National Constitution Day.

Today is National Constitution Day – celebrating the 225th Anniversary of the signing of the Constitution of the United States in Philadelphia in 1787.

Independence Hall, Philadelphia. September 17, 1787.

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Present at the signing were:

The Signers of the U. S. Constitution

New Hampshire John Langdon Nicholas Gilman Massachusetts Rufus King Nathaniel Gorham Connecticut Roger Sherman William Samuel Johnson New York Alexander Hamilton New Jersey William Livingston David Brearley William Paterson Jonathan Dayton

Pennsylvania Benjamin Franklin Thomas Mifflin Robert Morris George Clymer Thomas FitzSimons Jared Ingersoll Gouverneur Morris James Wilson Delaware George Read Gunning Bedford, Jr. John Dickinson Richard Bassett Jacob Broom Maryland James McHenry Daniel Carroll Dan of St. Thomas Jenifer

Virginia John Blair James Madison, Jr. George Washington North Carolina William Blount Richard Dobbs Spaight Hugh Williamson South Carolina John Rutledge Charles Cotesworth Pinckney Charles Pinckney Pierce Butler Georgia William Few Abraham Baldwin

Rhode Island did not attend the signing – but ratified the Constitution later on May 29th, 1790..

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More on language – Adams vs. Morris

Words matter.

John Adams famously wrote the Constitution of Massachusetts in 1779 – which in large part was the blueprint for the Federal version by Morris and others in Philadelphia some eight years later.

But, listen to the different preambles – and the choice of language:

Adams:

The end of the institution, maintenance, and administration of government, is to secure the existence of the body politic, to protect it, and to furnish the individuals who compose it with the power of enjoying in safety and tranquility their natural rights, and the blessings of life: and whenever these great objects are not obtained, the people have a right to alter the government, and to take measures necessary for their safety, prosperity and happiness.

Morris:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Imagine the US Constitution opening with the words “The End”.

Nuance of Language – by James Madison.

Freedom, not Consent.

When drafting the Virginia Declaration of Rights in 1776 – George Mason put in a sentence regarding the free and secular Government that James Madison improved in a small, but very important way.

The original called for: “the fullest toleration in the exercise of religion.”

Madison rewrote this to: “All men are equally entitled to the full and free exercise of religion”

And his argument was this:

Toleration implies those who tolerate: superiors who grant freedom to others. But who can be trusted to pass such judgments, even if the judgment is to live and let live?

[..] No one could be said to allow men to worship as they wished; they worshipped as they wished because it was their right as men. Madison’s language shifted the ground of religious liberty from a tolerant society or state, to human nature, and lifted the Declaration of Rights from an event in Virginia history to a landmark of world intellectual history.

Well done.

Subcommittee work – Weiner watchdog.

From a House of Representatives sub-committee session.. keeping the rule of referencing all federal legislative proposals to a specific section of the constitution – to avoid a federal overreach.

Notice the different tone from the more openly broadcast House and Senate sessions.. this is not so much for the cameras.. they are lots more civil.

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Federalist Papers – with brilliant introduction..

Just started a new book – with an 80 page introduction to the Federalist Papers by Isaac Kramnick, a Professor of Government at Harvard. And the walk-through of context and talks is brilliant. The camps of anti-federalists (politics of liberty) vs. federalists (politics of strength and stability) is framing much of the debate of national politics even today.

The fundamental choices of how to mix and balance the periphery vs. center, unity vs. independence, co-operation vs. fighting, and States vs. Union is discussed at length.

And the dual motive of mixing democracy, aristocracy and tyranny – with that of seperating powers in a judicial, executive and legislative branch – is hard to grasp in its complexity.

Another topic is the wealth of human experience and history that is baked into the constitution – millennias of trial and error with empires, city-states and nation-states – as well as a very honest (to some cynic..) and mixed view of human nature. All into a short and clear document with seven articles.

And the preamble is one of the most beautiful things ever written. Not one word by coincidence or in excess. Marvellous.

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

So now it’s on to 400 pages and 85 articles, with Madison and Hamilton selling the pros and pragmatics of a strong central government and forceful Union – both in domestic and international affairs…

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Joe Biden in Africa.

Great speech by Joe Biden on his trip to Kenya.

The referendum on a new constituion is August 4th.

Source.

Indianas Evan Bayh on Senate resignation

Long letter in NyTimes. A fun opening

Since the founding of our country, citizens from Ben Franklin to David Letterman have made fun of their elected officials. Milton Berle famously joked: “You can lead a man to Congress, but you can’t make him think.”

Some serious stuff

Challenges of historic import threaten America’s future. Action on the deficit, economy, energy, health care and much more is imperative, yet our legislative institutions fail to act. Congress must be reformed.

There are many causes for the dysfunction: strident partisanship, unyielding ideology, a corrosive system of campaign financing, gerrymandering of House districts, endless filibusters, holds on executive appointees in the Senate, dwindling social interaction between senators of opposing parties and a caucus system that promotes party unity at the expense of bipartisan consensus.

Old news, but problems are adding up.

 
Read the full story here.

The Union in trouble, states reach for independence

We’ve had some ongoing discussions here about pushing 300mill people into a political system originally designed for 4 million. Growing signs of problems are disfunctioning government, deadlocks in congress and new mass movements on the outside of established party lines. And we’ve touched upon how great empires historically don’t “fall” but rather “fall apart” and disintegrates over time.

Well, today there’s a long story about numerous states grabbing for sovereignty in protest of federal government and claiming their 10th amendment.

…37 state legislatures introduced sovereignty measures in 2009. According to the Tenth Amendment Center, seven state legislatures — Alaska, Idaho, Louisiana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Tennessee — have passed such legislation.

Already in 2010, sovereignty resolutions have been introduced in 17 states. One of the first to move the ball forward this year is Alabama; the legislature voted in late January to approve a state sovereignty resolution.

As for Texas and Rick Perry

One case that drew widespread attention was when Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican, hinted in a 2009 interview that Texas could secede from the union if health care reform were pushed on his state, though he later backed away from the comments.

Full story at Cnn, and super debate on Texas over at Moe‘s.