimonious
by international standards, and they are frozen in amber. As Sanford
Levinson wrote in 2006 in “Our Undemocratic Constitution,” “the U.S.
Constitution is the most difficult to amend of any constitution
currently existing in the world today.” (Yugoslavia used to hold that
title, but Yugoslavia did not work out.)

Other nations routinely trade in their constitutions wholesale,
replacing them on average every 19 years. By odd coincidence, Thomas
Jefferson, in a 1789 letter to James Madison, once said that every
constitution “naturally expires at the end of 19 years” because “the
earth belongs always to the living generation.” These days, the
overlap between the rights guaranteed by the Constitution and those
most popular around the world is spotty.

Americans recognize rights not widely protected, including ones to a
speedy and public trial, and are outliers in prohibiting government
establishment of religion. But the Constitution is out of step with
the rest of the world in failing to protect, at least in so many
words, a right to travel, the presumption of innocence and entitlement
to food, education and health care.

It has its idiosyncrasies. Only 2 percent of the world’s constitutions
protect, as the Second Amendment does, a right to bear arms. (Its
brothers in arms are Guatemala and Mexico.)"

-- 
Wojtek

"An anarchist is a neoliberal without money."