Yeah, this is a misunderstanding among conservatives. Our legal system and government structure is woefully outdated, but our country is really young.

It's like a teen athlete being really proud that he has the oldest sneakers of all the competitors.

Constitutionalism is a new idea. Pioneered by America. Of course America will have the oldest until it collapses.

It was "showing its age" a not long after it was made. Two years later the French based their first written constution on the US one. Then other nations followed suit over the years and wanted their own, and they already thought the French one was the better option as a starting point.

Yeah, we have bars in the USA that predate the founding of the country as well. White Horse Tavern in Newport, Rhode Island had been operating since 1673.

The first statement is just so stupid, the second is just a dunk because it didn't need to be rebutted.

I know this not because I paid attention in history class, but because I played Fallout 76 where the vault dwellers celebrate America's Tricentennial before leaving the vault and find it a wasteland.

They're not being precise with their language, but their point is largely true. What they really mean is that the US has the oldest still active Constitution in the world. The UK has existed in a continuous government for far longer, but they don't have a written Constitution like the US does.

Yeah, it's easy to shit on Americans about being ignorant of history. But this person's point is largely true. The US has had the same constitution in effect for nearly 250 years. It is the oldest written constitution on Earth still in effect. Most nations have revolutions or complete rewrites of their foundational legal documents long before they reach this point.

And this is also why the US has such political instability right now. We have a Constitution that was written for the needs of 250 years ago. It was formed from a series of compromises that made sense in the politics of 250 years ago. At this point, we really should scrap it entirely and start from scratch. Having the world's oldest Constitution really isn't something worth bragging over; it just means you're running obsolete software.

Man, the final owner of the business must have some interesting feelings being the one that drove it into the ground after 550 years.

Freedom of expression has morphed into freedom of stupidity.

Not really. The logic is attempting to draw a distinction between nations, kingdoms, and tribes, among other things, with emphasis on continuity in governance. So France isn't the same nation between the Revolution and the Napoleonic Empire, or after a dynasty change.

The interjection is pointless towards their argument because it doesn't understand the "logic" and is wrong in its own way.

His problem is that, as a truly stupid person, he isn't aware that the point he is trying to make is one reserved specifically for democracies, not nations, and is still wrong. The Roman Republic lasted for 482 years, just to start with the most famous "democratic" example, and Japan's government could be argued to have lasted 2,600 years depending on how much credit you want to give the mythological founding of their imperial family.

Further, the modern form of the United Kingdom government was founded in 1707. There have been changes, obviously, especially in the power balance between Lords and Commons, but the Acts of Union created what is indisputably a modern concept of nation and government.

"lol" —Mao

About 15 years ago, I got to go on a road trip across the states. 6 weeks, driving from east coast to west coast.

On more than one occasion, when we were inevitably asked where we were from and dutifully replied "England.", we were met with utterly blank stares.

"Uhhhhhhhh, Engerland?" "You mean New England? Never met anyone from there before..."

"No, England. Old England. The original England, capital city, London. That England."

"London? That's just north of here... I don't get it."

I swear, the sheer ignorance and lack of basic understanding of the geography of our world was fucking staggering in some places. Not always the armpit of nowhere "towns" either.

And fucking China.

Americans don't have the mental capacity to look beyond their borders.