Too bad they’re in the legislature. The latest wacky idea from a trio of Republicans is to require that all new bills reference the Magna Carta.
House Bill 1580 is the product of such a brainstorming session this summer between three freshman House Republicans: Bob Kingsbury of Laconia, Tim Twombly of Nashua and Lucien Vita of Middleton. The eyebrow-raiser, set to be introduced when the Legislature reconvenes next month, requires legislation to find its origin in an English document crafted in 1215.
“All members of the general court proposing bills and resolutions addressing individual rights or liberties shall include a direct quote from the Magna Carta which sets forth the article from which the individual right or liberty is derived,” is the bill’s one sentence.
You might be wondering why the Magna Carta…I think the three stooges should be wondering that, too.
Vita admitted he needs to "bone up" on the content of the charter
In other words, he has no idea what’s in the Magna Carta. I’m guessing he’s also a Christian of the type that has a similar reverence for the contents of a document they’ve never read.
Stupid ahistorical shitheads. The Magna Carta was not a fountain from which democracy flows. It spelled out what the duties of the king was to his vassals and what the lords owed to their king.
So, Janine, in other words perfect for their view of reality. Minus the kings having duties to their vassals.
Fetch me a London quarter of ale!
that’s just so goddamn stupid. I hope they get laughed out of the House. they should really be embarrassed.
NH is the Mississippi of New England, but without all the great music.
Another example of “creeping Carta.”
And, of course, such citations MUST be in Latin.
Of all the ridiculous legislation to go through Congress, this is one of the most laugh-out-loud absurd. I think someone should start writing a fictional blog that imagines what America would be like, real-time, if every ridiculous piece of legislation went through.
We all need a little terror in our lives.
Our Legislature is huge. I mean, stupidly huge, and the members get paid a pittance to be there. This means that you only get reps who really want the job, and your local representative is really, really local.
It also means that a very small number of voters can vote some some truly crazy people into office. The lead rep on this bill, incidentally, is a birther. That I can find, he has no major ties to a church or denomination.
Of course hey realize it was signed under duress by a foreigner, a king no less. It did attempt to place limits on the powers of the king? Of course most of It has been repealed IIRC. I’m too ‘busy’ to check Wikipedia and my medieval history major (aka daughter #1 is out).
One point about the Magna Carta. Pope Innocent III annulled the “shameful and demeaning agreement, forced upon the King by violence and fear.” The Pope rejected any call for restraints on the King, saying it impaired his dignity. The Pope also saw the charter as an affront to the Church’s authority over the King. Innocent released John from his oath to honor the charter.
He probably doesn’t know that most of the Magna Carta has been repealed, and chunks of that repeal were pre-1776, so those parts of the charter weren’t inherited by the U.S., except in the same sense that King Lear is part of our common heritage.
Makes me think of the kind of stuff various cranks like the Church of the Ecumenical Redemption International put out. They claim the King James Bible should be the book of law in Canada, and since it isn’t that things like the court system aren’t valid, and hence they don’t have to follow them.
Clearly, we get our rights from God, who got them from Batman, who got them from Spiderman, who got them from Captain Planet.
But… But… there are no vassals…. This makes my brain hurt.
So Ted Turner is behind it all? And Whoopi Goldberg?
*finds a corner to weep in*
Oh good grief, one of them is from Middleton. I grew up there. I feel so… DIRTY. URGH.
In what major country (or country with a pretense to being a major world player) do politicians belonging to one of the principle parties propose legislation binding themselves to referencing another country’s laws (and repealed, historical laws at that), another country against which their own country fought a war for independence from, no less?
I guess those British Royalists were right after all. Deep down inside, the Americans really actually want to be subject to the English crown, again….
The rights only applied to the nobility and freedmen, serfs and vessels had no rights. Feudal Englad makes the current wealth distribution seem downright socialist.
Interesting how so many of these political shmucks keep trying to outdo each other in finding more and more obscure writings on which to ATTEMPT to build a foundation on which to constrain thoughts and actions, and on which to bend our decisions and conduct.
It’s uncanny. It really makes me wonder how this right-wing bullshit can just continually flow from this populace–it seems never-ending!!!!
Or perhaps they are just trying to emulate their heros, the hebrew writers of the Old Testament, who cribbed the ten commandments from Hammurabi…
If the USA takes up the Magna Carta, you’ll need a king. I hereby claim that role. Since i’m the first to make the claim, it’s mine by primogeniture.
You all may now call me King Dick.
@18
I’m sure if you ask nicely while bowing, Her Majesty will let you come back into the Empire. Something might have to be done about all the outstanding land claims, the Duke of Buckingham still wants his estate back. I think you Yanks call it Virgina?
So they want to crown Obama king so that his powers can be constrained?
Maybe instead of obsessing about elementary school students taking multiple choice tests to prove their basic mastery, we should put together a test for political candidates on the more important points of American history, our founding documents, and how a bill becomes a law.
:)
Has anyone told the people proposing this legislation that we are not, in fact, a territory of England? Don’t let the “New England” thing fool you.
And I will be the first to denounce the new US king and call for regicide. Hang Dick! And anyone who claims his throne shall be hung like a Dick!
(Yes. I did just do a penis joke. Sometimes it happens. Get over it.)
Why the Magna Carta? It sounded good. They remembered reading something about it in high school, and thought, ‘That will sound impressive!’ No facts or historical content needed. Just another example of why contemporary politics has as much connection to reality as a Pixar movie.
Perhaps they think that if they keep increasing the age of the works used to legislate the US, eventually the babble will be a sure shot.
Funny how laws trying to inject creationism into schools never require citations from a science journal.
King Dick should be a little less quick to jump on the throne. What happened to Chuck #1 and Jimmy #2?
Of course, if you remind them that the charter was largely about feudal issues, they’ll move the goalposts and cite it as the beginning of our freedoms. Which is, um… really stretching it.
crowepps@24…
Now there’s a suggestion. :) How about a constitutional amendment to not only require age and origin of birth requirements, but also education/reason/competence based mandates as well,..i.e., a knowledge-based approach?
I think that’s why so many more level-headed, open-minded potentially good leaders never get the attention (or never want it..) I’ve been in favor of stricter requirements for holding of public office since I was in my early twenties, ..or at least since Ronnie Ray-gun.
Was Magna Carta the one who confessed to lusting after a woman in his heart, or was that his kid brother, the Libyan beer baron ?
A quote from Richard Black is appropriate:
kreativekaos #32
Newt Gingrich has a PhD.
The New Hampshire legislature is a weird place, basically the House has 400 representative, this is roughly 1 for every 3000 people in the state and they get paid only $200 a year for doing it. This means it’s incredibly easy to get elected and those who run REALLY want the job. So there are a lot of cranks that get into the legislature and propose silly bills like this that go absolutely nowhere.
Excellent! Rewriting New Hampshire’s laws could be great fun under this particular rule.
No man shall be forced to perform more service for a knight’s `fee’, or other free holding of land, than is due from it.
According to the Magna Carta, no man should produce more value than he is paid for. Ergo, the introduction of a law abolishing corporate profits and requiring redistribution of all excess earnings to workers is entirely justifiable under the Magna Carta.
Every county, hundred, wapentake, and tithing shall remain at its ancient rent, without increase, except the royal demesne manors.
No more rent increases! Evar!
No sheriff, royal official, or other person shall take horses or carts for transport from any free man, without his consent.
Towing for parking violations? Forget that!
I wonder if they know it’s not in English?
I have never understood the obsession some Americans have with the Magna Carta. It was nothing to do with democracy, but just one elite forcing another to share the benefits of subjugating the masses.
I can see how that would appeal to Republicans though.
I’m wondering how NH banks will handle these restrictions:
Even if it was, I seriously doubt they would understand the English in use at the time. Maybe I do them disservice, and Chaucer is their choice of bedtime reading.
Is anyone else simply finding this as proof of the Republican plan of obstructionism? If by some bizarre chance this bill passed, it would mean more work to get anything passed. And if it doesn’t, it still wastes what may have otherwise been useful time in session.
Either way, these idiots may not be complete idiots. Maybe they don’t know the document, but they’re betting none of their peers do either, so it slows everything down. Then they call foul come election time and point out how little their opposition (or anyone they don’t like) was able to get accomplished. All the while downplaying their own role in purposely obstructing the running of the government.
I do believe he wasn’t referring to the stuff old sheep skin document, but to MagnaCarta II the rpg released by the South Korean game developer Softmax. It’s not that great of a game, but at least it’s better than Custer’s revenge which served as a basis for North Dakota’s constitution.
Buffalo Riders
To most xians, the bibile is like an EULA. They don’t actually read it, they just scroll to the end and click ‘Agree’.
Do any of the rethuglicans know that the Magna Carta was in Latin ( the language of edjumacation) but the ruling elite all spoke (GASP, the horror!) French? Someone in NH might want to let the 21st century barons know this.
If possible, film them, it might good for a laugh on YouTube.
It’s funny that SMBC recently had a comic about “Mount Stupid”.
I’m thinking that alcohol must have been involved during the “brainstorming” session.
Perhaps an insufficient amount of alcohol was supplied. Not everyone passed out before the real stupid ideas were spouted.
Or perhaps they are just trying to emulate their heros, the hebrew writers of the Old Testament, who cribbed the ten commandments from Hammurabi…
More accurately, they cribbed the very concept of a god-given code of law from Mesopotamia, and so the whole of Torah, basically. But the decalogue in particular is actually less like the Code of Hammurabi than are the Levitical and Deuteronomical codes, because of one feature peculiar to it: the ten commandments gives no provision for enforcement. It is the terms of an agreement more than it is a legal code: “Do these things to honor your contract with me” essentially.
Lucien Vita is a crazy person in a town with less than 2000 residents. With a large family in town pretty much anyone can get elected without running a campaign, also we have a MASSIVE legislature and it takes a lot more than three idiots to stand a chance at getting anything through.
The Democrats should introduce a bill stating that the first sentence of any introduced legislation must be hand-written by the sponsor. That would eliminate the ability of most republicans to do anything at all.
Alternatively, make the sponsor read a random passage from their proposals.
That is really funny. I mean, really, really, really funny.
Why?
It was just two years ago that Republican state conventions across the nation all had resolutions condemning the U.S. Supreme Court for “incorporating foreign laws” into their decisions.
I mean, it’s one thing to be so blindlingly stupid to the concepts of the law, and especially common law. It’s another thing to be so blindingly, self-lobotomizingly stupid about laws in general.
But then to forget about it and turn 180 degrees the other way?
In the old days R. Emmett Tyrell’s publication, The Spectator, had a column, “Brayings from the Barnyard,” in which he’d list stupid (to him) stuff that liberals and Democrats had uttered in the previous month or so, with a quote that claimed to be from Euripides, “Whom the gods destroy, they first make mad.”
These legislators look mad to me. How about to you?
Yeah, but in civilised countries the mentally ill get treatment and support. They do not get elected to public office.
Did someone say Santorum?
For example, the CATO Institute ranted about foreign laws in May 2010.
Here’s Rep. Sandy Adams, Republican from Florida’s 24th Congressional District, ranting about foreign law in March 2011.
She concludes:
Are their brains even turned on?
@randomfactor #7:
Ita vero.
It’s all just posturing. They don’t have a fucking clue what they’re doing, nor do they care. I bet they have no idea about the historical document, what it contains, how many times it was issued, nor under what social and political circumstances it came to be reaffirmed (sometimes possibly even truthfully, though don’t quote me on that). To them it just sounds like a good thing to quote to their, erm, serfs.
[smugmode]I bet they’ve never even seen an actual copy for themselves, either.[/smugmode]
And, by the way, Rep. Adams screws up the concept of “begging the question.”
Idiocy piled on stupidity.
The whole US legal system was based on the one in use in England at the time of Independence.
Are these cretins really suggesting that the entire US legal system be done away with ?
That’s the only bit that’s worth keeping. Presumably, that’s the part they remember from school. Villeins, of course, could be held forever, without trial. A bit like Guantanamo inmates.
One does have to question whether they really understand what was meant by free man in the context of the Magna Carta. They are so stupid it is quite possible they do, but they are also probably think that such laws should only apply to white men like themselves.
Indeed we do. On the bright side, we’re the most atheist state in the union. On the dark side again, lots of atheists here are lolbertarians.
No shortage of fundies here, though. I regularly see campaign signs for Rick Santorum on the roadsides. If I didn’t have the sort of luck that would lead me to be easily caught, I’d consider mixing up some brown and white paint and leaving a giant splotch on a few dozen signs.
Kreativekaos, #32: Aside from what ‘Tis said, requiring a certain educational level of voters discriminates against the poor and against people cheated by fundie parents or school districts out of a proper education. Read up a little bit, by the way, on the history of IQ tests and race. Ugly stuff. Any law along the lines of what you’re suggesting will be abused to the same ends.
Amphiox @ 18;
This is like one of those awkward discussions with the type of ex who just can’t let go and move on;
“Umm.. listen America, we had a great time back in the day, but you were right to leave, and I can’t just take you back. We are in different places in geopolitics right now. As a predominantly secular European democracy, I just can’t make the kind of religious committments you are looking for, I hope you understand.
No, I am sorry, but a special relationship with ‘benefits’ just won’t work either. I’m with the EU now, and while I admit that we are having some problems, I really want to try to make this work…”
@eddarrell #55:
I’m not clear on the exact application here.
Are states now saying that they are not bound by international treaties entered into by the federal government? To the best of my knowledge (and here’s the obligatory IANAL), it has been common practice since about the third or fourth century CE that nations can agree to bind each other through an international treaty which supercedes local law. The example I can remember is of Rome and Parthia agreeing that violation of one another’s borders could come about if hotheaded young men of either side went cattle-raiding across the border and the parent nation chose not to punish those raiders.
Other than that, can anyone please help me with understanding what banning foreign law means, in this instance? I live in the UK, and the UK is not bound by the laws or court decisions of Canada or Botswana or Bahrein or Australia or any other of our long-term friends and allies, for example.
@Ms Daisy Cutter #61:
Wine -> nostrils -> keyboard.
English courts can take into consideration decisions made by courts in other countries if those decisions where made based on English Common Law. The US, Canada and some other Commonwealth countries have laws based on English Common Law, and thus some legal decisions can be cited as precedent in English courts.
Also, UK courts can take into consideration the decisions of courts in other EU countries with regards to European Law, and the European Convention on Human Rights.
In neither case are the courts duty bound to take the decisions of non UK courts into consideration, but they are allowed to do so.
It’s meaningless paranoia by the crazies.
One of their conspiracy theories is that the 2 million Moslems in the USA are going to take over a country with 310 million people and impose Sharia law.
Sharia law is already illegal here, separation of church and state.
It will work anyway though. Just like praying will keep people from being eaten by lions in the USA.
How cute. They want to honor the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta. Not bad, but they want to do it by passing stupid legislation with vague requirements and no enforcement mechanism. What a testimony. Proof that people are free to do pretty much any dumb thing they want to do. Maybe next time they get together for lunch they should have a little less to drink.
#63 Rich Woods:
It’s part of American paranoia and a holdover from the anti-Catholic, anti-UN and anti-Communist hysterias now with new and improved anti-Muslim goodness. The idea is that America is under constant attack from shadowy foreign powers who want to enslave us by stealing our precious bodily fluids. If we aren’t eternally vigilant their minions will let in foreign troops in their Black Helicopters. We will be forced to give up all our Good Things and become slaves of The Sinister Illuminati.
…passing symbolic laws to put Invisible Sky Wizard on the currency and pass laws forbidding passing laws are magic and make us safe from Insidious Foreign Magic.
Yes, obviously trying to incorporate the Magna Carta directly into our legislation is ludicrous. However, there is a lot which we should not forget in that document, especially in how it came about (the barons bringing John to his knees). For a fair translation with definitions of the old words see: http://avalon.law.yale.edu/medieval/magframe.asp
What probably is as important today is the Charter of the Forests which accompanied one version or another: http://info.sjc.ox.ac.uk/forests/Carta.htm This definitely requires you to know the meanings of the old words–for example, afforestation is bad, disafforestation is good (because the words refer to who controls/uses, not to putting or removing trees from it). See also The Magna Carta Manifesto by Peter Linebaugh for other contemporary applications (e.g., water wars in South America).
Except for the un-evidenced “guessing” about Vita’s religious affiliations or the implication that he and his fellow have not read and do not respect the Constitution, I agree with Dr. Myers’ assessment to the extent that this Vita fellow is a nut-job of the first water.
-as a gay man, I am aghast at the notion that I have to worship you King Dick.
“small legislature” muahaa haaaa!!
Don’t worry Tony, it will some time before King Dick’s coronation, they are having trouble finding a crown large enough for his ego, and there’s a shortage of cubic zirconia for the decorations.
And thens the little matter of his overthrow, some atheists are so against tradition, they want the rebellion before his crowning, not after. We have always done it after!
I think you’re all missing something here… this thing doesn’t apply to all legislation, but specifically to “bills and resolutions addressing individual rights or liberties”. In other words… gay rights, among other things. And I’m sure the right to marry a member of the same sex is not addressed in the Magna Carta.
Now, I might be wrong, but as crazy as it sounds… could this be an attempt to introduce a law against gay marriage in disguise?
In other news, “Catholic Church says that all Papal decisions must be vetted by referencing Beyond Good and Evil. Several bishops where questioned as to how this would work, and stated simply, ‘Well, the title sort of says it all. But to tell you the truth, we kind of need the read the things a bit before deciding that.'”
Seriously though, WTF?
You’ve just got to be kiddi . . . no . . . nemmine.
I know why NH, since we’re talking over four hundred legislators per a million people… That’s like 2500 per legislator – there’s more people who vote for fire chief in my town than that. You’re gonna get a few nuts, probably even more since it’s not a random distribution.
But why the Magna Charta? It’s not like it’s the first written law… It basically laid the foundation for creating ‘Constitutions’ as opposed to just rule by fist or lineage. But that’s about it.
Heck, can anyone think of any other property it had unique to it that was continued?
eddarrell:
Do you really have to ask that?
My bet is that these dumbfucks think that the Margna Carta is American law– a proto- Constitution, if you will.
I suggest that all bills begin with this line from the Magna Carta:
33. All kydells for the future shall be removed altogether from Thames and Medway, and throughout all England, except upon the seashore.
Just because the thought of dams on English rivers having anything to do with democracy makes me giggle.
Ms. Daisy Cutter @ #61:
You’re absolutely correct. Certainly understand and agree about the use/abuse of things like IQ/intelligence tests being used as biasing tool against certain segments of the electorate, fundamentalist ‘education’, etc. [Personally, I was appalled and shocked to learn some of the little items that the kids of my wife’s friend was being ‘taught’ in their Baptist school!] Although, I wasn’t referring to the electorate, but rather the politicians.
I guess it’s just wishful-thinking on my part that I would prefer to see the thinking and actions of elected officials be reflective and worthy of their time spent in higher education.
Yes, ‘Tis mentioned Gingrich’s PhD (in Modern European History, I believe)of which I wasn’t aware (thanks); and Ron Paul, Howard Dean and others are medical doctors, along with many lawyers and other highly educated. Most candidates are educationally accomplished in one field or another.
Unfortunately for us, the electorate, an educationally accomplished person does not de facto mean the person thinks in a open, rational, objective, beneficial manner,…especially in the realm of politics (as exemplified by some of the latest GOP offerings and darlings, i.e., the likes of Bachmann, Perry, Santorum, Palin…not to mention the GOP ‘road-kill’ of the past 10-15 years, such as Tom Delay, Dan Quayle,…. the list goes on .) It’s a sort of dualism: meeting the requirements to get a degree is one thing, developing a comprehensive, rational, deeper way of thinking another. As many of us are always told by the education professionals, schooling is as much (or more) learning HOW to think well, as it is satisfying a set of institutional requirements.
I guess I just grumble about not having a better filtering process for candidates seeking office, along with a generally sharper electorate (which is really the final stage in that filtering process). After all,… we all know the state of general, and even higher education in this country when compared to many other industrialized nations, especially in science education (which depends heavily on the development of the rational thought process). But it’s a big country and we’re a melt-down (opps, sorry I meant melting) pot… plenty of room for the better-educated and the not-so.
Unfortunately, if its as a doctor, or a lawyer, it probably means a general practitioner, assuming they have even practiced for a damn long time, and lawyers are often specialist. The former case doesn’t need to know a damn thing beyond what prescription to give you for something, and sometimes not even if it conflicts with something you are already taking (someone else detects those errors). The latter… Bets on how many of them are business law types, versus civil? Or, even on whether or not they know a damn thing other than law?
If they are, it doesn’t matter. From Article VI of the US Constitution:
@Ms. Daisy Cutter #61, paint ball marker? :)
@ Matt P.
Actually, reading The Canterbury Tales in Chaucer’s own words is a real hoot. Of course, one pretty well needs a glossary, but it doesn’t take a degree in English to get a large degree of fun from one of the language’s finest craftsmen.
I like a thick chocolate stout, but apparently these guys like a runny mead.
This isn’t clear. Do you mean the U.S. Constitution or the Holy Bible?
I’ve been staring at this monitor for too long already to look it up, but wasn’t there a treaty issue involved with an execution in Texas recently? I seem to recall Rick Perry signing the order despite the condemned, a Mexican national IIRC, not having had the representation or appeal process or something guaranteed in a treaty.
First Internet Win of the day. Please stay until the end, and then you can collect your Internet from the dais.
I love this so much that I googled it up this time. He continues:
and suddenly I remember a comment I made almost a year ago.
+++++
That was a fascinating read. I was thinking it sounded very similar to the Sovereign Citizen junk, taken to a new extreme. And then I got to this:
Yup.
It seems like, judges are so powerful that they appear to be minor gods, creating and manipulating reality with their words. And because the law is so incomprehensible to many people, but because they see lawyers using specialized language to win cases, there might be a secret language which could be discovered by the layperson. And if the petitioner can ritually recite the precisely correct chant, then the judge, like any other god, will be obliged to answer the prayer.
These people control the world’s largest Nuclear Arsenal?? :-0
I think they’re just suffering from a bit of history envy. I’ve seen an original copy of the Magna Carta (written centuries before any European set foot on American soil). I regularly visit buildings of similar age. My school was founded around a century before the US was independent. These guys are just pining for some real history.
@kreativekaos #32 You beat me to it. I always suggest that all candidates for state and federal offices be required to get 4 or 5 on the AP exams for US History, US Government, Economics, Statistics, and Environmental Science. One other hard science, such as biology or physics would be good, too.
Should be easy to defeat this, just point out the fact that the Magna Carta was signed under duress, so it shouldn’t have any legal standing. Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk!
Hmm. Does Bill 1580 reference the Magna Carta by identifying the specific article in that document from which the authority to pass this law is derived?
Kreativekaos, #81:
Aside from the examples you list, I think anybody here in academe could think of at least one colleague who, outside of a narrow field of endeavor, has no sense or abilities whatsoever.
That’s education in a genuine sense, rather than schooling. In theory, most of us get educated. In practice, a privileged minority get educated; a plurality get schooled enough to get by in life, more or less; and too many people don’t even get that.
We’re not going to get a “sharper electorate” unless we change the culture in this country. Religion is part of it, but not all of it. Plenty of libertarians are atheists.
Peterh, #85: Ever see the Canterbury Tales Rap?
/throws rotten produce at Chris Booth, #86
LM, #89:
Legal literalism, to go with their biblical literalism.
The text of the Magna Carta, in modern English, can be found at http://www.constitution.org/eng/magnacar.pdf
@doktorzoom #40
That’s good to know. While it’s a mere technicality I can probably be considered a jew for the purpose of this law. Note to self, don’t lend any money to members of the NH legislature.
This is just an election year stunt. First, all three can claim to have introduced legislation. That means they actually did work in the legislature. Now they can be re-elected.
But second, this is Creeping English Common Law. Why is it any different from Creeping Sharia Law?
Where they specific in defining the Magna Carta? Because there was a videogame called that that came out and citing dialogue from it to justify laws would be hillarious.
I’m guessing it’s just a way to commit historical revisionism. Isn’t Constitutional law based on Pagan Roman law and Enlightenment values? Godless bunch, that. Citing law from REAL
AMERICANSCHRISTIANS will put them in their place.As the great Tony Hancock said:
“Does Magna Carta mean nothing to you? Did she die in vain?”
@Matt Penfold #65
@raven #66
@anuran #68
@What A Maroon #83
Thank you all.
I have trouble comprehending how stupid the proposers of this bill must be, to draft something which could never work and which can only ever invite ridicule. Maybe they got bored of representing their constituents.
Then again, I’ve seen how members of the BNP can be elected to a local council and through ignorance of standard procedure vote against their own motion!
@#32 and #92: THAT would be a reasonable law. Where’s the petition I can sign?
World-class lunatics, or crazy like a fox?
If American government should ever fail due to political extremism or political corruption, America has no Constitutional safety net just as many other developing countries haven’t.
In severing itself from Brits, and making the Constitution, America is good as long as it can last, and people are dedicated to the document. But, what if it fails?
Recent challenges in the Supreme Court, and the impulse to depart from the Constitution under the guise and color of law means that America could be exposed otherwise to dictatorship, or totalitarianism, just as many other nations are.
If the nation derives from Anglo-Sax law, it might be a good security feature to teach what that law is, beginning with the actual Magna Carta as the origin of those rights from which America drew her Constitution.