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Episode 110 - Happy Birthday America: Now Go Do Your Homework · Sorta Sophisticated

• 0:00
  Speaker A: Welcome to Sort of Sophisticated with Pete and Amanda. Okay, so Obviously Amanda, right? July 4, 2026. It's a big one right around the corner. Do you know how old America is turning? Please tell me you didn't crawl out from under rock. How. How old?
• 0:14
  Speaker B: 250.
• 0:15
  Speaker A: 250. 250. Do you know what that is? You know what that's called? We talked about it before.
• 0:19
  Speaker B: Something centennial.
• 0:20
  Speaker A: Oh, my God. Semi quincentennial.
• 0:23
  Speaker B: There you go.
• 0:23
  Speaker A: Say that. Yes. Semi quincentennial. Yes. But, like, here's the deal. Were you. No. You weren't alive for the bicentennial, were you? Our guest was. You were alive for the bicentennial, Steve. Yes. We'll introduce you in a second, Steve. But you were alive, right? You were like, what, 30 or 40 by that time?
• 0:39
  Speaker C: I was 11.
• 0:40
  Speaker A: 11. Oh, my God. Wow. We're dating. I was 4. There you go. And you were not even a little embryo in mama yet. Okay, anyway, my whole point for this was like, I don't want to just talk about, like, the celebrations and all the shit we're doing and all the parties we're having, because of course we're doing all those things. But when I was starting to research this whole thing, I realized that Thomas Jefferson specifically was like, yeah, this constitution that we created wasn't really supposed to last 250 years. That wasn't the plan.
• 1:09
  Speaker B: Interesting.
• 1:10
  Speaker A: So then it got me thinking. Oh, shit. I know a guy. Steve Washington. Spoiler, Washington somehow related. I'm like, we got to get Steve on the show to debate if this thing was supposed to really, like, be a rough draft and we were supposed to recreate it, or if it was supposed to be around, like, forever and we turned it into a bible. So that's sort of the. The spin on today's episode. Does this make sense?
• 1:36
  Speaker B: Okay.
• 1:36
  Speaker A: All right, so here's what we're going to actually go through today. First, we're going to talk about what the founders actually thought they were building. Spoiler. It was supposed to be a machine, not like a monument. Okay? It was supposed to be upgraded. That's my argument. Second, why we stopped upgrading it and, like, why that actually cost us dearly. Again, my argument. And third, the question why they explicitly left for us to answer that 250 years later. Nobody's really asking yet, so stick around. Welcome to episode 110. 110.
• 2:03
  Speaker B: It been better if it was 250.
• 2:05
  Speaker A: Oh, my God, really? Anyways, give me a heart attack now. Do you think we'll ever get to 250.
• 2:08
  Speaker B: I don't know.
• 2:09
  Speaker A: Okay, and let me just introduce our special guest. Why don't we? Finally. None other than Mr. Steve Washington. Direct descendant. Not a direct descendant of George Washington. That's impossible. George Washington didn't have babies. Wait a second.
• 2:23
  Speaker C: George Washington did not have any kids.
• 2:25
  Speaker A: Wait, direct descendant of Martha Washington.
• 2:27
  Speaker C: He had two step kids?
• 2:29
  Speaker A: Yes. Okay. All right. But first, Steve, who. Like, who are you? Are you a historian? What are you. Are you a librarian? How do we.
• 2:34
  Speaker C: No.
• 2:35
  Speaker A: What's your expertise for being on the show?
• 2:36
  Speaker C: I am not a scholar of history, much less the American Revolution.
• 2:40
  Speaker A: What did you do your whole life before you retired?
• 2:43
  Speaker C: I was an insurance adjuster and fraud investigator.
• 2:45
  Speaker A: Oh, my God. Fraud investigator?
• 2:47
  Speaker C: Yeah, we did a lot of insurance fraud.
• 2:49
  Speaker A: That's conspiracy shit right there. Okay, so wait a second. So just give me the whole quick story of how you're related. Just give me that whole thing.
• 2:56
  Speaker C: So George Washington had a couple full brothers. One of his full brothers, John Augustin Washington, would have been my six great grandfather. John Augusta John Augustin Washington.
• 3:09
  Speaker A: Jaw, J, A, W. Jaw, John. I know, but his initials. That's cool. J, A, W. That's kind of badass. I like that. All right, so. So you're through the bros. You're not through. You're not through. Martha.
• 3:23
  Speaker C: Yeah. George.
• 3:24
  Speaker A: You're not. What was.
• 3:24
  Speaker C: George would have been my uncle.
• 3:26
  Speaker A: Wow. Okay. That's wild. So. And that just got passed down, and you know that, like, you have, like. Do you have proof or not?
• 3:32
  Speaker C: Yeah, I got it here. I brought it with me. Whoa. There's a lot of naysayers out there. So. No. You know, as a kid, I didn't care. You know, sometimes teachers would ask, you know, are you related or what have you? And some of them would say, no, you're not. That's a lie. And then I'd go home and tell my parents, and my dad would say, yeah, tell the teacher she's an idiot. You know? Yeah. He didn't have kids. But you're not saying. He's your grandfather, he's your uncle, Right?
• 3:59
  Speaker A: You're related. You're not. Right? Exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I got Bo Balinski, you know, Bo Bolinsky, famous pitcher for the Angels back in, like, the 60s?
• 4:07
  Speaker C: Sure.
• 4:07
  Speaker A: Everybody thought I was related to him. Technically, we weren't, but I don't know. So I just started lying and saying I was. That was my claim to fame. Do you have any. Nothing. What's your maiden name?
• 4:16
  Speaker B: Ecker.
• 4:17
  Speaker A: Ecker. You got nothing?
• 4:18
  Speaker B: No.
• 4:19
  Speaker A: Okay, whatever. All right, can we go word of the week and then we get into this thing?
• 4:23
  Speaker B: Go right ahead.
• 4:23
  Speaker A: All right, word of the week this week. Do you know what we do for word of the week?
• 4:26
  Speaker C: No.
• 4:27
  Speaker A: Okay, you have to figure we're going to make up. Not make up a word. We're going to tell you a word, I'm going to define it, and then you got to figure out a way to say it. Somewhere in this episode, normally you got to just, like. Somehow it's got to just, like, roll off the tongue.
• 4:38
  Speaker C: Understood.
• 4:38
  Speaker A: Okay. By the way, I think we screwed up last week.
• 4:40
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 4:41
  Speaker A: I don't think we did it, but it's okay. All right, so the word of the week this week is blandishments. Blandishments. B, L, A, N, D, I, S, H. So plural. M, E, N, T, S. Blandishments. Yes. Do we know what this word is? No, I can't even say the damn thing. Blandishment is a nice thing you say or do to convince someone to do something comes from the Latin blandiri, to flatter, and blandus meaning smooth or agreeable. So if someone's giving you blandishments, they're being smooth because they have an agenda. Make sense.
• 5:08
  Speaker B: Like a smooth operator.
• 5:10
  Speaker A: Yes.
• 5:11
  Speaker B: Ulterior motive. Yes. I don't know.
• 5:13
  Speaker A: Exactly. Ulterior motive. I like that. That's it. I literally live my life blandishing or giving blandishments to everybody every day.
• 5:20
  Speaker B: All right, got it. We're gonna start this thing or what? Because I'm, like, way interested in what Steve has to say, so I need
• 5:25
  Speaker A: you to like nothing. Hurry up and get through my part. You get to Steve's part.
• 5:29
  Speaker B: Okay. I guess that's my blandishment in the moment. Go ahead.
• 5:31
  Speaker A: That wasn't good. That was a backhanded.
• 5:33
  Speaker B: Still. Still ulterior motive.
• 5:34
  Speaker A: That was a little assholeish. Okay. By the way, if you like what you're listening to, hit subscribe and follow us. New episodes come out weekly. No, it's totally fine. Right? Yeah. Just follow us on any of your podcast platforms. Thank you very much. Okay, here's what we're going to do today. All right, First, I'm going to do the history part, because I love the history part. And he. Steve literally said he's not a historian. So we're going to do that. Like why the founders actually left this constitution unfinished on purpose. Then we're going to turn it over to Steve. We're going to talk about whatever the hell Steve wants to do. And also, you can debate with me on if you agree with me. Or not, because apparently you don't already, but here we go. So first, before we talk about the whole founding of the Constitution, we had to talk about 1776. Like, the actual date 77, because we just said 250th anniversary. But did you know that right before COVID in, like, 2018 or 2019, a whole new campaign started? The 1619 Project. Have you guys heard of this thing? Okay, so the 1619 project was. The New York Times launched it. And the whole argument was that the real founding was actually, like, 150 years earlier, in 1619, when the first slaves from Africa got to Virginia. Because technically, we were saying if we had slaves, then we had, like, politics and we had an economy. And so everything sort of technically is when the country started. And we shouldn't downplay the slavery component for 115 years and just sort of pretend it's some dark footnote in American history, that we sort of really need to reckon with the fact that our country started in 1619. Did you. Did this is a whole. This is. Scholars are debating this still today.
• 7:02
  Speaker C: Is that because England didn't have slavery?
• 7:05
  Speaker A: I don't know if England had slavery. I'm only sort of sophisticated over here, bro. What are you talking about? They had to have some slavery.
• 7:10
  Speaker C: Even if they came over in 1619 and there was some kind of structure for a government or something, we're still part of the British Empire.
• 7:20
  Speaker A: Oh, I see what you mean.
• 7:21
  Speaker C: Yeah.
• 7:22
  Speaker A: You can debate that.
• 7:22
  Speaker C: Illegal in England. And then we.
• 7:24
  Speaker A: There's no way.
• 7:25
  Speaker C: Started separating ourselves.
• 7:26
  Speaker A: I'm going to look that shit up. I got to know if slavery was illegal. That's a good argument. So hold on a second. Okay, while you're looking that up, did you know they even tried to teach this whole 1619 thing in schools for a while? From 2019 to, like, 2024, 2025. The Trump administration, of course, finally started something called the 1776 Commission to counteract the whole 1619 Project. And they fought it out, and then they finally decided that they're going to at least explain both perspectives in school. But the noise has subsequently now disappeared, died back down. But it's still sort of out there, like, ugh, what do we do with this whole thing? But I'm going to argue what Steve just said, which is. I agree. Did what? Did you find it?
• 8:04
  Speaker B: So, yes, they had slaves.
• 8:06
  Speaker A: They did have slaves. Well, then he's right.
• 8:08
  Speaker B: I mean, 1807.
• 8:09
  Speaker A: Yeah. Okay.
• 8:09
  Speaker B: Well, then Trade act was passed. So it was illegal to buy and sell, but they were not emancipated until 1838.
• 8:15
  Speaker A: Okay, so fine. So totally count. We're back on track. It's 1776. Done. Controversy over. Finished. Right. Which I find.
• 8:21
  Speaker B: I like that, though that was well thought.
• 8:22
  Speaker A: I find highly. Because he's. He's.
• 8:24
  Speaker B: He's brilliant.
• 8:24
  Speaker A: He is. He's a genius. Yes, I know. This is why. This is why I invite him on the show. Right.
• 8:28
  Speaker C: Stop with the blandishment.
• 8:30
  Speaker A: Okay, There it is.
• 8:31
  Speaker C: Let's go.
• 8:32
  Speaker A: He gets extra for that. Whatever. Okay. But my whole point of bringing this whole thing up anyways, because I think the whole idea of America and American culture is, like, we're founded on a country that can't agree on anything.
• 8:40
  Speaker B: Right.
• 8:40
  Speaker A: I mean, that, that, that. And this is my point.
• 8:42
  Speaker B: Isn't that the premise of, like, what America is.
• 8:46
  Speaker A: That's my point. Right. And that's why I thought it would.
• 8:48
  Speaker B: It would be a good.
• 8:49
  Speaker A: Yes. That's why I want to do this spin on the whole, like, hey, is it a rough draft? Was the Constitution really thing? Because I thought, like, we could just sit here and not agree, which I thought would be totally cool. So anyway, fun fact. Jefferson actually wrote in a letter to James Madison after they, like, signed the Constitution or whatever, because Jefferson wasn't there. He was in France screwing around with all the babes. He said, and I quote, every Constitution naturally expires at the end of 19 years. And if you enforce it any longer, it becomes an act of force and not of. Right. What is that all about?
• 9:22
  Speaker B: Is this true?
• 9:23
  Speaker C: That is true. Okay. So what Jefferson was getting at was he did want it to expire in 19 years, have an expiration date on it of some sort. But that's because every 19 years is considered a generation. So the next generation, he wanted to make it. They can make it their own.
• 9:40
  Speaker A: Yeah. You. You know who else agreed with Jefferson?
• 9:43
  Speaker C: My uncle.
• 9:44
  Speaker A: Yes. Uncle George. Let's go.
• 9:46
  Speaker C: Yes.
• 9:47
  Speaker A: What do you say about that?
• 9:48
  Speaker C: But the father of the Constitution, James Madison, did not.
• 9:52
  Speaker A: Okay. But James Matt. Well, Cause James. Matt. Correct. James Madison was the guy who built the engine for the amendments. That was his whole piece. So he, him and Jefferson were at odds.
• 10:05
  Speaker C: Yeah. It was a big argument.
• 10:06
  Speaker A: Absolutely. It was a massive argument. And Madison was. I have a mechanism that's gonna allow us to make changes, so we're gonna stick with this thing. And he ultimately won over everybody.
• 10:18
  Speaker C: Well, James Madison also believed that the Constitution should change every now and then, because he believed, too, we shouldn't settle the next generation and the next generation with the same Thing we believed in at the time.
• 10:30
  Speaker A: Right.
• 10:31
  Speaker C: But James Madison believed trying to establish a new constitution every 20 years is ridiculous.
• 10:37
  Speaker A: Yes.
• 10:37
  Speaker C: It could be unstable. Make for an unstable government during the transition.
• 10:41
  Speaker A: Right, right.
• 10:42
  Speaker C: So then he incorporated this mechanism for change. Yeah.
• 10:46
  Speaker A: Which when you think about. You had. Well, you have General Washington.
• 10:49
  Speaker C: Right.
• 10:49
  Speaker A: Like, I mean.
• 10:50
  Speaker C: Right.
• 10:50
  Speaker A: General. Like super wicked smart. Right. Thomas Jefferson. You have. You have James Madison. I mean, you have Alexander Hamilton. I mean, you think of the guys
• 11:01
  Speaker C: in the room, Adams, Frank.
• 11:03
  Speaker A: Oh, God, I forgot Franklin. They had such different perspectives and yet figured out how to put it together
• 11:09
  Speaker C: because at that time, there was one
• 11:10
  Speaker A: common goal, and that common goal was
• 11:13
  Speaker C: to create a government, not a monarchy and rights with the people.
• 11:17
  Speaker A: Okay, so would we argue that it works 250 years later or. No. Are we saying it was successful? That they didn't change anything?
• 11:25
  Speaker C: Well, the experiment's still in progress.
• 11:27
  Speaker A: Oh, shit. You're pulling that. Okay, Mr. Sixth Generation.
• 11:31
  Speaker C: It's worked for 250 years.
• 11:33
  Speaker A: Okay. So far. Well, it's. I mean, some people would argue it's, you know, not working anymore.
• 11:38
  Speaker B: I mean, but what part of it's not working?
• 11:40
  Speaker A: I don't know. Healthcare. Let's start with that.
• 11:43
  Speaker C: But has healthcare ever worked?
• 11:46
  Speaker B: But it's a system. The healthcare system itself is not based off.
• 11:51
  Speaker A: I got it. I'm with you. But I mean, there's things that like.
• 11:55
  Speaker B: Right, so have we then just convoluted everything we have?
• 11:58
  Speaker A: Well, this is my whole argument. It's like the Bible. People want to treat like the Bible now. So you have the. What are the. The fundamentalists that literally word for word, like, did this really happen? Did Adam and Eve and the whole thing. There are people in America that absolutely want to treat the Constitution the exact same fucking way.
• 12:14
  Speaker C: Well, it is the law of the land. No, I.
• 12:16
  Speaker A: But, but my point is, is if it was meant to be amended and change and sort of go with the new and what's different and what we're trying to do, I think we've done a not so great job at keeping up.
• 12:28
  Speaker C: Yes.
• 12:29
  Speaker A: Is it so, dude, there's only been 27amendments.
• 12:31
  Speaker C: Is it flawed? Yeah. Yes. Is it broken? No, not necessarily.
• 12:35
  Speaker A: Okay, fine.
• 12:36
  Speaker B: I mean, there's been 11,000 proposals which have been introduced.
• 12:39
  Speaker A: Oh, my God, you just stole my fun fact.
• 12:41
  Speaker B: Oh, that's.
• 12:42
  Speaker A: Okay. That's almost like 12,000 proposals. You have 11,000. My fun fact was 12. Anyway. Okay, somewhere between 11 and 12 people go, right.
• 12:50
  Speaker B: 33 have been sent to ratification. Only 27 have succeeded.
• 12:53
  Speaker A: I know.
• 12:54
  Speaker B: So.
• 12:54
  Speaker A: Oh, we're going to talk about that. I got a few little good ones,
• 12:56
  Speaker B: I guess I would.
• 13:00
  Speaker A: And 21, I don't.
• 13:02
  Speaker B: I guess I would argue that. Are we trying to amend it?
• 13:07
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 13:08
  Speaker B: 11,000 is a lot.
• 13:09
  Speaker A: Okay, here's my example. Okay. So you can manipulate it however you want. So forget healthcare.
• 13:16
  Speaker B: Oh, wait, wait. But the first 10amendments were the Bill of Rights. Yeah, Right.
• 13:20
  Speaker A: Thank you, James Madison.
• 13:22
  Speaker B: So, I mean, in the modern era, we only had like that's 1930s on, right. We started what, only eight amendments?
• 13:30
  Speaker A: No, we've had 27. So we've had 17 more.
• 13:33
  Speaker B: Eight from the 19 from the modern.
• 13:34
  Speaker A: Oh, oh, got it. 1930s. Yeah. Yeah.
• 13:36
  Speaker B: But when you're amending it, you need to amend it in such a way that it's really generalized. Right.
• 13:41
  Speaker C: In order to get ratification.
• 13:43
  Speaker B: Right. And then to be able to be passed from every four years when we're in turmoil or eight years or full
• 13:50
  Speaker C: blank, the state's got to ratify it. And every state doesn't want to ratify it.
• 13:54
  Speaker A: I understand completely. Yes. The Last amendment, the 27th amendment, was congressional pay. Was congressional pay. It was proposed 237 years ago or something like that. And I have a fun fact about how it got ratified. Only recently.
• 14:11
  Speaker C: Yes, only recently. And the funny thing about that amendment too, it doesn't count until the latest session ends.
• 14:18
  Speaker A: Oh, really?
• 14:19
  Speaker C: Congress ends so they don't get an immediate raise that goes the next session of Congress.
• 14:23
  Speaker A: So is that a little loophole in there on purpose or.
• 14:25
  Speaker C: No, I mean, really, I think it was to prevent Congress from giving them raise whenever they felt okay.
• 14:30
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 14:31
  Speaker B: But then I feel like we also need term limits for all these people in Congress.
• 14:33
  Speaker A: Yeah, we do. This is terrible.
• 14:35
  Speaker B: That should be number 28.
• 14:36
  Speaker A: Right? Okay, see, okay, you just argued my point. That's perfect.
• 14:40
  Speaker C: The Constitution did lack certain things like that. I mean, they ignored term limits on purpose. They ignored women's rights.
• 14:47
  Speaker A: Well, let's cut the shit. They own slaves.
• 14:49
  Speaker C: Well, yes.
• 14:49
  Speaker A: Right. So now I'm going to argue the other side, which I think is incredible because go back to the whole point of the people that were in the room. They figured out a way to get it started. How did you say it? They wanted not a monarchy. They wanted rights for the people. Rights for the people. And they knew that it would be fundamentally flawed.
• 15:06
  Speaker B: They had just enough to get it.
• 15:07
  Speaker A: They did just enough to get it approved. And everybody had to bend just enough to be able to get it there. So they had to start discounting some of the things that we're talking about right now. Because otherwise they would have never got it. Never got it ratified, never got it.
• 15:20
  Speaker C: If they argued slavery, it would have never passed. Of course nothing would have passed.
• 15:24
  Speaker A: That argument had to wait 85 years or whatever. It was way too long.
• 15:28
  Speaker C: But yes, they wouldn't have got it passed. And not only that, the economy back then would have floundered and did nothing without slave.
• 15:36
  Speaker A: But you got to think about how. I just still think you can argue both points. Like both sides. You could argue that it's the best thing that ever happened. You could argue that it's the most flawed document on the planet. And if you actually read the. Do you know how long the Constitution is? Not even that long.
• 15:51
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 15:51
  Speaker A: Holy shit. Right?
• 15:52
  Speaker B: But I think a better way to look at it is that it's more of a living text. Because if you look through the Constitution where it started, you look at all the amendments, it's. You're amending as you change with time, right?
• 16:05
  Speaker A: Well, you would hope so. Okay, fine, whatever. Can we talk about Steve's stuff? We can keep debating. Don't get me wrong. But I just want to know some of this. First of all, you didn't technically authenticate that you're sixth generation. So what the hell do you have in front of you? And what are you going to show them?
• 16:16
  Speaker C: No, I just have my mom's handwritten family tree. But that goes through the generations.
• 16:21
  Speaker A: Wait a second. Your mom wrote it down?
• 16:23
  Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah. This is.
• 16:24
  Speaker A: I mean, I don't know if that's enough. Is that. Is that theoretical enough to buy?
• 16:27
  Speaker B: I mean, I bet you it's on.
• 16:28
  Speaker A: Hold on a second.
• 16:30
  Speaker C: You can go through it and authenticate it at your leisure.
• 16:34
  Speaker A: She's a notary. She can authenticate this shit just for you. Let's go.
• 16:37
  Speaker B: I bet you it's on. What is that? Ancestry.com, i bet you it's all already done.
• 16:41
  Speaker C: But if you look at the book of books. So Berks produces this. I don't know if they still do.
• 16:47
  Speaker A: What is the name of that? They point that. Shoot that thing to the camera. There you go.
• 16:50
  Speaker C: Burke's Presidential Families. The United States.
• 16:54
  Speaker A: Oh, shit. You're in the Presidential Families.
• 16:56
  Speaker C: Oh, damn. I am right there.
• 17:00
  Speaker A: Holy shit.
• 17:00
  Speaker B: George Washington, first president.
• 17:02
  Speaker A: No, no blandishments. That shit is official. You are in the book. That's pretty badass. So I haven't. So I have a question. Okay, so you find out you're in the book. You got the. Like. Is this dinner table convo? Is this like when you were, when you were little, Steve, was it like, come here, sit down next to me and I'm gonna tell you a story about George Washington.
• 17:19
  Speaker C: No.
• 17:19
  Speaker A: How did you learn all this? Because you didn't learn it when you
• 17:21
  Speaker C: were 2 years old.
• 17:21
  Speaker A: Like, when did you figure this shit out?
• 17:22
  Speaker C: My parents would tell us and then like I said, we had some artifacts, we had a letter that George Washington wrote. We would take into show and tell, stuff like that.
• 17:31
  Speaker A: And then like your family was like, would you argue each family that's like a descendant has some sort of trinket
• 17:36
  Speaker C: or a piece of memorabilia?
• 17:38
  Speaker A: Yes, but it's not like official. It just sort of worked its way down through the generations.
• 17:42
  Speaker C: What do you mean official?
• 17:43
  Speaker A: Like it's a, it's a, it's required. Like through the Catholic church. You have to have like a, you know, a relic of the saint or whatever. You know what I mean? Is it like that or. No, it's real. No, I believe they're real. But I'm saying if. Is it a requirement that you have to pass something down to your daughter like it's written?
• 17:59
  Speaker C: No, I mean it's just.
• 18:00
  Speaker A: Okay. No, it's not, it's not that sophisticated.
• 18:02
  Speaker C: It's not that sophisticated.
• 18:04
  Speaker A: I don't, dude, I don't know how this. So, so being related, were you finding yourself more intrigued the older you got, that you wanted to learn more when more technology became available and like you got Internet started, so on and so forth. Or was it now you already knew the whole story or did you learn more when social media.
• 18:20
  Speaker C: I think for my. I had five brothers and sisters and a lot of them could care less about it.
• 18:26
  Speaker A: Okay, so cool.
• 18:28
  Speaker C: So just being a lover of history and I read a lot and stuff like that, so I'm just kind of.
• 18:34
  Speaker A: That would be fascinating.
• 18:35
  Speaker C: I like it. It's kind of a hobby. And then school was never a big deal. Like I said, a lot of teachers didn't care.
• 18:41
  Speaker A: Never got treated differently.
• 18:42
  Speaker C: Well, the history teachers expected more from you.
• 18:46
  Speaker A: Oh shit, that's fair. Like somehow you were supposed to care
• 18:49
  Speaker C: more or no, like, hey Washington, I expect you to set the bar type thing.
• 18:53
  Speaker A: Wow.
• 18:54
  Speaker C: Stuff like that. But it's nothing. I mean, it was just for fun.
• 18:58
  Speaker B: Good hearted fun.
• 18:59
  Speaker A: Okay, do you have any story yet? Anything that interesting that you know or some weird shit that nobody else knows except your family that you're going to share on air? Like exclusive? Right here, we're driving. It's like Roaldo Rivera pulling up the fucking safe from the Titanic.
• 19:12
  Speaker C: You know, it's funny though. I mean, I think when we were talking before you mentioned you have ever used your name, you know, to get something. I haven't. I never used it. It seems like my friends and stuff care about it more than I do. But it was funny because I just recently I was reading this nepotism article about Washington and so Bushrod Washington back in the.
• 19:36
  Speaker A: Wait, what? Bushrod.
• 19:38
  Speaker C: His name was Bush. Rod Washington.
• 19:40
  Speaker A: I love him already. Okay, so.
• 19:41
  Speaker C: Yeah, but he, he was a Supreme Court justice, okay? And evidently nepotism and name got him that job. Ah, but I just read that and I haven't read any.
• 19:52
  Speaker A: Maybe we should make an amendment about that and so there can't be any of this nonsense.
• 19:56
  Speaker C: But that was in the early 1800s or whatever.
• 19:58
  Speaker B: We have Newsome Jerry Brown and.
• 20:01
  Speaker A: What?
• 20:01
  Speaker B: No.
• 20:02
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 20:02
  Speaker B: That would never fly.
• 20:03
  Speaker A: You always got something over there.
• 20:04
  Speaker B: I'm just saying it's not just the Washington's all I'm saying.
• 20:06
  Speaker C: Yeah.
• 20:07
  Speaker A: Oh no. Right. So do. So is there an official like club where all descendants, like Washington's children and Lincoln's children and Jefferson's children, do you guys all hang out somewhere in some secret club that we don't know about? Like Club 33 at Disneyland or some shit?
• 20:18
  Speaker C: Yes, but it's a secret.
• 20:19
  Speaker A: No. So I can't.
• 20:20
  Speaker B: We have secret handshakes too.
• 20:23
  Speaker A: I mean the two, two immigrants over here, we, we're screwed. We can't. We, we can't do anything. That's great.
• 20:29
  Speaker C: No, I mean there's no club you don't try to out, you know, the Sons of the Revolution, the Daughters of the American Revolution, things like that.
• 20:36
  Speaker A: That'd be pretty cool. Wait, I want to get back to the whole debate. Can we go back to the debate? Do you have anything else you want to ask him? Just about Washington or the name Washington or anything? No. Okay.
• 20:43
  Speaker B: I just want to know all Steve's thoughts. I know already like fascinated here.
• 20:46
  Speaker C: Right.
• 20:47
  Speaker A: And that he already like spoiled all of my fun facts because he knows them all because he's a Washington. Okay, so getting back to the whole amendment thing we were talking about and the ratifying. We were talking about that one amendment. What was it for? Congressman salaries. Yeah. So my fun fact was it didn't get ratified till 1992. That was written in 1789, which means it took them 203 years before it got ratified. So do either one of you want to try to explain to me back to the debate? If our Constitution's not broken or it's not you know, it's not a rough draft. I don't want to say broken. If it wasn't intended to be a rough draft, why did it take 203 years? Like why, why are we, what are we so uptight about that we couldn't ratify that for so long.
• 21:24
  Speaker C: Maybe it was just the subject matter.
• 21:26
  Speaker A: Like, you think it was not as
• 21:28
  Speaker C: important giving money, giving raise to Congress.
• 21:32
  Speaker A: But I mean, obviously somebody thought it was important in 1789, Congressman, and so we just ignored it for 203 years.
• 21:39
  Speaker B: Well, but I mean like, technically as a politician, you're supposed to. As your public service.
• 21:43
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 21:43
  Speaker C: Yeah. You're supposed to be doing it for the better of the good, not to grease your own pockets.
• 21:47
  Speaker A: Okay. I'm purposely going to keep pushing here. What did you say earlier? 11,000, 12,000, whatever. We said 11 or 12,000. Yeah. Okay. How many? 27. So what is that? One quarter of one tenth of one quarter of 100th of a percent? Like, give me your philosophy. Either one of you behind 12,000 proposals, 27amendments.
• 22:07
  Speaker B: I mean, I think in your brain you're, or at least I get the vibe that you're trying to put out that somehow we should be adding more amendments as we as a society. Go on.
• 22:18
  Speaker A: I am.
• 22:19
  Speaker B: You have to get what, all of the states.
• 22:22
  Speaker A: No, not all of them. What is. It's like 36 state approvals. It's like the majority.
• 22:25
  Speaker C: It's a super majority in it.
• 22:27
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 22:27
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 22:28
  Speaker A: Oh, no, you're right. Yeah. Majority would be 26. So I think 36 is super. I think it's 36.
• 22:31
  Speaker B: I'll look it up anyways, so you need to get 36 different states on board.
• 22:35
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 22:35
  Speaker B: What? 36 states out of all of our states.
• 22:37
  Speaker A: But then what? Like, but what are the other. What's the alternative? The alternative is just we make a bunch of state laws that are all just uniquely different. Like, that's the alternative.
• 22:45
  Speaker B: Like, I mean, if you look at the states more as, like we talked about, like little micro countries because the culture is different from California than it is from, you know, Kentucky.
• 22:53
  Speaker C: And that's exactly what we do. And that's Constitution says if the government can't figure out it, it's up to the state.
• 22:58
  Speaker B: Yeah. And you don't like it, go to a different state. So like, but, but then you just have this.
• 23:02
  Speaker A: So then is that. I know, but then I feel like
• 23:04
  Speaker B: that's like everyone running under.
• 23:07
  Speaker A: Is that a cop out question mark?
• 23:09
  Speaker B: I don't think so. Because I think if you don't like it, you move. If you're tired of California and all
• 23:13
  Speaker A: of the Bushes, I understand, I understand. I'm not disagreeing that I think the
• 23:18
  Speaker C: state, it's not a cop out, it's an alternative.
• 23:20
  Speaker B: Could you imagine every state being like California?
• 23:23
  Speaker A: No, I don't want every state like California. I'm fine that states have separate rights and all the things and they could decide on a bunch of stuff, but there has to be in 250, 50 years some overarching themes that we missed. I'm arguing that should be included or changed in the Constitution.
• 23:40
  Speaker B: What is an example that you're thinking of that should be in the Constitution?
• 23:44
  Speaker A: I don't know. There's a lot of people smarter than me. I'm not suggesting I'm this genius when it comes to it. I'm just thinking there would be more overarching things that should be added, that's all. That's my argument.
• 23:55
  Speaker C: Relevant items.
• 23:56
  Speaker A: Yes.
• 23:56
  Speaker C: I mean, of the 12,000, how many of those would be deemed relevant? Relevant, right.
• 24:00
  Speaker A: Okay, maybe not a lot of them, I don't know. But I'm just saying that also in 250 years, a lot of shit has changed. A lot of wars, lot of stuff, lot of economy, everything. So many different. Like industrial revolution, the current, like AI, everything that's going on right now. There's got to be some things that we should be considering. And I just feel like we've given up. That, that's. That Madison's mechanism is legit, can legitimately
• 24:26
  Speaker C: still work in a timely fashion.
• 24:29
  Speaker A: That's what I'm arguing.
• 24:29
  Speaker B: But then I would argue back. It's not really the people who have a voice, it's all these politicians.
• 24:34
  Speaker A: No, I would agree. Well, then maybe, maybe that's where we start. Maybe we start amending some shit with that. Do you remember?
• 24:39
  Speaker B: You can't amend anything.
• 24:41
  Speaker A: Do you remember the episode? I don't remember the episode. It was one of the ones on. I don't know if it was Hawaii. I think it was on how societies work. The Haudanasi people. Did I say that right? Haudenosi people remember Seventh generation principle. Do you remember this? Where it was like, you have to consider the seven generations before you, which would be all the way back in his case to General Washington. General Washington, all the way to seven generations after him. I don't think our country is doing a good job considering that if we are holding to the original document 237 years ago, or 250 years ago, whatever it was, I mean, it was 237 years ago, technically, if I want to be really sophisticated. But you get my point. It's impossible because you can't.
• 25:27
  Speaker B: Which amendment do you have a problem with?
• 25:28
  Speaker A: I don't have a problem with any of the amendments. I don't have a problem with the Constitution of the United States of America. I am an American. What I'm arguing is I feel like we're starting to use it. You can use it any way you want to. Think of the words anywhere in there. Think of the Civil War, okay? Both sides using it the exact same. Same way. On their position of slavery. The Union said the Constitution explicitly prohibits secession, okay? That's what it said. And the Confederacy said that the Constitution also explicitly protects state rights. Same fucking document. They're picking and choosing exactly what they want out of that document to decide that we're going to have a civil war. So I'm not smart enough to know all the stuff, but what I'm getting at is you get to pick what you want and. And use it fundamentally as like, these are the words. Instead of trying to, what is it, Cross the aisle, right? Like, literally start to figure out what the fuck we're really supposed to do. That is what I'm arguing. Not that it's. It by itself is flawed and terrible. I'm not arguing that. I just think there should be, to Steve's point, a better, faster mechanism to be able to make adjustments. That's why. Think about it. Go back to. Go back to 18 and 21, right? When we. What was ratified. 18. It was a pain in the ass to go back and like, repeal the whole thing. I'm arguing that's a lot of the reason why we stopped doing this, because it was so fucking hard to do. So we learned this terrible lesson and now we're like, oh, never mind. States, right? States, right? States, right. Okay, great.
• 26:55
  Speaker C: Yeah. You just gotta be careful, though. If you. Let's say you amend the Constitution, make the process for change faster, do you really want to go down that road?
• 27:03
  Speaker B: Because depends who's in office.
• 27:06
  Speaker C: I mean, how fast you want it to be. You can float an idea out there and maybe vet it amongst the people for a few years before you try to.
• 27:13
  Speaker A: I don't want it. I don't want it to take 203 years to ratify.
• 27:16
  Speaker C: I understand.
• 27:17
  Speaker A: I don't want to do that.
• 27:18
  Speaker C: But I think today the mindset of the politician or whatever has changed faster than the Constitution. And I go back to what I said earlier, you know, you are a politician because you wanted to make the country better. And you think, thinking about the common good theoretically. And now I don't think today's politicians have that mindset. They just, they don't, they don't care about changing the Constitution. They want a sound bite or they want to change one thing because they
• 27:47
  Speaker B: keeps them in office longer.
• 27:48
  Speaker C: It keeps them in office longer. Their God told them that's right or wrong or they want to make more money or whatever. They do it for their own selfish purpose.
• 27:58
  Speaker A: But so okay, I'm thinking of, we abolished slavery. I don't remember what amendment that was, but I remember that was a big one. Okay. Right now you'd argue, and I understand you might be on another side than I am on this, but I look at our prison systems and I look at us the way that we choose to use them as forced labor. That's, that's my take. However you see it, whatever. But at some point I don't think that should be a state. Right. I think we should figure that out federally on what going to do with that or there should be a bigger thought on how to manage our prison systems.
• 28:37
  Speaker B: But our laws are different state by state.
• 28:39
  Speaker A: I understand. So I'm arguing that an amendment, regardless of my personal view on it, certainly should be out there and being thought through. And maybe it, maybe it's one of the 12,000, I don't know. But like I think of women's rights. Women's rights was big. That mattered. It was big enough. I mean, you're a woman, for crying out loud. Like, so if we say that we're not missing any, then I think we have a self awareness problem.
• 29:02
  Speaker B: I feel like again it's this overarching over the states that gave states independent rights. So coming in and saying, well, you need to treat your prisoners xyz.
• 29:14
  Speaker C: I mean that's overreaching.
• 29:15
  Speaker B: Yeah. Because the states have different laws.
• 29:17
  Speaker A: It's overreaching now.
• 29:19
  Speaker B: No, even back then that was a whole point.
• 29:21
  Speaker A: Okay, I'm going to use it.
• 29:22
  Speaker C: If you were to change it to make it a federal.
• 29:24
  Speaker A: We went to war about slavery. We went to fucking war.
• 29:29
  Speaker C: We're not talking about slavery. We're talking about prison system.
• 29:31
  Speaker A: I'm using it as an example. We could have gone to war for women's rights. We could have. If we left them all. If we left it all state based.
• 29:39
  Speaker B: Yeah, but the difference in slavery is that people were owning other people. I'm not owning my tax dollars goes to feed all these people in the jail system. It's very different.
• 29:49
  Speaker A: So this is what I'm arguing. I'm arguing. You have hindsight.
• 29:51
  Speaker B: You made a choice.
• 29:52
  Speaker A: You have hindsight. You're looking back and I'm arguing, look forward to the shit you haven't figured out yet. And there has to be a way that we should be able to use the Constitution and Madison's mechanism to make this work for us. And for who?
• 30:06
  Speaker B: For the people in prison.
• 30:08
  Speaker A: I'm using them as an example so we have something to do.
• 30:11
  Speaker B: So another example, because that one belongs to the state.
• 30:13
  Speaker A: You could use any.
• 30:14
  Speaker B: Like, what is that?
• 30:15
  Speaker A: Finding immigration. Right. You have a stance on immigration. So, okay, do you use immigration the same way you would women's rights? How far back do you go for immigrants? Like, I'm just saying hindsight is so easy to go back and look, well, of course, women's rights. Well, of course, abolishing slavery, of course, all this. But that's bullshit with immigration.
• 30:33
  Speaker B: What is your contention with immigration? There is a federal system that has been put into place for immigration.
• 30:39
  Speaker A: Yes. I'm not. I'm not arguing for or against. I don't want it to be a debate of what my specific beliefs are.
• 30:44
  Speaker B: I understand. What would you need to amend on immigration? Like, I guess that's my point. It' that you do have all of these amendments and you have an overarching document that gives each state the guidelines. Right. That you have to play within color in the coloring book, however you want to color. Use whatever color crayon you want to use.
• 31:02
  Speaker A: Cop out.
• 31:04
  Speaker B: So he just wants more government? Is that what I'm hearing?
• 31:07
  Speaker C: He wants more federal oversight? Or do you just want. Let's say there's some.
• 31:11
  Speaker A: I want to use the mechanism that was created. That's all.
• 31:13
  Speaker C: There's some theory A out there that would make this a better world to live in, that I should be able to pass that quickly.
• 31:23
  Speaker A: Yes, that's what I'm suggesting. And I'm arguing. I don't know what that is. So I'm not sitting here saying I have. I have the path. I don't theory X. I'm just saying my brain is telling me there's some other method to this madness.
• 31:35
  Speaker C: And that's all I'm saying. If it's a worthy cause, it would pass.
• 31:38
  Speaker B: I would agree because then everyone would be on the same page, like abolishing slavery, like giving women the right to vote.
• 31:44
  Speaker A: If we had all of the right politicians with the right mindset. Mindset.
• 31:50
  Speaker B: So why would I want it to go any faster? Than it possibly could right now.
• 31:53
  Speaker A: Well, then we broke the system. Like that's my, that's what I'm arguing about.
• 31:56
  Speaker B: I would argue the politicians.
• 31:58
  Speaker C: The system's not broken again, it's flawed. But the US Constitution works.
• 32:03
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 32:03
  Speaker A: Okay, so what do we. So for the next 250 years we do the same thing.
• 32:07
  Speaker C: We did not say that.
• 32:08
  Speaker A: Okay, well what do we say? What's the argument there then?
• 32:11
  Speaker B: Said it was flawed.
• 32:11
  Speaker A: And I want to, I want, I want the counterpoint.
• 32:13
  Speaker B: You see that like. Yes. The amendments, they are very hard to push through. I would not want Newsom making any amendments. And if you don't want Karen Bass making any amendments.
• 32:22
  Speaker C: If you change it to make it.
• 32:24
  Speaker A: I agree with you.
• 32:24
  Speaker C: If you change it. So things change fast. Be careful what you wish for.
• 32:28
  Speaker B: Right. Because.
• 32:29
  Speaker C: Right.
• 32:29
  Speaker A: No, I can, I can understand that argument. I get, I get that completely. Yes. Because I like the way we have it currently set up with. You know, I don't love the two party system, but I certainly love the four years and you can only run two terms and Da, da, da. I appreciate that balance a lot. Absolutely. I just feel like there's. There could be more that we're. I just feel like we're avoiding.
• 32:49
  Speaker B: Well, then I think, I just feel like. I think you would argue then that it's more about the politicians that are in office.
• 32:54
  Speaker A: I think you're right.
• 32:55
  Speaker B: Than it is about the Constitution.
• 32:56
  Speaker A: I would say in debating this. Yes. I think it comes down more to the people that are in office more than anything else that the, that the Constitution as it was originally written and if we use it as intended and we're not just so staunch about everything like I do believe it would.
• 33:12
  Speaker C: Well, you know, it's. I mean it is slow to change. I will give you that. It's not even considered the first modern democracy.
• 33:18
  Speaker A: No. Yeah, I think we had like a fun fact on that a long time ago.
• 33:20
  Speaker C: New Zealand is.
• 33:21
  Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
• 33:22
  Speaker C: They were the first to give women's right to vote and be anti slavery.
• 33:26
  Speaker B: I think I knew that.
• 33:27
  Speaker A: Well, shit, that should have been one of my fun facts. Do we have anything else for Steve? Do we debate anything else? We want to ask any. Steve, any more questions?
• 33:33
  Speaker B: You should give us final thoughts.
• 33:34
  Speaker A: Steve should give us five. Okay, tell us. Hey, Washington descendant, tell me what I'm supposed to think about all this, please.
• 33:41
  Speaker C: No, I think the Constitution may be flawed, but it still works. I mean, it was considered the great experiment. It continues to be a great experiment.
• 33:48
  Speaker B: I don't want to live anywhere Else.
• 33:50
  Speaker A: So I kind of like the way you just said that though. That was pretty good. The experiment is not done. We're still. We're still doing it. Okay.
• 33:57
  Speaker B: Look at any other country compared to America.
• 33:59
  Speaker C: Any other country, 250 years later, we're still one of the youngest countries out there.
• 34:03
  Speaker B: And I wouldn't want to live anywhere else because as much as everyone wants to bitch and complain about how we. And I'm not for or against, like the current administration, but people want to complain. Oh, no. He's a tyrant. He's a king. You get to go stand on that overpass and put those signs up and.
• 34:20
  Speaker A: Oh, no, of course, of course.
• 34:22
  Speaker B: But compared to other places like it is, I think the greatest experiment. Because who. When you give the people the voice,
• 34:28
  Speaker A: well, then I think our voices just need to be louder. And we need to find real.
• 34:31
  Speaker B: The peoples do. Yes, right.
• 34:32
  Speaker A: The peoples do. We need to find real. We need to find better people to represent us. Changing for fun facts. So you know how we always do the whole, like, did one of us change a perspective or something at the end of this? I would. I would argue, I think Steve, sort of that last sort of the great experiment still continues. Made me get comfortable with where we currently are. So I'll turn this down a little bit and not be such a pain about it because I do appreciate your point of view on that whole thing. Are we celebrating anyway? For 250 years. Do you guys have any plans or anything? Fourth of July stuff? No.
• 35:05
  Speaker C: Gonna visit some friends? Nothing?
• 35:07
  Speaker A: You're not gonna. You're not going to George Washington's gravesite?
• 35:12
  Speaker C: No. You know, I've never been to Washington D.C. or Mount Vernon.
• 35:15
  Speaker A: Wow.
• 35:17
  Speaker C: I remember as a kid, a young kid we got. This was like early 70s. You might have to double check the date on this, but they were. Had remodeled the Washington Monument.
• 35:27
  Speaker A: Okay.
• 35:28
  Speaker C: And we got an invitation from the government to attend.
• 35:31
  Speaker A: Oh, really?
• 35:32
  Speaker C: But we couldn't. We. Oh, we had no money.
• 35:34
  Speaker A: I will tell you both, Mount Vernon is worth the trip. Absolutely. Take the day. It's unbelievable. Okay, on to fun facts. I'm gonna do fun facts. We might have already killed all the fun facts. I don't even know. Okay, here we go. Number one constitution. We're talking about how long it is. Do we know how long it is? Do we have any idea? 4543 words. That's it. Original text, 27amendments. Everything all put together. That is shorter than most employee handbooks. Like shorter than the terms and condition pages. That and you Want to make longer for Amazon. When I want to buy something and
• 36:07
  Speaker B: you want to make it longer, you just want to complicate everything.
• 36:09
  Speaker A: Oh, my God. I just. You know what I've decided? I just. I think I just like James Madison the most. Okay. That's all I've decided. Okay. Number two, the 27th Amendment. Remember we were talking about the 27th Amendment? Congress can't give itself pay raises. That's the whole thing. Okay. It got ratified in 1992, like we were saying, because the only reason, this kid from the University of Texas, his name was Gregory Watson, he wrote a paper arguing that since Congress never set a ratification deadline on it, it was technically still valid. And super fun fact, his professor at the University of Texas gave him a C on the paper. He spent the next 10 years, all the way till 1992, lobbying state legislatures one by one until he was able to finally get it ratified. And he got his grade changed to an A. Look at that.
• 36:53
  Speaker B: Ten years later, he did.
• 36:55
  Speaker C: So I have a question. So he got the state of Texas to ratify it?
• 36:59
  Speaker A: No, he went state to state to make sure he get like all 36 states. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And he got ratified.
• 37:05
  Speaker C: So once it's, let's say a state, California ratifies it, but they're one of 13 states, the only 13 states that ratified it, then it's not. It's not. But if in this case, this guy from Texas, he goes back, does he have to get it re ratified by California or is that ratification last forever?
• 37:25
  Speaker A: Ooh, that. I don't know. That's super sophisticated. I don't know. Is Amanda going to look that up?
• 37:30
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 37:30
  Speaker A: All right. You look it up. See, I just know he got 36 or whatever he needed to get it ratified. That's what I know.
• 37:36
  Speaker C: And going back to your other question, too, about 12,000 out there.
• 37:40
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 37:41
  Speaker C: So there's been 27amendments, but 33 proposed or whatever.
• 37:45
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 37:46
  Speaker C: What are those other five subject matters?
• 37:50
  Speaker A: I only know I know. So I have a fun fact here. Let me go down to it. I have two of them. Here they are. Okay. Two of them that were proposed, never ratified. One is child labor in 1924. Okay. That's what I should have been arguing with you guys the entire time. It would have given Congress the power to regulate child labor nationwide. And the other was the congressional apportionment Amendment proposed in 1789 as part of the original Bill of Rights. It would have set a formula for how many congressional representatives each state got as the population grew Both past Congress didn't get enough states to ratify. So they both sort of quietly died without anybody ever officially killing them. So they're still out there. I don't know the other three, but those two are still bleh.
• 38:29
  Speaker C: So the child labor one. Do states. The states laws differ dramatically from state to state?
• 38:37
  Speaker A: I mean I don't know child labor per se, but we got different.
• 38:42
  Speaker C: I'm just thinking out loud.
• 38:43
  Speaker A: Yeah. All right. You got a lot to look up.
• 38:45
  Speaker B: Yes. So first of all, if a state ratifies it, the approval is good indefinitely provided Congress has not set an expiration date for the amendment's passage. Generally Congress will seven year deadline.
• 38:58
  Speaker C: Okay.
• 38:59
  Speaker B: Okay. But it's within the amendment itself. And it's 38. Three force requirement.
• 39:05
  Speaker A: 38 states, not 36. I was off. Okay, well it was probably before Hawaii and Alaska got involved anyway. So.
• 39:11
  Speaker C: Arizona.
• 39:12
  Speaker A: Arizona, yeah.
• 39:14
  Speaker B: Okay. And then child laws. I mean there is a federal Fair Labor Standards act. So it does set a baseline for the entire country.
• 39:24
  Speaker A: But then the states can vary, are
• 39:26
  Speaker B: free to establish their own rules and restrictions, but have to be, you know.
• 39:30
  Speaker A: Okay, look up, look up which states have varying like. See if you can figure out if there's varying child labor per state.
• 39:37
  Speaker C: The difference between an act and an amendment and amendments, law and act is
• 39:41
  Speaker A: just because the amendment can't the amendment. The only way to dump the amendment is by repealing the whole thing and making another amendment to unamend it. Right. Okay, I'm gonna keep going. Okay. Wanna know the weirdest amendment ever proposed? Are we ready for this? Okay. 18. 1893 Congressman proposed renaming the United States to the United States of the Earth. That's it.
• 40:02
  Speaker B: See but this is what I'm saying.
• 40:03
  Speaker A: That was a whole.
• 40:03
  Speaker B: Thank goodness that we can't go quick.
• 40:05
  Speaker A: The United States of the Earth. Okay.
• 40:07
  Speaker B: Stupid.
• 40:08
  Speaker A: I kind of like the United States of the Earth.
• 40:09
  Speaker C: Waste of time and the Gulf of America.
• 40:12
  Speaker A: Yeah, let's go.
• 40:12
  Speaker B: Waste of time. All of it. Waste of time.
• 40:14
  Speaker C: Whatever.
• 40:15
  Speaker B: Far more important things to be doing as a politician. Okay, hold on.
• 40:18
  Speaker A: What?
• 40:18
  Speaker B: So the child labor thing. So I mean you're arguing. I think it's two separate arguing anything.
• 40:24
  Speaker A: I'm a fun facts and still getting filleted over here by you guys talk
• 40:27
  Speaker B: about child labor laws.
• 40:28
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 40:29
  Speaker B: Previously you had a ton of kids because they helped you on the farm.
• 40:32
  Speaker A: Yeah. Or in factories. And we're getting killed. Well, okay, well that's the whole point. That's my whole point. Industrial Revolution.
• 40:39
  Speaker B: If you were 16 and you were working in a Factory.
• 40:41
  Speaker A: I mean, they weren't 16, Amanda. They were fucking.
• 40:44
  Speaker C: That's why they were working in factories.
• 40:46
  Speaker B: Came out that.
• 40:47
  Speaker A: I, I get it. But what. I just want to know if states
• 40:50
  Speaker B: had anything under the age of 16.
• 40:52
  Speaker A: So all states have a baseline.
• 40:54
  Speaker B: I mean, I think.
• 40:56
  Speaker A: What is Iowa's.
• 40:57
  Speaker B: You can, you can get like an exception. Okay, so for 14 to 15 year olds to work, leave.
• 41:02
  Speaker A: So not all states are.
• 41:04
  Speaker C: When was that amendment proposed?
• 41:06
  Speaker A: 2419.
• 41:07
  Speaker C: 24.
• 41:08
  Speaker A: 102 years ago.
• 41:09
  Speaker B: Huh?
• 41:10
  Speaker A: Yeah.
• 41:10
  Speaker C: Yeah, but she's right. I think just the general theory that those farmers out there, you know, the whole family worked or whatever, depending on the population where you live, you might need everybody, all hands.
• 41:22
  Speaker A: I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna rehash this whole thing, but this. You guys are playing into it right now. This is my whole point, because things have changed. We should be able to keep up.
• 41:30
  Speaker B: No, but each state in and of itself has been able to figure out child labor laws where they're not.
• 41:38
  Speaker A: I don't want to always. I don't want to always count on states.
• 41:40
  Speaker B: Hold on, hold on. Newsom, we live in California.
• 41:43
  Speaker A: I don't wanna always count on states.
• 41:44
  Speaker B: Well, here we are. But the fact that each state could figure it out. There are some states where the argument would be agriculture.
• 41:54
  Speaker C: Yep.
• 41:54
  Speaker B: Where 14 year old kid shouldn't be working in a field. Is that a cultural thing? Is that as an immigrant, where your father started and what you're gonna do like, okay, then why then do we have a federal government that's gonna say you can't work until you're 16? We used to be. No, when you were 12, you were out doing an apprenticeship somewhere.
• 42:14
  Speaker A: You know, we have. If that's the case, you want to take it that far, I mean, then, I mean, we should let 14 year olds marry 12 year olds because they need more hands on the farm in the agriculture states. And 12 year old women as soon as they're. No, but I'm just saying women should be able to give birth at 12 years old as soon as they can so they can get more hands out in the field. Amanda, I mean, how far do you want to go? Like, I get it. I'm just, I'm arguing the other point. To just argue the other point. I'm just. The whole silliness of it all is you're arguing that there are extenuating circumstances based on different needs throughout the country. And I am telling you that those things are still occurring today and happening faster than ever now based on where we're going with technology, so more reason to pay more attention to all of those things and our government. Back to. I don't need to change everything, but back to our government should spend a lot more time weeding through the bullshit ones. United States of Earth. Right. Getting to the real ones and having real debates and figuring out how to solve. And if that goes back to the states, fine. That I'm fine with it. I just think we. More work should be done.
• 43:17
  Speaker C: You're right. And part of that would be, you know, writing a clean bill.
• 43:20
  Speaker A: Yes.
• 43:21
  Speaker C: Don't put all this pork. Everything else on it.
• 43:23
  Speaker B: Right. But it's like 12 stories tall.
• 43:26
  Speaker A: I got it, got it, got it.
• 43:27
  Speaker B: But I mean, in all, like, fairness. So the flsa. The Fair Labor Law. It's a federal law, so.
• 43:32
  Speaker A: Federal law. Right. But easier to change then. Right? Because not amendment, so. Got it.
• 43:37
  Speaker B: I got it.
• 43:37
  Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. But that's good. That's good. Okay, last fun fact. Can I just, like, finish Fun Facts, please? Okay. All right. Alexander Hamilton. Alex, I did this for you. I found an Alexander Hamilton one on purpose for you. Okay. He actually hated the Constitution when it was finished. Duh. Thought it was way too weak. He wanted a president who served for life, elected basically as a king. Right. You were talking about monarchy. This was Alexander Hamilton's whole play. He was disgusted with the final version and almost didn't even sign it. But then, oddly enough, we know he spent the next whatever, umpteen years writing 51 of the 85 Federalist papers to defend the Constitution because he knew once they put it in place, that it had to work at all costs. Which I think is amazing, because the man most responsible for selling America on its own founding didn't even believe in the document, which is completely and totally cynical or patriotic or all the things. But that's why Alexander Hamilton was a genius. And I love Lin Manuel Miranda for.
• 44:37
  Speaker C: You know, Alexander Hamilton was a huge part of the American Revolution as, you know, as one of George Washington's officers. Yes, he was. And one of George Washington's biggest confidants.
• 44:48
  Speaker A: Yes, absolutely. We love Hamilton. That's all I got Fun Facts out.
• 44:53
  Speaker B: I don't know. I don't want to end this episode. To end. It was so good.
• 44:56
  Speaker A: So good. You're so good. Yes. It was very nice having Steve. I mean, I feel like I was the devil for some reason in this one. But it's fun to just, like, debate and just chat it up, see what we get.
• 45:05
  Speaker B: But I think that's maybe something that we've lost. Maybe as a society when we're not
• 45:08
  Speaker A: able to debate, I would argue that that is the problem because we just
• 45:11
  Speaker C: have our draw a line in the sand and say screw you, and you stop and go your own way.
• 45:16
  Speaker A: You stop listening to it.
• 45:16
  Speaker C: Nothing gets done right.
• 45:17
  Speaker B: And I think that's maybe why we don't have any more amendments.
• 45:20
  Speaker A: That's probably why. But this is what. But this is what I like doing the show for. Because, like, a lot of times you and me don't agree on everything, Amanda, and we still figure it out.
• 45:25
  Speaker C: Again, it depends on the if it's worthy or not. I think if you found something out there that's really worthy, you could probably make it work.
• 45:33
  Speaker A: I would agree. Okay, well, if you want the fun facts or episode summary delivered to your inbox, DM us on Instagram, please. We'll send them right out to you. Thank you very much for supporting the show, Steve. Any final thoughts? Thank you for coming. You're awesome.
• 45:45
  Speaker C: Thanks for having me.
• 45:46
  Speaker A: All right, I'm closing out here if you guys want to, like, learn anything more about this or dig a little deeper. Read. First of all, read the book Steve's got here. You can look up all the cool Washingtons, right? And where they all live. Stock em.
• 45:57
  Speaker C: You know, there's like 8,000 of them.
• 45:59
  Speaker A: Yeah, I would. That's. I'm gonna make that my life's journey. Okay. Read the Words that Made Us by Akhil Reed Amar. He was a constitutional law professor at Yale. Traces the history of the Constitution as the whole living story, not just a legal document. It's not like a textbook at all. It's a real book and it's easy to read. Second, read Jefferson's letters to Madison. The September 6, 1789 letter. The one where the earth belongs to the living. It's only a few pages. It's free online. Find it anywhere. Just Google Jefferson, Madison, September 1789, about democracy in America. Okay, that's another good one. Yes. Look at all the things we're going to do. And then I think we just got to party like it's 1776. Duh, duh, duh.
• 46:44
  Speaker B: Miss the opportunity.
• 46:45
  Speaker A: We should have a song.
• 46:45
  Speaker B: Like they should make a Wear my Spill the T shirt.
• 46:48
  Speaker A: That's right. Right. Our Boston Tea Party. And then if you don't want to do any of that. Well, Amanda, take us away. What do we need to remember to be sort of sophisticated about this? Good luck.
• 46:56
  Speaker B: Well, number one, the U.S. constitution is the oldest written national constitution still in use anywhere in the world. The average constitution lasts about 17 years and here we are at 237. Genuinely extraordinary. Number two, Thomas Jefferson thought it should expire every 19 years. His exact words were every Constitution naturally expires at the end of 19 years if it be enforced longer. It is an act of force and not of right. Number three, nearly 12,000amendments have been proposed since 1789. 27 were ratified, 10 came all at once as the Bill of Rights. And the last new idea to make it in was over 30 years ago. So you should be asking what your politicians doing for you. Number four. The 27th Amendment was written in 1789 and was rescued by a college student who got a C on his paper and ratified 200 three years later and his grade was eventually changed to an A.
• 47:49
  Speaker A: Let's go. Which is crazy dogged. The doggedness.
• 47:53
  Speaker B: And finally, and probably the most important, the founding fathers were not trying to build a monument. They were trying to build a machine. And they expected every generation to keep it running. The most patriotic thing you can do at 250 isn't reverence, it's maintenance.
• 48:05
  Speaker A: There you have it. Dear listeners, we came in today thinking 250 years was a reason to celebrate. And of course it absolutely is. But we're also leaving hopefully as a reason to sort of take stock. We inherited the greatest rough draft in history and turned it into an awesome self governing document. And the one thing the authors asked of us was to keep editing it. The founders were not gods. They were brilliant, but also flawed. We talked about that often. Hypocritical humans who just had the balls to basically write down what a just society should look like and the wisdom to admit they probably got some of it wrong but needed to keep pushing forward anyway to make it a success. And what they built was absolutely extraordinary. As always. If you like this episode, hit subscribe. Leave us a review. Share it with a friend who thinks they don't like history. Believe me, they don't dislike history either. They just need to hear it by someone other than their freshman history teacher, like Mr. Washington.
• 49:01
  Speaker B: And be okay if they disagree, right?
• 49:04
  Speaker A: Absolutely, you should. Until next time, stay curious, stay bold, and remember, the most sophisticated thing about America was never that they got it right. It was that they were honest enough to admit they didn't and brave enough to still try anyway.