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Title: ‘We the People’ Loses Appeal With People Around the World
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URL Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/07/u ... tml?_r=2&partner=MYWAY&ei=5065
Published: Feb 7, 2012
Author: Adam Liptak
Post Date: 2012-02-07 12:22:52 by christine
Keywords: None
Views: 308
Comments: 26
WASHINGTON — The Constitution has seen better days. Sure, it is the nation’s founding document and sacred text. And it is the oldest written national constitution still in force anywhere in the world. But its influence is waning. In 1987, on the Constitution’s bicentennial, Time magazine calculated that “of the 170 countries that exist today, more than 160 have written charters modeled directly or indirectly on the U.S. version.” A quarter-century later, the picture looks very different. “The U.S. Constitution appears to be losing its appeal as a model for constitutional drafters elsewhere,” according to a new study by David S. Law of Washington University in St. Louis and Mila Versteeg of the University of Virginia. The study, to be published in June in The New York University Law Review, bristles with data. Its authors coded and analyzed the provisions of 729 constitutions adopted by 188 countries from 1946 to 2006, and they considered 237 variables regarding various rights and ways to enforce them. “Among the world’s democracies,” Professors Law and Versteeg concluded, “constitutional similarity to the United States has clearly gone into free fall. Over the 1960s and 1970s, democratic constitutions as a whole became more similar to the U.S. Constitution, only to reverse course in the 1980s and 1990s.” “The turn of the twenty-first century, however, saw the beginning of a steep plunge that continues through the most recent years for which we have data, to the point that the constitutions of the world’s democracies are, on average, less similar to the U.S. Constitution now than they were at the end of World War II.” There are lots of possible reasons. 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. In a television interview during a visit to Egypt last week, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the Supreme Court seemed to agree. “I would not look to the United States Constitution if I were drafting a constitution in the year 2012,” she said. She recommended, instead, the South African Constitution, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms or the European Convention on Human Rights. 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.) The Constitution’s waning global stature is consistent with the diminished influence of the Supreme Court, which “is losing the central role it once had among courts in modern democracies,” Aharon Barak, then the president of the Supreme Court of Israel, wrote in The Harvard Law Review in 2002. Many foreign judges say they have become less likely to cite decisions of the United States Supreme Court, in part because of what they consider its parochialism. “America is in danger, I think, of becoming something of a legal backwater,” Justice Michael Kirby of the High Court of Australia said in a 2001 interview. He said that he looked instead to India, South Africa and New Zealand. Mr. Barak, for his part, identified a new constitutional superpower: “Canadian law,” he wrote, “serves as a source of inspiration for many countries around the world.” The new study also suggests that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, adopted in 1982, may now be more influential than its American counterpart. The Canadian Charter is both more expansive and less absolute. It guarantees equal rights for women and disabled people, allows affirmative action and requires that those arrested be informed of their rights. On the other hand, it balances those rights against “such reasonable limits” as “can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.” There are, of course, limits to empirical research based on coding and counting, and there is more to a constitution than its words, as Justice Antonin Scalia told the Senate Judiciary Committee in October. “Every banana republic in the world has a bill of rights,” he said. “The bill of rights of the former evil empire, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, was much better than ours,” he said, adding: “We guarantee freedom of speech and of the press. Big deal. They guaranteed freedom of speech, of the press, of street demonstrations and protests, and anyone who is caught trying to suppress criticism of the government will be called to account. Whoa, that is wonderful stuff!” “Of course,” Justice Scalia continued, “it’s just words on paper, what our framers would have called a ‘parchment guarantee.’ ”
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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 23.
#9. To: christine (#0)
(Edited)
see Psalm 2:1-3 Constitution has seen better days. Sure, it is the nation’s founding document and sacred text. no; the First Charter of Virginia of 1606 proclaiming Christianity for America is the founding document for the country called America [Micah 4:1-2]. People had come and gone in America before that cross was planted for Christ [Psalm 2:6]. The CONstitution is the antichrist founding document for the Judeo-Masonic-Jesuit-British Corporation known as the United States, MASQUERADING AS GOD [Ezekiel 17:7-10/Mat. 15-13 (The Eagle in Ezekiel 17:1-6 is God and the Vine is Christ: Matthew 15:1)]. It's "sacred text" is often contrary to the Word of God. It is an object of idolatry. The Constitution: The God That Failed (To Liberate Us From Big Government)
"....For most of the political spectrum in America, the document represents their interpretation of how to make this mortal coil paradise. Even in libertarian circles, it is taken as an article of faith the Constitution is a brilliant mechanism to enlarge liberty and keep government at bay. That is a lie. The document was drafted in the summer of 1787 behind closed doors in tremendous secrecy because if word leaked out of the actual contents and intent, the revolution that had just concluded would have been set ablaze again. They were in a race against time and did everything in their power to ensure that the adoption took place as quickly as possible to avoid reflection and contemplation in the public square that would kill the proposal once the consequences of its agenda became apparent. They were insisting that the states ratify first and then propose amendments later. It was a political coup d'état. It was nothing less than an oligarchical coup to ensure that the moneyed interests, banksters and aristocrats could cement their positions and mimic the United Kingdom from which they had been recently divorced. The original charter of the drafters was to pen improvements to the existing Articles of Confederation. Instead, they chose to hijack the process and create a document which enslaved the nation. Federalist in the old parlance meant states rights and subsidiarity but the three authors of the fabled Federalist Papers supported everything but that. Their intent and commitment was to create a National government with the ability to make war on its constituent parts if these states failed to submit themselves to the central government. As Austrian economists have discovered, bigger is not necessarily better. The brilliant and oft-dismissed Articles of Confederation (AoC) and Perpetual Union are a testament to voluntarism and cooperation through persuasion that the Constitution disposed of with its adoption. Penned in 1776 and ratified in 1781, the spirit and context of the Articles live on in the Swiss canton system and are everywhere evident in the marketplace where confederationist sentiments are practiced daily. The confederation's design divines its mechanism from what an unfettered market does every day: voluntary cooperation, spontaneous information signals and the parts always being smarter than the sum A. confederation according to the Webster's 1828 dictionary is: 1. The act of confederating; a league; a compact for mutual support; alliance; particularly of princes, nations or states. I would advise the readership to use the 1828 Webster's dictionary to accompany any primary source research you may undertake to understand American (& British) letters in the eighteenth century. It is the source for the contemporary lexicon. It is even available online now. Here is a simple comparison of the two organizing documents: ` Articles of Confederation vs. Constitution ....." [see chart] The Constitution: The God That Failed (To Liberate Us From Big Government) http://www.lewrockwell.com/buppert/buppert29.1.html God said He would make His people Israel ["The Church is Israel Now" @ preteristarchive ] a strong nation and a company of nations [see "the act of confederating" above] [Genesis 35:11], and kings [THESE kings: Revelation 5:9-10] would come from Israel's body [Galatians 3:29]. The States each had their own constitutions, and all but one noted God. Some people say the CONstitution was never properly ratified. Maybe the Confederation is more in line with what God had in mind for America. Maybe it's time to let the CONstitution wither on the vine. Just a thought. ----------------- btw, the British-Israel kooks, the hidden hand that runs the world, thinks the "company of nations" refers to "Great" Britain [see also "British-Israel, A Little IDentity Crisis" at seekgod.ca ]. In fact, British-Israel has enslaved us for 400 years: Genesis 15:13-14: Galatians 3:16, 17....29: "The United States Is Still a (Judeo) British Colony, Extorting Taxes For The Crown" at apfn.org ] By Deception thou shalt do war.
Some people say the CONstitution was never properly ratified. Maybe the Confederation is more in line with what God had in mind for America. Maybe it's time to let the CONstitution wither on the vine. Just a thought Common Law 12 - Bible Believers or The British Legal System
For all of it's flaws, perceived or otherwise, our Constitution is the best one on the planet.
Nice comic, er, that really is not funny at all. Madison said redistribution of wealth is not in the plan. ;)
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Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest‘We the People’
#10. To: AllTheKings'HorsesWontDoIt (#9)
(Edited)
#12. To: AllTheKings'HorsesWontDoIt (#10)
Neither the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, nor any subsequently .... This brief identifies the chains with which they, the Merchants of Venice, their direct ... A recent revelation shows that the Constitution of the USA is "Ultra Vires" because it was never ratified -- by either the .... www.biblebelievers.org.au/cmlaw13.htm
10/12/2006 www.biblebelievers.org.au/cmlaw1.htm ... The Constitution was never properly ratified; and, is, therefore .... The merchants controlled the city and their walls held off ...... The Merchants of Venice bastardized the many courts of ... moneyonaccount.com/downlo...%20Eldon%20G%20Warman.pdf
see under "Treason" in BLUE type, page 69.
#18. To: AllTheKings'HorsesWontDoIt, Original_Intent, BTP Holdings (#12)
#23. To: X-15 (#18)
Replies to Comment # 23.