CONSTITUTIONAL CONVERSATIONS
The Constitution at “30,000” Feet
by
- E. Boyd, Esq., “Miss Constitution”
If there is a thread in Miss Constitution’s columns it is that just knowing generally about the United States Constitution and our unique system of statecraft, and knowing, even, some of the leading Supreme Court cases will not suffice in preserving one of our important cultural glues. Miss Constitution has lately been exhorting all of us to quintessential citizenship and humility and has asked each of us to get “fired up” in protecting our system. Miss Constitution knows full well what “deaf ears” means, however.
Perhaps, then, we might want to go higher; away from the cultural chaos we are experiencing and look at things from “30,000” feet. What do we see? If culture has color, and you have a rich imagination, we would see cultural distinctions in various areas of the globe. China and those countries within its orb would have a unique color, say “rose”; the Middle Eastern countries might also have a distinct color, say “yellow”; the civil-law European countries might be a shade of “blue”; and the common-law countries, of which the United States is one, might be a shade of “orange.” What does this mean?
It means that one of the great sources of our Rule of Law comes from decisions of English and British courts along with our own colonial and state court systems. These decisions of specific cases with specific facts represent an accumulated “wisdom of the ages” that, over time immemorial, helps stabilize our social order, especially in difficult times. Statutes come and go, and some are good, and some are destructive, but the common law is the understanding of human behavior over time and has proven to be one of the jewels in our statecraft crown. The common law, along with our written federal and state Constitutions, along with our administrative rules, forms what we call Positive Law, the United States Constitution being the Supreme Positive Law in our Land.
So, if we see all common-law countries as “orange” what would we see?
*the United Kingdom
*Canada
*Australia
*New Zealand
*South Africa
*India and Pakistan
*Hong Kong
*the United States
While each of these countries is unique, some with written Constitutions and some without; some with exceptions to the common-law (Quebec in Canada and Louisiana in America); we are cultural allies. If you look at it this way, from “30,000 feet” you can understand why Brexit is an issue for Great Britain. The issue is partly a common-law country aligned with civil law countries and there is a clash. The “blue” is clashing with the “orange.” Hong Kong, with its long-time development by Great Britain, now has common-law practices clashing with a Communist authoritarian state. The “orange” is clashing with the “rose.”
The push to globalize, or meld these colors, is a guarantee of the loss of important distinctions which, for the common-law countries, would erase the roadmap they have produced, empirically, for the progress of humanity. In America, that roadmap begins and ends with personal Liberty – securing the blessings of Liberty for ourselves and our posterity. That we have representatives of all the colors living in America, representing additions of diversity, only brightens our color. It is when that diversity becomes an obliteration, turning our “orange” into a dismal “gray” that we must be cognizant of the fact that global business does not mean the same thing as global governance, global statecraft, or cultural oneness. In conversations with very intelligent friends Miss Constitution has noticed that some do not see a distinction between “rose” and “orange.” This is a pity. As Judge Learned Hand tells us, 1944:
Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it; no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it. While it lies there it needs no constitution, no law, no court to save it.
Back to earth now; and to the work we all need to do to preserve our unique hue.
Copyright©M.E.Boyd,Esq., “Miss Constitution”
