Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Do You Know Me…
Or Remember Me?

Egotism is usually subversive of sagacity.
Marianne Moore (1887–1972), poet

Remember this man? He was all ears during the 1992 presidential election. He was to Republicans what Ralph Nader was to Democrats in 2000.

Well this former presidential candidate and I believe billionaire is selling his copy of the Magna Carta, which is expected to bring him $20 to $30 million. How much more money does this guy need? maybe he could donate to a museum.


I pulled this from the National Archives & Records Administration

This heritage is most clearly apparent in our Bill of Rights. The fifth amendment guarantees

No person shall...be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law

Written 575 years earlier, Magna Carta declares

No freeman shall be taken, imprisoned,...or in any other way destroyed...except by the lawful judgment of his peers, or by the law of the land. To no one will we sell, to none will we deny or delay, right or justice.

In 1957 the American Bar Association acknowledged the debt American law and constitutionalism had to Magna Carta and English common law by erecting a monument at Runnymede. Yet, as close as Magna Carta and American concepts of liberty are, they remain distinct. Magna Carta is a charter of ancient liberties guaranteed by a king to his subjects; the Constitution of the United States is the establishment of a government by and for "We the People."


Except when a power hungry administration wants to expand presidential powers beyond our created checks and balances.

2 comments:

Jack Steiner said...

I miss all the folksy talk. He is three ducks short of a goose.

The Misanthrope said...

Yeah he was and is a crackpot, but a very wealthy one.