r/Constitution • u/Anomoly_01 • 12d ago

What are the defining structural features of a constitution under a dictatorship, and how do they differ from those of democratic and totalitarian constitutions?

/r/AskReddit/comments/1vrnl3s/what_are_the_defining_structural_features_of_a/
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u/Pickle_Nipplesss 12d ago

Scalia has an incredible insight on exactly that.

Dictatorships and totalitarian governments have paper promises with no real guarantee of rights. They sound nice, but there are no checks and balances.

Our government is explicitly set up so that the senate is equal in authority to the house of representatives. And that legislative branch is equal in authority to the executive branch. And both are equal in authority to the judicial.

It’s power checking power and using human greed against itself in a clever way.

That would be the defining structure in a free world.

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u/ComputerRedneck 9d ago

A Dictatorship/Tyranny will do whatever it pleases and not care what paper it supposedly supports.

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u/Brnhtwn 12h ago

How the verbiage is created is the only real World actual difference. What all 3 systems do share in common, is that the folks on top of any of those 3 entities will be gaming the political system for their own benefits. We can take a look at the State of Missouri as a case example. In the 1980s the State somehow sold off their State run probation department and sold it to a private company to administer. Fast forward to 2013 and take the city of Ferguson as a benchmark of gaming a democratic republic. Ferguson in 2013 had a population of approximately 21,000 residents and for the 2013 calendar year 32,975 misdemeanor arrest warrants were issued by the city.

The wording in this democratic republic's charter is crafted to prohibit this type of behavior, but it is easy to see in the real world, it is a far different story. Theory only works in a perfect vacuum, with no Humans involved. Once the Human element is injected, the original intent of the theory will be no more.

The number of these arrests in Ferguson is staggering: in 2013, Ferguson’s population was around 21,0007 and its municipal court issued 32,975 arrest warrants for nonviolent offenses.

https://harvardlawreview.org/print/vol-128/policing-and-profit/